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THE UGLY is the story of Muzhduk the Ugli the Fourth, a member of a lost tribe of boulder-throwing Slovaks living
in the mountains of Siberia whose land is stolen by American lawyers. He is sent on a quest to Harvard Law School to learn
how to defeat the lawyers. Represented
by the Carolyn Swayze Literary Agency.
| Muzhduk
stepped left to put himself in the path of the flying boulder. It was the size and shape of a small woman curled up in a ball,
but much heavier, and it came at him like a cannon shot. Muzhduk leaned forward to meet the boulder, knees bent, hoping to
absorb the impact with his legs. He staggered backward with the force of the blow, but did not drop the big rock.
The audience erupted with clapping, cheering, and mumbling, and a cloud of
yellow butterflies scattered from the noise. His opponent was Hulagu, arguably the strongest Slovak in the tribe, and all
six villages were present for the Dull-Boulder Throw. All the Slovaks who lived in the mountains of northeastern Siberia were
there, lined up along the edges of the saddle-shaped mountain ridge. Even those so old or sick they knew the trip would kill them. Two had died on the way.
The
audience looked at Muzhduk intently. He knew that some of them were
wondering whether he would disqualify
himself. He hadn’t ducked or moved out of the way, of course, but
no
one had ever tried to absorb the shock with his
legs before. Arms and chest were normal, and he could see Hulagu bite
his fat lips wanting to make a charge of dishonor, which
would itself be
dishonorable.
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