Lyonesse II - The Green Pear and Madouc Read Free Page B

cheated!”
    The goldsmith shrugged narrow shoulders. “The worth of an article is what someone will pay. I have no market for such a fine trinket. I will give a single gold piece, no more.”
    Tamas snatched the pearl and strode angrily away. And so it went all day. Tamas offered the pearl to everyone who he thought might pay a good price, but met no success.
    Late in the afternoon, tired, hungry and seething with repressed anger, he returned to the Red Lobster Inn, where he ate a pork pasty and drank a mug of beer. At a nearby table four men gambled at dice. Tamas went to watch the play and when one of the men departed, the others invited him to join their game. “You seem a prosperous lad; here’s your chance to enrich yourself even further at our expense!”
    Tamas hesitated, since he knew little of dice or gaming. He thrust his hands into his pockets and touched the green pearl, which sent a pulse of reckless confidence coursing along his nerves.
    “Certainly!” Tamas cried out. “Why not?” He slid into the vacant seat. “You must explain your game to me, since I lack experience at such sport.”
    The other men at the table laughed jovially. “All the better for you!” said one. “Beginner’s luck is the rule!”
    Another said: “The first thing to remember is that if you win your count, you must not forget to collect your wager. Secondly, and even more important from our point of view, if you lose, you must pay! Is that clear?”
    “Absolutely!” said Tamas.
    “Then, just as a gentlemanly courtesy, show us the colour of your money.”
    Tamas brought the green pearl from his pocket. “Here is a gem worth twenty gold pieces; this is my surety! I have no smaller moneys.”
    The other players looked at the pearl in perplexity. One of them said: “It may be worth exactly as you claim, but how do you expect to gamble on that basis?”
    “Very simply. If I win, I win and nothing more need be said. If I lose, I lose until I am in debt to the amount of twenty gold pieces, whereupon I give up my pearl and depart in poverty.”
    “All very well,” said another of the gamblers. “Still, twenty gold pieces is a goodly sum. Suppose I were to win a single gold piece and thereupon had enough of the game; what then?”
    “Is it not absolutely clear?” demanded Tamas peevishly. “You then give me nineteen gold pieces, take the pearl and depart with your gains.”
    “But I lack the nineteen gold pieces!”
    The third gambler cried out: “Come, let us play the game! No doubt matters will sort themselves out!”
    “Not yet!” cried the cautious gambler. He turned to Tamas. “The pearl is useless in this game; have you no smaller coins?”
    A red-haired red-bearded man wearing the varnished hat and striped trousers of a seaman came forward. He picked up the green pearl and scrutinized it with care. “A rare gem, of perfect luster and remarkable colour! Where did you find this marvel?”
    Tamas had no intention of telling everything he knew. “I am a fisherman from Mynault, and we bring ashore all manner of marine treasure, especially after a storm.”
    “It is a fine jewel,” said the cautious gambler. “Still, in this game you must play with coins.”
    “Come then!” cried the others. “Put out your stakes; let the game begin!”
    Tamas grudgingly laid down ten coppers, which he had been reserving for the night’s supper and lodging.
    The game proceeded and Tamas’s luck was good. First copper, then silver coins rose before him in stacks of gratifying height; he began to play for ever higher stakes, deriving assurance from the green pearl which rested among his winnings.
    One of the gamblers abandoned the game in disgust. “Never have I seen such turns of the dice! I cannot defeat both Tamas and the goddess Fortunate!”
    The red-bearded seaman, who named himself Flary, decided to join the game. “It is probably a lost cause, but I too will challenge this wild fisherman from Mynault.”
    The game