This collection is a few more pearl worlds from the necklace of the Ekumen planets, from the famous Hain cycle, created by the unsurpassed science fiction demiurge. In the works presented here, Le Guin explored in depth the themes of futuristic slavery ("Four Paths to Forgiveness" and "The Music of the Past and the Slave"), the acceleration of technological progress at the cost of the death of traditional cultures ("Interpreters"), the decline of self-isolating civilizations ("Loneliness") and a number of others, no less important and interesting. The novels “Four Paths to Forgiveness” and “The Interpreters,” as well as the stories “The Laws of the Mountains” and “The Birthday of the World” were awarded the Locus Prize. The story "A Day of Forgiveness" - Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award and the Asimov Magazine Readers' Award; the story "Loneliness" - the Nebula Award.