引用

CHAPTER ONE THE ISLAND

ONCE there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, and it has been told in another book called The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe how they had a remarkable adventure. They had opened the door of a magic wardrobe and found themselves in a quite different world from ours, and in that different world they had become Kings and Queens in a country called Narnia. While they were in Narnia they seemed to reign for years and years; but when they came back through the door and found themselves in England again, it all seemed to have taken no time at all. At any rate, no one noticed that they had ever been away, and they never told anyone except one very wise grown-up.

That had all happened a year ago, and now all four of them were sitting on a seat at a railway station with trunks and playboxes piled up round them. They were, in fact, on their way back to school. They had travelled together as far as this station, which was a junction; and here, in a few minutes, one train would arrive and take the girls away to one school, and in about half an hour another train would arrive and the boys would go off to another school. The first part of the journey, when they were all together, always seemed to be part of the holidays; but now when they would be saying good-bye and going different ways so soon, everyone felt that the holidays were really over and everyone felt their term-time feelings beginning again, and they were all rather gloomy and no one could think of anything to say. Lucy was going to boarding school for the first time.

It was an empty, sleepy, country station and there was hardly anyone on the platform except themselves. Suddenly Lucy gave a sharp little cry, like someone who has been stung by a wasp.

"What's up, Lu?" said Edmund - and then suddenly broke off and made a noise like "Ow!"

"What on earth-",began Peter, and then he too suddenly changed what he had been going to say. Instead, he said, "Susan, let go! What are you doing? Where are you dragging me to?"

"I'm not touching you," said Susan. "Someone is pulling me. Oh - oh -oh -stop it!"

Everyone noticed that all the others' faces had gone very white.

"I felt just the same," said Edmund in a breathless voice. "As if I were being dragged along. A most frightful pulling-ugh! it's beginning again."

"Me too," said Lucy. "Oh, I can't bear it."

"Look sharp!" shouted Edmund. "All catch hands and keep together. This is magic - I can tell by the feeling. Quick!"

"Yes," said Susan. "Hold hands. Oh, I do wish it would stop-oh!"

Next moment the luggage, the seat, the platform, and the station had completely vanished. The four children, holding hands and panting, found themselves standing in a woody place - such a woody place that branches were sticking into them and there was hardly room to move. They all rubbed their eyes and took a deep breath.

"Oh, Peter!" exclaimed Lucy. "Do you think we can possibly have got back to Narnia?"

"It might be anywhere," said Peter. "I can't see a yard in all these trees. Let's try to get into the open - if there is any open."

With some difficulty, and with some stings from nettles and pricks from thorns, they struggled out of the thicket. Then they had another surprise. Everything became much brighter, and after a few steps they found themselves at the edge of the wood, looking down on a sandy beach. A few yards away a very calm sea was falling on the sand with such tiny ripples that it made hardly any sound. There was no land in sight and no clouds in the sky. The sun was about where it ought to be at ten o'clock in the morning, and the sea was a dazzling blue. They stood sniffing in the sea-smell.

"By Jove!" said Peter. "This is good enough."

Five minutes later everyone was barefooted and wading in the cool clear water.

"This is better than being in a stuffy train on the way back to Latin and French and Algebra!" said Edmund. And then for quite a long time there was no more talking, only splashing and looking for shrimps and crabs.

"All the same," said Susan presently, "I suppose we'll have to make some plans. We shall want something to eat before long."

"We've got the sandwiches Mother gave us for the journey," said Edmund. "At least I've got mine."

"Not me," said Lucy. "Mine were in my little bag."

"So were mine," said Susan.

"Mine are in my coat-pocket, there on the beach," said Peter. "That'll be two lunches among four. This isn't going to be such fun."

"At present," said Lucy, "I want something to drink more than something to eat."

Everyone else now felt thirsty, as one usually is after wading in salt water under a hot sun.

"It's like being shipwrecked," remarked Edmund. "In the books they always find springs of clear, fresh water on the island. We'd better go and look for them."

"Does that mean we have to go back into all that thick wood?" said Susan.

"Not a bit of it," said Peter. "If there are streams they're bound to come down to the sea, and if we walk along the beach we're bound to come to them."

They all now waded back and went first across the smooth, wet sand and then up to the dry, crumbly sand that sticks to one's toes, and began putting on their shoes and socks. Edmund and Lucy wanted to leave them behind and do their exploring with bare feet, but Susan said this would be a mad thing to do. "We might never find them again," she pointed out, "and we shall want them if we're still here when night comes and it begins to be cold."

When they were dressed again they set out along the shore with the sea on their left hand and the wood on their right. Except for an occasional seagull it was a very quiet place. The wood was so thick and tangled that they could hardly see into it at all; and nothing in it moved - not a bird, not even an insect.

Shells and seaweed and anemones, or tiny crabs in rockpools, are all very well, but you soon get tired of them if you are thirsty. The children's feet, after the change from the cool water, felt hot and heavy. Susan and Lucy had raincoats to carry. Edmund had put down his coat on the station seat just before the magic overtook them, and he and Peter took it in turns to carry Peter's great-coat.

Presently the shore began to curve round to the right. About quarter of an hour later, after they had crossed a rocky ridge which ran out into a point, it made quite a sharp turn. Their backs were now to the part of the sea which had met them when they first came out of the wood, and now, looking ahead, they could see across the water another shore, thickly wooded like the one they were exploring.

"I wonder, is that an island or do we join on to it presently?" said Lucy.

"Don't know," said Peter and they all plodded on in silence.

The shore that they were walking on drew nearer and nearer to the opposite shore, and as they came round each promontory the children expected to find the place where the two joined. But in this they were disappointed. They came to some rocks which they had to climb and from the top they could see a fairway ahead and - "Oh bother!" said Edmund, "it's no good. We shan't be able to get to those other woods at all. We're on an island!"

It was true. At this point the channel between them and the opposite coast was only about thirty or forty yards wide; but they could now see that this was its narrowest place. After that, their own coast bent round to the right again and they could see open sea between it and the mainland. It was obvious that they had already come much more than halfway round the island.

"Look!" said Lucy suddenly. "What's that?" She pointed to a long, silvery, snake-like thing that lay across the beach.

"A stream! A stream!" shouted the others, and, tired as they were, they lost no time in clattering down the rocks and racing to the fresh water. They knew that the stream would be better to drink farther up, away from the beach, so they went at once to the spot where it came out of the wood. The trees were as thick as ever, but the stream had made itself a deep course between high mossy banks so that by stooping you could follow it up in a sort of tunnel of leaves. They dropped on their knees by the first brown, dimply pool and drank and drank, and dipped their faces in the water, and then dipped their arms in up to the elbow.

"Now," said Edmund, "what about those sandwiches?"

"Oh, hadn't we better have them?" said Susan. "We may need them far worse later on."

"I do wish," said Lucy, "now that we're not thirsty, we could go on feeling as not-hungry as we did when we were thirsty."

"But what about those sandwiches?" repeated Edmund. "There's no good saving them till they go bad. You've got to remember it's a good deal hotter here than in England and we've been carrying them about in pockets for hours." So they got out the two packets and divided them into four portions, and nobody had quite enough, but it was a great deal better than nothing. Then they talked about their plans for the next meal. Lucy wanted to go back to the sea and catch shrimps, until someone pointed out that they had no nets. Edmund said they must gather gulls' eggs from the rocks, but when they came to think of it they couldn't remember having seen any gulls' eggs and wouldn't be able to cook them if they found any. Peter thought to himself that unless they had some stroke of luck they would soon be glad to eat eggs raw, but he didn't see any point in saying this out loud. Susan said it was a pity they had eaten the sandwiches so soon. One or two tempers very nearly got lost at this stage. Finally Edmund said:

"Look here. There's only one thing to be done. We must explore the wood. Hermits and knights-errant and people like that always manage to live somehow if they're in a forest. They find roots and berries and things."

"What sort of roots?" asked Susan.

"I always thought it meant roots of trees," said Lucy.

"Come on," said Peter, "Ed is right. And we must try to do something. And it'll be better than going out into the glare and the sun again."

So they all got up and began to follow the stream. It was very hard work. They had to stoop under branches and climb over branches, and they blundered through great masses of stuff like rhododendrons and tore their clothes and got their feet wet in the stream; and still there was no noise at all except the noise of the stream and the noises they were making themselves. They were beginning to get very tired of it when they noticed a delicious smell, and then a flash of bright colour high above them at the top of the right bank.

"I say!" exclaimed Lucy. "I do believe that's an apple tree."

It was. They panted up the steep bank, forced their way through some brambles, and found themselves standing round an old tree that was heavy with large yellowishgolden apples as firm and juicy as you could wish to see.

"And this is not the only tree," said Edmund with his mouth full of apple. "Look there-and there."

"Why, there are dozens of them," said Susan, throwing away the core of her first apple and picking her second. "This must have been an orchard - long, long ago, before the place went wild and the wood grew up."

"Then this was once an inhabited island," said Peter.

"And what's that?" said Lucy, pointing ahead.

"By Jove, it's a wall," said Peter. "An old stone wall."

Pressing their way between the laden branches they reached the wall. It was very old, and broken down in places, with moss and wallflowers growing on it, but it was higher than all but the tallest trees. And when they came quite close to it they found a great arch which must once have had a gate in it but was now almost filled up with the largest of all the apple trees. They had to break some of the branches to get past, and when they had done so they all blinked because the daylight became suddenly much brighter. They found themselves in a wide open place with walls all round it. In here there were no trees, only level grass and daisies, and ivy, and grey walls. It was a bright, secret, quiet place, and rather sad; and all four stepped out into the middle of it, glad to be able to straighten their backs and move their limbs freely.

1、小岛

以前有四个孩子彼得、苏珊、爱德蒙和露茜。在另一本叫做《狮子、女巫和魔衣柜》的书里，我们曾经讲述过他们的一次精彩历险。他们钻进一个神秘的大衣柜，发现自己来到一个与我们这里全然不同的世界——纳尼亚王国。在那里，他们成为国王和女王，并且统治了好多好多年。可是，当他们穿过那扇柜门，重新回到我们的世界来时，这场历险似乎只是瞬间发生的事情——至少没人发现他们曾经离开过。而他们除了告诉过一位非常博学的老人之外，对谁也没有提起过这件事。(

那是一年前发生的事情了。现在，这四个孩子都坐在火车站的长椅上，身边堆放着大衣箱和用品箱。这是在回学校的路上，他们将在这里分手。女孩子们准备乘坐很快就要进站的一列火车返回自己的学校，而大约半个小时以后，两个男孩将乘另一列火车返回他们的学校。这一路上大家热热闹闹在一起，总觉得仍然是在度假，可是现在，马上就要握手告别，这使每个人都意识到，假期的确已经结束，天天上课的日子又要开始了。孩子们不由得都情绪低落，谁也想不出该说些什么才好。露茜将是第一次上寄宿学校。

这是个空荡、沉寂的小镇车站，月台上除了他们，几乎再没别人。突然，露茜轻声尖叫了一下，仿佛被马蜂蛰了一下似的。

什么事，露？"爱德蒙问。可是话音未落，他也"哎哟"声叫了起来。

"真见鬼…"彼得话说了一半，突然也改变了原先想说的话，"苏珊，放手！你干什么？你拉我上哪儿去？"

谁碰你了！"苏珊说，"倒是有人在拉我，哎……哎……哎……别拉我呀！"

孩子们一个个脸色变得煞白。

"我也是，"爱德蒙气都喘不过来了，"好像有人把我拉向什么地方。这太可怕了——唷，又来了！”

"我也一样，"露茜喊道，"哦，我支持不住了。"

"快！"爱德蒙喊道，"大家快拉起手来，不要松开！这是一种魔力——我的感觉没错，快！”

"对，"苏珊急急地说，"拉起手来。噢，恐怕一时还停不了，噢……”

接着是一阵天旋地转，行李、长楠、月台和车站转眼间都消失不见了。四个孩子手拉着手，气喘吁吁，发现自己站在一片树林之中——这里的树木是那么稠密，树枝顶在他们身上，几乎连一点活动的余地都没有。孩子们揉揉眼睛，深深舒了一口气。

"喂，彼得！"露茜大声说，"你看咱们会不会是又回到纳尼亚了？"

"什么地方都有可能，"彼得答道，"这么多的树，一米之外我就什么都看不见了。咱们得想法找一找，看看外面有没有空地。

费了九牛二虎之力，身上多处被树枝划破，他们终于走出了树木最稠密的地区。外面的光线强多了，再往前走几步，他们突然惊奇地发现自己已站在树林的边缘，眼前是一片海滩。离他们不远处，温和的海水轻轻地涌上滩头，激起层层细浪，几乎一点儿声响都没有。这里看不到田野，天上也没有云，眼前只有大海那令人目眩的一片蔚蓝。根据太阳的位置判断，现在大约是上午十点钟。几个孩子悄然肃立，沐浴在海洋气息之中。.

"哇！"彼得不禁感叹道，"这儿风景真好啊！"

五分钟之后，大家都脱掉鞋子走进那清凉透澈的海水之中。

"比起坐在那闷热的车厢里回学校去上那些拉丁文、法文和代数课来，这可真是强多了！"爱德蒙说。这以后有老半天，大家都默不作声，只是踩着水往前走，一边寻找水中的虾蟹。

"尽管如此，"过了一会儿苏珊说，"咱们该认真计划一下，要不然我们很快就会饿肚子了。"

"不是有妈妈给我们带在路上吃的三明治吗？"爱德蒙说，"至少我的一份在这里。

"我的没了，"露茜说，"我把它放在小包里了。""我的也放在那儿。"苏珊说。

"我的在衣服口袋里，睹，就在海滩上，"彼得说，"四个人两份午餐，准不够吃！”

"我现在并不饿，就是有点渴。"露茜说。

这一说，大家都感到口渴起来。当然啦，在烈日下的海水中玩一会儿之后，谁都要口渴的。

"我们现在的情形就好像船在海上遇了险，"爱德蒙一本正经地说，"书中的遇难者们总是能在荒岛上找到清凉甘甜的泉水。咱们也该去找找看口

"你是说，我们还得到那茂密的林子中去？"苏珊问。

"用不着，"彼得说，"只要有小溪，它们肯定会潺潺而下，流入大海。我们沿着海岸走，！佳能找得到。

于是，他们开始趟水往回走。在松软的沙滩上，他们穿起鞋袜。爱德蒙和露茜曾异想、天开地要把鞋袜都丢掉，光着脚去探险，幸亏苏珊及时阻止了他们，说那样做简直是发疯。"那样就再也找不回它们了，可如果晚上我们还要待在这里，天又冷起来，你们穿什么？"

他们穿好后，沿着海岸向前走去，左边是大海，右边是森林。这里非常恬静，只是间或传来海鸥的叫声。树林十分茂密，枝叶缠结在一起，根本看不到里面，而且，林子深处一片寂静——没有鸟儿，甚至连昆虫的动静也没有。,

贝壳、海藻、海葵和那岩石缝里的小螃蟹，都非常好玩。

可是，在口渴难当的时候，你就对它们不感兴趣了。更糟的是，从凉凉的海水中出来以后，他们不久便感到两条腿又热又沉甸甸的。苏珊和露茜有各自的雨衣要拿，爱德蒙的外衣丢在了车站的长椅上，所以现在他和彼得轮流着拿彼得的大衣。

不久，海岸开始向右延伸。大约一刻钟之后，他们绕过一个石崖。这石崖在前面一个急转弯，把刚才那片海域抛在了身后。举目望去，他们看到海峡对面的一片陆地上树木茂密，与脚下这片土地十分相像。

"那是一个岛吗？或者，没准儿两边很快就连在起了。"露茜说。

"不知道。"彼得懒懒地答道。大家拖着疲惫的步子往前走，谁也不说话。

两边海岸越来越靠近。每走过一个岬角，他们就期待着看到两岸相交，可结果总是使他们失望。终于，他们来到片岩石跟前。爬上岩顶，只见一条小路伸向远方。"真糟糕！"爱德蒙懊恼地说，"白费了半天劲儿|咱们根本无法到达那边的树林——这儿是一个小岛！"

千真万确，从这里看去，两岸之间的海峡只不过三十来米，显然是最狭窄的地方。再往前，脚下的海岸继续向右延伸，他们可以看到岛与大陆之间开阔的海面。看来，他们已经沿着岛走了大半圈了。

"看，那是什么？"露茜突然说，手指着横卧在海滩上的一条银色的、长蛇般的东西。

["小溪，一条小溪！”其他几个齐声欢呼起来。尽管已经十分疲倦，他们还是毫不迟疑地跳下岩石，向那淡水小溪跑过去。他们知道，上游的溪水才最好喝，便沿着小溪朝上游走去。树林仍然是那么茂密，好在天长日久，那小溪冲出了一条通道：弯下身来，在枝叶搭起的天然隧道里，就能顺水而上。他们在第一个水潭边跪下来，尽情地喝了个够。然后把脸浸在水里，再把胳膊也伸进去，一直浸到臂弯处。

"好极了！"爱德蒙长长地舒了一口气，"现在，让我们来点儿三明治怎么样？"

"喂，我们是不是该省着点儿吃？"苏珊犹豫地说，"也许我们以后更需要它们。"

"现在我们已经不觉得口渴了，"露茜说，"我真希望，仍然像刚才口渴时那样一点儿都不觉得饿。"

"可那些三明治怎么办呢？"爱德蒙仍不甘心，"我们可别省着不吃，结果却把它们放坏了。你们别忘了，这儿气温很高，我们把它们装在口袋里已经走了很久。"于是他们把那两包三明治取出来，分成四份。说实在的，谁都没有吃饱，但这总比什么都不吃强多了。可下一餐怎么办呢？露茜提议回到海边去捕捉海虾，可是没有网。爱德蒙认为最好是去岩石缝里搜集海鸥蛋，可谁也想不起来曾在哪里看到过海鸥蛋，再说即使找到，也无法把它们做熟。彼得心想，除非碰上好运气，否则不用多久，能有生蛋吃就不错了。当然，他明白没有必要把这话讲出来。苏珊开始懊悔不该这么早早地就把三明治一下子吃个精光。孩子们有些沉不住气了。

最后，还是爱德蒙开口说道

"听我说，现在我们只能去森林里面碰碰运气。探险家、云游四海的骑士、侠客以及许多诸如此类的古人，在这种情况下总是想办法活下来的。他们吃根茎、野果和任何可以充饥的东西。":

"什么根茎？"苏珊好奇地问。

"我一向以为那是指树根。"露茜说。

"出发吧，"彼得鼓励大家，"爱德蒙是对的。我们必须去闯闯看，这总比傻站在阳光下要强。""

于是，他们站起身来，顺着小溪向森林深处走去。行程十分艰难，茂密的枝叶拦在面前，他们不得不弯腰前进，或者从枝干上面爬过去。他们跌跌撞撞地穿过大片大片杜鹊之类的灌木丛。衣服扯破了，鞋也在小溪里搞湿了。此时此地，除了小溪流水和他们自己发出的声响之外，林子里依然是一片寂静。正当他们开始感到有些厌倦的时候，突然注意到从什么地方飘来一股清香。接着，他们看到右上方有一种十分鲜亮的色彩。

"看呀！"露茜叫道，"我说那一定是一棵苹果树。"

果然是一棵苹果树。他们一鼓作气爬上陡坡，从荆棘中踩出一条路，来到这棵老树前。树上沉甸甸地挂满了金黄色的、坚实多汁的大苹果。

"还不止一棵呢。"爱德蒙嘴里塞满了苹果，吐字含糊不清。"看那儿，还有那儿。"

"可不是，瞧，这里足有好几十棵果树！"苏珊说着，扔掉了于里的果核，一边又摘下一个大苹果。"很久很久以前，这儿一定是个果园。那时候这儿肯定不像现在这样没人照看，那些树木也还没有长起来口"5

"也就是说，这是一个曾经有人居住过的小岛。"彼得沉思道。

"那是什么？"露茜指着前面。

"天哪！那儿有一堵墙！"彼得吃了一惊，"一堵古老的石墙！"

他们推开果实累累的树枝，走到了墙的跟前。这墙的年代已经很久了，有些地方已经塌下来。墙上覆盖着苔藓和那种总是长在墙上的小黄花。墙上有个高大的门拱，这儿肯定有过一扇大门，可现在门拱几乎被一棵最高的苹果树堵1

塞住了。孩子们折断一些树枝，爬了进去。墙那边的光线显然明亮得多，他们惊愕地发现自己来到一片开阔地。这里没有树，只有平坦的草坪，野花盛开。四周是灰色的围墙，覆盖着常春藤。这是一个明亮、宁静而又神秘的地方，但令人感到有些阴郁。四个孩子迈步来到院子中间，心里十分高兴。现在他们可以伸伸腰，自由自在地活动一下四肢了。

引用

CHAPTER THREE THE DWARF

THE worst of sleeping out of doors is that you wake up so dreadfully early. And when you wake you have to get up because the ground is so hard that you are uncomfortable. And it makes matters worse if there is nothing but apples for breakfast and you have had nothing but apples for supper the night before. When Lucy had said - truly enough that it was a glorious morning, there did not seem to be anything else nice to be said. Edmund said what everyone was feeling, "We've simply got to get off this island."

When they had drunk from the well and splashed their faces they all went down the stream again to the shore and stared at the channel which divided them from the mainland.

"We'll have to swim," said Edmund.

"It would be all right for Su," said Peter (Susan had won prizes for swimming at school). "But I don't know about the rest of us." By "the rest of us" he really meant Edmund who couldn't yet do two lengths at the school baths, and Lucy, who could hardly swim at all.

"Anyway," said Susan, "there may be currents. Father says it's never wise to bathe in a place you don't know."

"But, Peter," said Lucy, "look here. I know I can't swim for nuts at home - in England, I mean. But couldn't we all swim long ago - if it was long ago - when we were Kings and Queens in Narnia? We could ride then too, and do all sorts of things. Don't you think -?"

"Ah, but we were sort of grown-up then," said Peter.

"We reigned for years and years and learned to do things. Aren't we just back at our proper ages again now?"

"Oh!" said Edmund in a voice which made everyone stop talking and listen to him.

"I've just seen it all," he said.

"Seen what?" asked Peter.

"Why, the whole thing," said Edmund. "You know what we were puzzling about last night, that it was only a year ago since we left Narnia but everything looks as if no one had lived in Cair Paravel for hundreds of years? Well, don't you see? You know that, however long we seemed to have lived in Narnia, when we got back through the wardrobe it seemed to have taken no time at all?"

"Go on," said Susan. "I think I'm beginning to understand."

"And that means," continued Edmund, "that, once you're out of Narnia, you have no idea how Narnian time is going. Why shouldn't hundreds of years have gone past in Narnia while only one year has passed for us in England?"

"By Jove, Ed," said Peter. "I believe you've got it. In that sense it really was hundreds of years ago that we lived in Cair Paravel. And now we're coming back to Narnia just as if we were Crusaders or Anglo-Saxons or Ancient Britons or someone coming back to modern England?"

"How excited they'll be to see us -" began Lucy, but at the same moment everyone else said, "Hush!" or "Look!" For now something was happening.

There was a wooded point on the mainland a little to their right, and they all felt sure that just beyond that point must be the mouth of the river. And now, round that point there came into sight a boat. When it had cleared the point, it turned and began coming along the channel towards them. There were two people on board, one rowing, the other sitting in the stern and holding a bundle that twitched and moved as if it were alive. Both these people seemed to be soldiers. They had steel caps on their heads and light shirts of chain-mail. Their faces were bearded and hard. The children drew back from the beach into the wood and watched without moving a finger.

"This'll do," said the soldier in the stern when the boat had come about opposite to them.

"What about tying a stone to his feet, Corporal?" said the other, resting on his oars.

"Garn!" growled the other. "We don't need that, and we haven't brought one. He'll drown sure enough without a stone, as long as we've tied the cords right." With these words he rose and lifted his bundle. Peter now saw that it was really alive and was in fact a Dwarf, bound hand and foot but struggling as hard as he could. Next moment he heard a twang just beside his ear, and all at once the soldier threw up his arms, dropping the Dwarf into the bottom of the boat, and fell over into the water. He floundered away to the far bank and Peter knew that Susan's arrow had struck on his helmet. He turned and saw that she was very pale but was already fitting a second arrow to the string. But it was never used. As soon as he saw his companion fall, the other soldier, with a loud cry, jumped out of the boat on the far side, and lie also floundered through the water (which was apparently just in his depth) and disappeared into the woods of the mainland.

"Quick! Before she drifts!" shouted Peter. He and Susan, fully dressed as they were, plunged in, and before the water was up to their shoulders their hands were on the side of the boat. In a few seconds they had hauled her to the bank and lifted the Dwarf out, and Edmund was busily engaged in cutting his bonds with the pocket knife. (Peter's sword would have been sharper, but a sword is very inconvenient for this sort of work because you can't hold it anywhere lower than the hilt.) When at last the Dwarf was free, he sat up, rubbed his arms and legs, and exclaimed:

"Well, whatever they say, you don't feel like ghosts."

Like most Dwarfs he was very stocky and deep-chested. He would have been about three feet high if he had been standing up, and an immense beard and whiskers of coarse red hair left little of his face to be seen except a beak-like nose and twinkling black eyes.

"Anyway," he continued, "ghosts or not, you've saved my life and I'm extremely obliged to you."

"But why should we be ghosts?" asked Lucy.

"I've been told all my life," said the Dwarf, "that these woods along the shore were as full of ghosts as they were of trees. That's what the story is. And that's why, when they want to get rid of anyone, they usually bring him down here (like they were doing with me) and say they'll leave him to the ghosts. But I always wondered if they didn't really drown 'em or cut their throats. I never quite believed in the ghosts. But those two cowards you've just shot believed all right. They were more frightened of taking me to my death than I was of going!"

"Oh," said Susan. "So that's why they both ran away."

"Eh? What's that?" said the Dwarf.

"They got away," said Edmund. "To the mainland."

"I wasn't shooting to kill, you know," said Susan. She would not have liked anyone to think she could miss at such a short range.

"Hm," said the Dwarf. "That's not so good. That may mean trouble later on. Unless they hold their tongues for their own sake."

"What were they going to drown you for?" asked Peter.

"Oh, I'm a dangerous criminal, I am," said the Dwarf cheerfully. "But that's a long story. Meantime, I was wondering if perhaps you were going to ask me to breakfast? You've no idea what an appetite it gives one, being executed."

"There's only apples," said Lucy dolefully.

"Better than nothing, but not so good as fresh fish," said the Dwarf. "It looks as if I'll have to ask you to breakfast instead. I saw some fishing tackle in that boat. And anyway, we must take her round to the other side of the island. We don't want anyone from the mainland coming down and seeing her."

"I ought to have thought of that myself," said Peter.

The four children and the Dwarf went down to the water's edge, pushed off the boat with some difficulty, and scrambled aboard. The Dwarf at once took charge. The oars were of course too big for him to use, so Peter rowed and the Dwarf steered them north along the channel and presently eastward round the tip of the island. From here the children could see right up the river, and all the bays and headlands of the coast beyond it. They thought they could recognize bits of it, but the woods, which had grown up since their time, made everything look very different.

When they had come round into open sea on the east of the island, the Dwarf took to fishing. They had an excellent catch of pavenders, a beautiful rainbow-coloured fish which they all remembered eating in Cair Paravel in the old days. When they had caught enough they ran the boat up into a little creek and moored her to a tree. The Dwarf, who was a most capable person (and, indeed, though one meets bad Dwarfs, I never heard of a Dwarf who was a fool), cut the fish open, cleaned them, and said:

"Now, what we want next is some firewood."

"We've got some up at the castle," said Edmund.

The Dwarf gave a low whistle. "Beards and bedsteads!" he said. "So there really is a castle, after all?"

"It's only a ruin," said Lucy.

The Dwarf stared round at all four of them with a very curious expression on his face. "And who on earth - ?" he began, but then broke off and said, "No matter. Breakfast first. But one thing before we go on. Can you lay your hand on your hearts and tell me I'm really alive? Are you sure I wasn't drowned and we're not all ghosts together?"

When they had all reassured him, the next question was how to carry the fish. They had nothing to string them on and no basket. They had to use Edmund's hat in the end because no one else had a hat. He would have made much more fuss about this if he had not by now been so ravenously hungry.

At first the Dwarf did not seem very comfortable in the castle. He kept looking round and sniffing and saying, "H'm. Looks a bit spooky after all. Smells like ghosts, too." But he cheered up when it came to lighting the fire and showing them how to roast the fresh pavenders in the embers. Eating hot fish with no forks, and one pocket knife between five people, is a messy business and there were several burnt fingers before the meal was ended; but, as it was now nine o'clock and they had been up since five, nobody minded the burns so much as you might have expected. When everyone had finished off with a drink from the well and an apple or so, the Dwarf produced a pipe about the size of his own arm, filled it, lit it, blew a great cloud of fragrant smoke, and said, "Now."

"You tell us your story first," said Peter. "And then we'll tell you ours."

"Well," said the Dwarf, "as you've saved my life it is only fair you should have your own way. But I hardly know where to begin. First of all I'm a messenger of King Caspian's."

"Who's he?" asked four voices all at once.

"Caspian the Tenth, King of Narnia, and long may he reign!" answered the Dwarf. "That is to say, he ought to be King of Narnia and we hope he will be. At present he is only King of us Old Narnians - "

"What do you mean by old Narnians, please?" asked Lucy.

"Why, that's us," said the Dwarf. "We're a kind of rebellion, I suppose."

"I see," said Peter. "And Caspian is the chief Old Narnian."

"Well, in a manner of speaking," said the Dwarf, scratching his head. "But he's really a New Narnian himself, a Telmarine, if you follow me."

"I don't," said Edmund.

"It's worse than the Wars of the Roses," said Lucy.

"Oh dear," said the Dwarf. "I'm doing this very badly. Look here: I think I'll have to go right back to the beginning and tell you how Caspian grew up in his uncle's court and how he comes to be on our side at all. But it'll be a long story."

"All the better," said Lucy. "We love stories."

So the Dwarf settled down and told his tale. I shall not give it to you in his words, putting in all the children's questions and interruptions, because it would take too long and be confusing, and, even so, it would leave out some points that the children only heard later. But the gist of the story, as they knew it in the end, was as follows.

3、小矮人

露宿最糟糕的是一大清早你就醒过来了，而且一旦醒来就非得起身不可，因为地面太硬，你觉得很不舒服。可是，早餐除了苹果之外什么也没有，在前一天的晚餐也只是苹果的情况下，这就更糟。当露茜说这是个灿烂的早晨时(她的话完全正确)，似乎没有什么别的恰当的话可说了。还是爱德蒙说出了大伙儿的心里话……我们必须尽快离开这个小岛。"

他们在井边喝足了水，草草地洗了把脸，然后便顺着小溪走向下游。他们来到海岸边，久久地凝视着海峡，正是这海峡把他们与大陆分开了。

"我们只有游过去。"爱德蒙说。

"苏没有问题。"彼得说。(她在学校时就曾获得游泳奖牌。)……可是，我不知道咱们几个怎么样。"他说的"咱们几个"其实是指爱德蒙和露茜。爱德蒙至今在学校的游泳池里游不了一个来田，而露茜简直就不会游。!

苏珊说"海里也许有漩涡爸爸说在一个不熟悉的地方游泳是危险的。"

"可是，彼得，"露茜说，"在家里我的确不会游泳，可是在纳尼亚我们不是都已学会了吗？——那时我们还会骑马，还学会了做其他的事情。你不认为…？

"啊，那时我们都是成年人。"彼得说，"我们治理国家许多年，的确学会了做很多事情。可现在已经时过境迁了。"

"现在我才算明白过来了。""明白什么了？”彼得问。

"当然是明白所发生的这一切啦。"爱德蒙激动地说，

"你们说昨天晚上最使我感到迷惑不解的是什么？我们离开纳尼亚才不过一年，凯尔帕拉维尔却好像已经有几百年没人住过了。怎么，还没明白过来？你们知道，无论在纳尼亚住多么久，对我们自己那个世界来说，都不过是一瞬间的事。"

"说下去，"苏珊说，"我想我已经开始明白了。"

"这就是说，"爱德蒙继续说道，"一旦你离开了纳尼亚，你就失去了那里的时间概念。我们在英国过了一年，而在纳尼亚就可能已经过了几百年呢！”

"好家伙，爱德，"彼得兴奋起来，"我相信你说得对。

这么说来，我们住在凯尔帕拉维尔竟是几百年以前的事情了！现在我们重返纳尼亚，就像是十字军的战士，或者盎格鲁－撒克逊人，或者古代的英国人重返现代的英国一样！”

"要薀妄去的朋友看到我们，该会多么激动，多么——"露茜话没说完，就被打断了。"嘘！”“看！”三个伙伴说，因为这时发生了一件事情。

海峡对面，在他们现在的位置稍微向右一点儿，有一只树林，他们都确信河口就在那片林子的另一侧。这时，从权林后面划出一条小船，顺着海峡朝他们这个方向驶来。船上有两个人，一个划桨，另一个坐在船尾，用于使劲抓着一个什么东西，那东西一个劲地扭动着，好像是活的。那两个人看样子是大兵：他们身穿盔甲，满脸胡须，相貌凶悍冷酷。孩子们从海岸上退回到树林中，紧张地注视着他们。'

"这儿就行。"坐在船尾的那个人说。这时候小船正好停在孩子们对面。

"在他脚上捆一块石头怎么样，头儿？"另一个停下了手中的桨。

"混蛋，"船尾那人粗鲁地怪声说，"用不着口再说咱们也没带石头来。没问题，只要咱们把绳子绑紧些，不用石头也能淹死他。"说着，他站起身来，提起了那捆东西。彼得这时看清了，那是一个小矮人，他的手脚都被捆住了，但仍在不停地奋力挣扎。突然，彼得听到耳边。翁的一声响，只见那领头的扬起双臂，把小矮人摔在小船的底板上，他自己却翻身落入水中，挣扎着朝对岸游去。彼得清楚地看到，苏珊一箭正射在他的头盔上。他转过身来，只见苏珊脸色苍白，已经把第二支箭搭在弦上了，可这支箭没有射出去。另一个士兵看到自己的同伴遭到袭击，立即惊叫一声，从小船的另一端跳下水去，没命地一口气游到对岸，一会儿便消失在树林之中。

"快l别让小船顺水漂走了！"彼得喊道。他和苏珊顾不得脱下衣服便一齐跳进水里，没费多大劲儿，他们便把那小船拖到岸边，把小矮人从船里抬了出来。爱德蒙忙着用小刀割断他身上的绳索。(彼得的剑应该说比小刀锋利，但是长剑在这种情况下很不方便，因为在剑柄以下的部位没有抓手的地方。)小矮人松了绑之后，立即坐起身来，活动一下四肢，然后大声说"你们是……不管他们怎么说，我看你们并不像是妖魔鬼怪。"

和绝大多数小矮人一样，他矮胖、鸡胸，身高不足一来，又粗又红的大胡子，使他的脸显得很小，只剩下一只山峰一般的高鼻子，和那双闪闪发光的黑眼睛。

"不管是不薀晚，"他继续说，"你们救了我的命，我感激万分。"

"我们怎么会薀晚呢？"露茜好奇地问。

"这话我可听了一辈子了，"小矮人说，"都说海岸这边树林里的鬼就和树叶一样多。大家一直是这么传说的。所以当他们想干掉谁的时候，就把他送到这个地方来(正像他们对付我一样)，说是把他留给那些鬼怪去”处理'。可是，那些鬼怪真会把人活活淹死，或者割断他的喉咙吗？人们对此一直将信将疑。我并不怎么相信鬼神，可是刚才那两个胆小鬼却深信不疑，他们送我去死，而面对死亡时，却比我更感到害怕！”

"真有意思，"苏珊笑着说，"难怪他俩逃命时跑得飞快。"

"什么？他们逃走了？"小矮人有些紧张起来。"是的，"爱德蒙说，"逃到大陆上去了。"

"我射他们，但并不打算伤害他们，你知道。"苏珊解释说。她怕别人误以为她在这么近的距离还射不中。

"嗯，"小矮人说，"那可不太妙，那意味着今后将会有麻烦，除非他们为了自己的利益而守口如瓶。"

"他们为什么要淹死你？"彼得问口

"我是一个危险的罪犯，真的！"小矮人不无自豪地说，"那可是说来话长了。不过，我现在脑子里想的是……也许你们会邀请我共进早餐？你们简直想象不出来，一个人死里逃生之后，他的胃口是多么好。"(

"可是，这儿只有苹果。"露茜泄气地说。

"总比什么都没有强。当然，能有几条鲜鱼做早餐就更好了，"小矮人咂咂嘴，"看来我只好反客为主，请你们吃早餐口罗。我看见那船上有些钓鱼用具。可是无论如何，我们必须先把小船弄到岛的另一边去，不能让对面大陆上的任何人看到它。"

"这一点我本该先想到的。"彼得有些惭愧地说。

四个孩子和小矮人一道来到水边，费了好大力气才托小船推进水里，然后一个个爬了上去。小矮人立即老练地指挥起来。船桨对他来说显然太大了。于是他来掌舵，彼得主桨，小船缓缓朝北驶去。一会儿，他们便绕过小岛的拐角，转向东方。从这里，孩子们举目望去，看到了整个海湾和对西海岸的土地。他们原以为旧日的纳尼亚总要留下些什么痕迹的，但那些树林，那些自他们的时代往后生长起来的松林，使得一切都面目全非了。

在小岛东边的海面上，小矮人开始钓鱼。他们钓到了词多鳝鱼，这是一种像彩虹一样美丽的鱼。这使孩子们又回想起在凯尔帕拉维尔的那些日子，那时他们也吃这种鱼。当他们认为钓到的鱼已经足够吃了，便把小船逆水划进一条小溪，拴在一棵树上。那小矮人十分能干(尽管小矮人里有坏蛋，可他们个个都很聪明)，他麻利地把鱼剖开、洗净，然后说：!

"好了，现在需要的是一堆篝火。"

"我们已经在城堡里架起了火堆。"爱德蒙说。

小矮人轻轻地吹了一声口哨，"果然有一个城堡！""只不过是一堆废墟。"露茜并没有介意。

小矮人满脸疑虑，仔细地依次打量着他们。"那你们究竟是……"他嗫嚅着说，但马上又改口道，"没事儿，没事儿，咱们先吃早饭。可是，让我们先来做一件事：请你们把手放在心口上，然后对我连说三遍’你现在的确还活着'。你们真的有把握，我没有淹死，而你们不是一群鬼？"

他们一齐向他保证，直到这小家伙放心为止。下面一个问题是，怎么拿走这些鱼。既没有铁丝把它们穿成一串，也没有笼子，最后，他们只好用爱德蒙的帽子，这是他们惟一的一顶帽子，要不是他实在饿得发慌，他是决不会同意的。

在城堡里，小矮人起先好像浑身都不自在，他不停地东张西望，使劲用鼻子嗅来嗅去，嘴里不停地嘟囔着，"真奇怪，真奇怪。这味道好像是从鬼穴里发出来的。"可是当篝火点燃时，他精神来了，指手画脚地教几个孩子如何用炭火烤新鲜蹲鱼。鱼很烫手，没有叉子，惟一的一把小刀要供五个人用，饭还没有吃完，几个人的手指都烫伤了。可是，孩子们早已饥饿难忍，所以对这点儿小小的烫伤并不十分在意。最后，大家喝了些井水，再吃一个苹果，就结束了这顿美餐。.

小矮人不知在什么时候做成了一根足有他胳膊那么粗的大烟斗，装满烟丝，凑在篝火上把烟点着，惬意地吐出了一口清香的灰色烟雾，心满意足地说"好了。"

"给我们讲讲你的故事好吗？"彼得说，"然后我们给你讲我们的故事。"

"好吧，"小矮人说，"既然你们救了我的命，当然应该满足你们的要求，才算薀瞳平合理。从哪儿说起呢？首先我该告诉你们，我是凯斯宾国王的信使。"

"谁是凯斯宾？"四个声音同时问道。

"凯斯宾十世，纳尼亚的国王，祝他统治长久！"小矮人极其虔诚而庄严地祈祷着，"我是说，他应该是整个纳尼亚的统治者，这是我们的希望。可是眼下他还只是我们纳尼亚旧臣的国王。

"请问，”纳尼亚旧臣'是指哪些人？”露茜插了一句口,

"哦，那就是指我们，"小矮人说，"我们这些被称为”叛逆'的土生土长的纳尼亚人。"

"你是说，"彼得猜测道，"凯斯宾薀妄去的纳尼亚的首领？"

"对了，可以这么说，"小矮人用手搔搔头，"可他自己却是个新纳尼亚人，一个台尔马人。你们能够听明白我的意思吗？"

"我不明白。"爱德蒙说。

"我简直都糊涂了。"露茜说。

"哦，亲爱的，"小矮人抱歉地说，"我讲得很不好，我想最好还是从头讲起吧——从凯斯宾是怎样在他叔父的王宫里成长起来，以后又是怎样完全站在了我们一边。可这是个很长的故事。"

"长些更好，"露茜高兴极了，"我们都喜欢听故事。"

于是，那小矮人坐下来，讲了下面的故事。我不准备照他的原话把这故事复述给你们听，因为，那就要把孩子们在听故事过程中的提问和插话也都写出来，篇幅就会太长，情节就会太复杂，而且仍然不得不舍去孩子们只是在后来才听说的一些内容。不过，故事的要点，与孩子们最终所了解的完全一致，是下面这样的。

引用

CHAPTER NINE WHAT LUCY SAW

SUSAN and the two boys were bitterly tired with rowing before they rounded the last headland and began the final pull up Glasswater itself, and Lucy's head ached from the long hours of sun and the glare on the water. Even Trumpkin longed for the voyage to be over. The seat on which he sat to steer had been made for men, not Dwarfs, and his feet did not reach the floor-boards; and everyone knows how uncomfortable that is even for ten minutes. And as they all grew more tired, their spirits fell. Up till now the children had only been thinking of how to get to Caspian. Now they wondered what they would do when they found him, and how a handful of Dwarfs and woodland creatures could defeat an army of grown-up Humans.

Twilight was coming on as they rowed slowly up the windings of Glasswater Creek - a twilight which deepened as the banks drew closer together and the overhanging trees began almost to meet overhead. It was very quiet in here as the sound of the sea died away behind them; they could even hear the trickle of the little streams that poured down from the forest into Glasswater.

They went ashore at last, far too tired to attempt lighting a fire; and even a supper of apples (though most of them felt that they never wanted to see an apple again) seemed better than trying to catch or shoot anything. After a little silent munching they all huddled down together in the moss and dead leaves between four large beech trees.

Everyone except Lucy went to sleep at once. Lucy, being far less tired, found it hard to get comfortable. Also, she had forgotten till now that all Dwarfs snore. She knew that one of the best ways of getting to sleep is to stop trying, so she opened her eyes.

Through a gap in the bracken and branches she could just see a patch of water in the Creek and the sky above it. Then, with a thrill of memory, she saw again, after all those years, the bright Narnian stars. She had once known them better than the stars of our own world, because as a Queen in Narnia she had gone to bed much later than as a child in England. And there they were - at least, three of the summer constellations could be seen from where she lay: the Ship, the Hammer, and the Leopard. "Dear old Leopard," she murmured happily to herself.

Instead of getting drowsier she was getting more awake - with an odd, night-time, dreamish kind of wakefulness. The Creek was growing brighter. She knew now that then moon was on it, though she couldn't see the moon. And now she began to feel that the whole forest was coming awake like herself. Hardly knowing why she did it, she got up quickly and walked a little distance away from their bivouac.

"This is lovely," said Lucy to herself. It was cool and fresh, delicious smells were floating everywhere.

Somewhere close by she heard the twitter of a nightingale beginning to sing, then stopping, then beginning again. It was a little lighter ahead. She went towards the light and came to a place where there were fewer trees, and whole patches or pools of moonlight, but the moonlight and the shadows so mixed that you could hardly be sure where anything was or what it was. At the same moment the nightingale, satisfied at last with his tuning up, burst into full song.

Lucy's eyes began to grow accustomed to the light, and she saw the trees that were nearest her more distinctly. A great longing for the old days when the trees could talk in Narnia came over her. She knew exactly how each of these trees would talk if only she could wake them, and what sort of human form it would put on. She looked at a silver birch: it would have a soft, showery voice and would look like a slender girl, with hair blown all about her face, and fond of dancing. She looked at the oak: he would be a wizened, but hearty old man with a frizzled beard and warts on his face and hands, and hair growing out of the warts. She looked at the beech under which she was standing. Ah! she would be the best of all. She would be a gracious goddess, smooth and stately, the lady of the wood.

"Oh, Trees, Trees, Trees," said Lucy (though she had not been intending to speak at all). "Oh, Trees, wake, wake, wake. Don't you remember it? Don't you remember me? Dryads and Hamadryads, come out, come to me."

Though there was not a breath of wind they all stirred about her. The rustling noise of the leaves was almost like words. The nightingale stopped singing as if to listen to it.

Lucy felt that at any moment she would begin to understand what the trees were trying to say. But the moment did not come. The rustling died away. The nightingale resumed its song. Even in the moonlight the wood looked more ordinary again. Yet Lucy had the feeling (as you sometimes have when you are trying to remember a name or a date and almost get it, but it vanishes before you really do) that she had just missed something: as if she had spoken to the trees a split second too soon or a split second too late, or used all the right words except one, or put in one word that was just wrong.

Quite suddenly she began to feel tired. She went back to the bivouac, snuggled down between Susan and Peter, and was asleep in a few minutes.

It was a cold and cheerless waking for them all next morning, with a grey twilight in the wood (for the sun had not yet risen) and everything damp and dirty.

"Apples, heigh-ho," said Trumpkin with a rueful grin. "I must say you ancient kings and queens don't overfeed your courtiers!"

They stood up and shook themselves and looked about. The trees were thick and they could see no more than a few yards in any direction.

"I suppose your Majesties know the way all right?" said the Dwarf.

"I don't," said Susan. "I've never seen these woods in my life before. In fact I thought all along that we ought to have gone by the river."

"Then I think you might have said so at the time," answered Peter, with pardonable sharpness.

"Oh, don't take any notice of her," said Edmund. "She always is a wet blanket. You've got that pocket compass of yours, Peter, haven't you? Well, then, we're as right as rain. We've only got to keep on going north-west - cross that little river, the what-do-you-call-it? - the Rush -"

"I know," said Peter. "The one that joins the big river at the Fords of Beruna, or Beruna's Bridge, as the D.L.F. calls it."

"That's right. Cross it and strike uphill, and we'll be at the Stone Table (Aslan's How, I mean) by eight or nine o'clock. I hope King Caspian will give us a good breakfast!"

"I hope you're right," said Susan. "I can't remember all that at all."

"That's the worst of girls," said Edmund to Peter and the Dwarf. "They never carry a map in their heads."

"That's because our heads have something inside them," said Lucy.

At first things seemed to be going pretty well. They even -thought they had struck an old path; but if you know anything about woods, you will know that one is always finding imaginary paths. They disappear after about five minutes and then you think you have found another (and hope it is not another but more of the same one) and it also disappears, and after you have been well lured out of your right direction you realize that none of them were pats at all. The boys and the Dwarf, however, were used to woods and were not taken in for more than a few seconds.

They had plodded on for about half an hour (three of them very stiff from yesterday's rowing) when Trumpkin suddenly whispered, "Stop." They all stopped. "There's something following us," he said in a low voice. "Or rather, something keeping up with us: over there on the left." They all stood still, listening and staring till their ears and eyes ached. "You and I'd better each have an arrow on the string," said Susan to Trumpkin. The Dwarf nodded, and when both bows were ready for action the party went on again.

They went a few dozen yards through fairly open woodland, keeping a sharp look-out. Then they came to a place where the undergrowth thickened and they had to pass nearer to it. Just as they were passing the place, there came a sudden something that snarled and flashed, rising out from the breaking twigs like a thunderbolt. Lucy was knocked down and winded, hearing the twang of a bowstring as she fell. When she was able to take notice of things again, she saw a great grim-looking grey bear lying dead with Trumpkin's arrow in its side.

"The D.L.F. beat you in that shooting match, Su," said #Peter, with a slightly forced smile. Even he had been shaken by this adventure.

"I - I left it too late," said Susan, in an embarrassed voice. "I was so afraid it might be, you know - one of our kind of bears, a talking bear." She hated killing things.

"That's the trouble of it," said Trumpkin, "when most of the beasts have gone enemy and gone dumb, but there are still some of the other kind left. You never know, and you daren't wait to see."

"Poor old Bruin," said Susan. "You don't think he was?"

"Not he," said the Dwarf. "I saw the face and I heard the snarl. He only wanted Little Girl for his breakfast. And talking of breakfast, I didn't want to discourage your Majesties when you said you hoped King Caspian would give you a good one: but meat's precious scarce in camp. And there's good eating on a bear. It would be a shame to leave the carcass without taking a bit, and it won't delay us more than half an hour. I dare say you two youngsters - Kings, I should say - know how to skin a bear?"

"Let's go and sit down a fair way off," said Susan to Lucy. "I know what a horrid messy business that will be." Lucy shuddered and nodded. When they had sat down she said: "Such a horrible idea has come into my head, Su. "

"What's that?"

"Wouldn't it be dreadful if some day, in our own world, at home, men started going wild inside, like the animals here, and still looked like men, so that you'd never know which were which?"

"We've got enough to bother about here and now in Narnia," said the practical Susan, "without imagining things like that."

When they rejoined the boys and the Dwarf, as much as they thought they could carry of the best meat had been cut off. Raw meat is not a nice thing to fill one's pockets with, but they folded it up in fresh leaves and made the best of it. They were all experienced enough to know that they would feel quite differently about these squashy and unpleasant parcels when they had walked long enough to be really hungry.

On they trudged again (stopping to wash three pairs of hands that needed it in the first stream they passed) until the sun rose and the birds began to sing, and more flies than they wanted were buzzing in the bracken. The stiffness from yesterday's rowing began to wear off. Everybody's spirits rose. The sun grew warmer and they took their helmets off and carried them.

"I suppose we are going right?" said Edmund about an hour later.

"I don't see how we can go wrong as long as we don't bear too much to the left," said Peter. "If we bear too much to the right, the worst that can happen is wasting a little time by striking the great River too soon and not cutting off the corner."

And again they trudged on with no sound except the thud of their feet and the jingle of their chain shirts.

"Where's this bally Rush got to?" said Edmund a good deal later.

"I certainly thought we'd have struck it by now," said Peter. "But there's nothing to do but keep on." They both knew that the Dwarf was looking anxiously at them, but he said nothing.

And still they trudged on and their mail shirts began to feel very hot and heavy.

"What on earth?" said Peter suddenly.

They had come, without seeing it, almost to the edge of a small precipice from which they looked down into a gorge with a river at the bottom. On the far side the cliffs rose much higher. None of the party except Edmund (and perhaps Trumpkin) was a rock climber.

"I'm sorry," said Peter. "It's my fault for coming this way. We're lost. I've never seen this place in my life before."

The Dwarf gave a low whistle between his teeth.

"Oh, do let's go back and go the other way," said Susan. "I knew all along we'd get lost in these woods."

"Susan!" said Lucy, reproachfully, "don't nag at Peter like that. It's so rotten, and he's doing all he can."

"And don't you snap at Su like that, either," said Edmund. "I think she's quite right."

"Tubs and tortoiseshells!" exclaimed Trumpkin. "If we've got lost coming, what chance have we of finding our way back? And if we're to go back to the Island and begin all over again - even supposing we could - we might as well give the whole thing up. Miraz will have finished with Caspian before we get there at that rate."

"You think we ought to go on?" said Lucy.

"I'm not sure the High King is lost," said Trumpkin. "What's to hinder this river being the Rush?"

"Because the Rush is not in a gorge," said Peter, keeping his temper with some difficulty.

"Your Majesty says is," replied the Dwarf, "but oughtn't you to say was? You knew this country hundreds - it may be a thousand - years ago. Mayn't it have changed? A landslide might have pulled off half the side of that hill, leaving bare rock, and there are your precipices beyond the gorge. Then the Rush might go on deepening its course year after year till you get the little precipices this side. Or there might have been an earthquake, or anything."

"I never thought of that," said Peter.

"And anyway," continued Trumpkin, "even if this is not the Rush, it's flowing roughly north and so it must fall into the Great River anyway. I think I passed something that might have been it, on my way down. So if we go downstream, to our right, we'll hit the Great River. Perhaps not so high as we'd hoped, but at least we'll be no worse off than if you'd come my way."

"Trumpkin, you're a brick," said Peter. "Come on, then. Down this side of the gorge."

"Look! Look! Look!" cried Lucy.

"Where? What?" said everyone.

"The Lion," said Lucy. "Aslan himself. Didn't you see?" Her face had changed completely and her eyes shone.

"Do you really mean -?" began Peter.

"Where did you think you saw him?" asked Susan.

"Don't talk like a grown-up," said Lucy, stamping her foot. "I didn't think I saw him. I saw him."

"Where, Lu?" asked Peter.

"Right up there between those mountain ashes. No, this side of the gorge. And up, not down. Just the opposite of the way you want to go. And he wanted us to go where he was - up there."

"How do you know that was what he wanted?" asked Edmund.

"He - I - I just know," said Lucy, "by his face."

The others all looked at each other in puzzled silence.

"Her Majesty may well have seen a lion," put in Trumpkin. "There are lions in these woods, I've been told. But it needn't have been a friendly and talking lion any more than the bear was a friendly and talking bear."

"Oh, don't be so stupid," said Lucy. "Do you think I don't know Aslan when I see him?"

"He'd be a pretty elderly lion by now," said Trumpkin, "if he's one you knew when you were here before! And if it could be the same one, what's to prevent him having gone wild and witless like so many others?"

Lucy turned crimson and I think she would have flown at Trumpkin, if Peter had not laid his hand on her arm. "The D.L.F. doesn't understand. How could he? You must just take it, Trumpkin, that we do really know about Aslan; a little bit about him, I mean. And you mustn't talk about him like that again. It isn't lucky for one thing: and it's all nonsense for another. The only question is whether Aslan was really there."

"But I know he was," said Lucy, her eyes filling with tears.

"Yes, Lu, but we don't, you see," said Peter.

"There's nothing for it but a vote," said Edmund.

"All right," replied Peter. "You're the eldest, D.L.F. What do you vote for? Up or down?"

"Down," said the Dwarf. "I know nothing about Aslan. But I do know that if we turn left and follow the gorge up, it might lead us all day before we found a place where we could cross it. Whereas if we turn right and go down, we're bound to reach the Great River in about a couple of hours. And if there are any real lions about, we want to go away from them, not towards them."

"What do you say, Susan?"

"Don't be angry, Lu," said Susan, "but I do think we should go down. I'm dead tired. Do let's get out of this wretched wood into the open as quick as we can. And none of us except you saw anything."

"Edmund?" said Peter.

"Well, there's just this," said Edmund, speaking quickly and turning a little red. "When we first discovered Narnia a year ago - or a thousand years ago, whichever it is - it was Lucy who discovered it first and none of us would believe her. I was the worst of the lot, I know. Yet she was right after all. Wouldn't it be fair to believe her this time? I vote for going up."

"Oh, Ed!" said Lucy and seized his hand.

"And now it's your turn, Peter," said Susan, "and I do hope -"

"Oh, shut up, shut up and let a chap think," interrupted Peter. "I'd much rather not have to vote. "

"You're the High King," said Trumpkin sternly.

"Down," said Peter after a long pause. "I know Lucy may be right after all, but I can't help it. We must do one or the other."

So they set off to their right along the edge, downstream. And Lucy came last of the party, crying bitterly.

9、露茜看到了什么

绕过最后一个海岬，开始向清水湾逆流而上的时候，苏珊和两个男孩都已经筋疲力尽了。露茜也由于海水反光对眼睛的剌激感到有些头疼。连杜鲁普金都感到疲惫不堪，盼望这航行快些结束。船尾他一直坐着的那个座位原不是为小矮人准备的，所以他的两只脚悬空在那里，一点儿也使不上劲，不难想像那是多么不舒服。随着疲劳感的增加，大家的情绪也渐渐低落下去。开始，他们一心想的是如何尽快找到凯斯宾，而现在他们开始怀疑，即使找到了他，就凭这么几个小不点儿的小矮人和森林里的动物，怎么能够打败一支成年人组成的军队。

当他们慢慢划过清水湾的时候，夜幕已经降临——随着海岸一点点靠近，暮色也越来越浓，河岸上伸出来的树枝不时碰到头上。大海的声音在他们身后渐渐消失了，这里非常安静，甚至能听见潺潺的小溪从森林里流向清水湾。,

他们终于登陆了。谁也没有力气去拾柴点火，更谈不上去捕猎充饥，他们宁愿再吃一顿苹果，尽管苹果已经吃得太多，丝毫不能引起他们的食欲。他们默默地嚼了一阵苹果，

便缩作一团，躺倒在四棵高大栎树下面那层厚厚的枯叶上。

除了露茜以外，其他人倒下便睡着了。露茜没有那么累，所以翻来覆去，怎么躺都觉得不舒服。更糟糕的是，杜鲁普金鼻平声大作，简直像在打雷。她知道，在这种情况下，最好的办法就是不要勉强去睡。于是，她睁开双眼，漫无目标地朝前望去。透过树枝的空隙，她刚好看见河里的一道清水。翻过身来，她又看见了一片星空，不由得激起她对往事的回想。她曾经是多么熟悉纳尼亚的星星，因为作为纳尼亚的女王，晚上何时睡觉，从来不受别人管束。这时，从她躺着的地方，至少可以看到三个夏日星座：轮船星座、铁锤星座和豹子星座。"亲爱的老豹子。"她轻声呼唤着，好像与老朋友久别重逢。

这么一来，她不仅全无睡意，反而更精神了——那是一种奇怪的、只有夜间才有的梦幻般的清醒。海湾亮如白昼，她知道月亮已经升起了，尽管看不见它。忽然，她感到整个森林都像她自己一样苏醒了过来。出于一种莫名的冲动，她迅速站起身，悄悄离开了宿营地

夜晚的空气凉爽、清新，带着幽微的花香。不远处有一只夜莺在歌唱，它时唱时停，悠然自得。前面的光线比较明亮，露茜信步走过去，来到一个树木稀疏的地方。恬静的月光与树木的阴影交织在一起，使人辨不清周围的景物。这时，那夜莺终于定准了调子，开始引吭高歌起来

露茜的眼睛渐渐适应了这里的光线，她便仔细打量起身边的一草一木来，因为她心里充满了对过去那些岁月的怀念。那时，纳尼亚的树木不仅会讲话，简直是能说会道。她深信这些树木都有灵性，而且能化作人形。看那棵银桦，它应该有清脆圆润的嗓子，长得像一位苗条的姑娘，肩上披散着棕色的长发，舞姿极其优美。再看那棵老栋树，它该是二位慈祥并充满智慧的老人，须发苍苍，由于上了年纪，手上的青筋都鼓起来了。还有身边这棵山毛榉，美丽、端庄、高贵、安详。啊，你这森林的女神!

"哦，树神，我的老朋友们！"露茜不由自主地轻声呼唤起来，"你们醒醒，醒醒啊|你们真的睡熟了吗?你们把我忘记了吗?林中仙女，水族仙女，出来吧，到我这儿来吧，"

虽然林子里一丝风也没有，那些树却在她身旁一齐摆动起来，树叶沙沙地响，仿佛在低声诉说着什么。说来奇怪，那只夜莺这时也静了下来，好像也在侧耳倾听。露茜觉得她随时都可能听懂树木在说什么，结果她失望了。沙沙声渐渐消失，夜莺又重新开始了它的歌唱，这使露茜感到茫然若有所失。是自己来得不合时宜，还是做错了什么事，或者说错了什么话?她百思不得其解。

突然，她感到有些累，于是转身走向营地，依偎在苏珊和彼得当中，几分钟之后便进入了梦乡。

清晨，凉气袭人。一觉醒来，大家都感到浑身乏力，打不起精神。森林里透过一缕灰蒙蒙的晨曦(这时太阳还没升起)，到处都显得潮湿、脏乱。

"来呀，吃苹果，又香又脆的大苹果!”杜鲁普金怪腔怪调地喊着，一边拿起一只苹果，皱着眉头看了看，又把它放下了。

孩子们懒懒地站起身来，使劲摇摇头，使自己清醒起来，然后向四周望去。树林很茂密，朝哪个方向都望不出很远。

"我猎各位一定很熟悉道路吧?"小矮人问。

"我不熟悉，"苏珊说，"从来没见过这些树林。实际上我一直在想，我们应该顺河而上的。"

"你当时怎么不说?"由于心情不好，彼得的话有些尖刻。

"喂，别听她的，"爱德蒙说，"她总是让人扫兴。彼得，你带着那个袖珍指南针了吧?好，那我们就不怕了，我们只要一直朝西北方向走，穿过那条小河，你们叫它什么来着，拉什河？

"柏卢纳渡口，是那条小河与大河汇合的地方，"彼得说，"或者按DLF的叫法，柏卢纳大桥口"

"对，我们走过桥去，一直往山上爬，九点钟以前就能到达石桌，也就是阿斯兰堡垒。我相信凯斯宾国王将款待我们一顿丰盛的早餐!”

"但愿如此，"苏珊说，"我怎么对这里的地形一点儿印象都没有呢?"

"女孩子最糟的就是这个了，"爱德蒙对彼得和小矮人说，"她们的脑袋瓜里根本没有放地图的地方。"

"那是因为我们的脑袋瓜里装着别的东西。"露茜反驳道。

开始，似乎一切都还顺利，他们相信走的是正确的路线。可是，假如你对森林有些起码的常识，那你就会知道走在森林里的人们常常会被想像出来的道路所迷惑。因为，过不了几分钟，脚下的路便消失了。于是，你的眼睛马上转向另一条路，希望这是刚才那条路的延续。走不多远，这条路又不见了。你最后将发现，原来脚下根本就不是路。好在两个男孩子和那小矮人都在森林里走惯了，所以也没有绕多少弯路。

他们吃力而缓慢地向前走了大约有半个钟头(他们中间有三个由于昨天划船，直到现在还浑身酸痛)，突然，杜鲁普金悄声说"停！"大家立刻紧张地停下脚步。"有什么东西在跟踪我们，"小矮人把声音压得很低，"或者说它在与我们平行前进——就在左边那儿。"孩子们紧张地站在原地，眼睛盯着小矮人于指的地方，半天也不见有什么动静。"我们俩最好在弓上搭一支箭。"苏珊对杜鲁普金说。小矮人点点头，表示赞成。当两张弓都箭在弦上后，大家才多了些安全感，又继续向前走。

他们十分警觉地在一片较为开阔的林子里又走了几十米，然后来到一个灌木茂密的地方。猛然间，随着一声呼啸，一只什么野兽从灌木后面猛扑过来。露茜猝不及防，一下被扑倒在地上，打了几个滚儿。她在跌倒的一刹那，听见嗒的一声弓弦响。当她清醒过来时，看到一只面曰狰狞的大灰熊，躺在地上，已经气绝身亡。熊的大脑袋上还插着杜鲁普金的一支箭。

"在这场射箭比赛中，DLF可是把你打败啦，苏。"彼得勉强笑了一下，试图缓和这场虚惊造成的紧张。

"我……箭放得太迟了，"苏珊说，那样子很窘，"我真怕那会是一只，你们知道——只有灵性的熊，一只会讲话的熊。"还有一句没有说出口的话，那就是她不愿意伤害任何一条生命。'

"这就麻烦了。"杜鲁普金说，"不错，有些纳尼亚的后代至今仍活在世上，可大部分动物都是哑巴，都是敌人，你很难分辨出来。"

"我想到了老布鲁恩，"苏珊说，"你当时就没有想到会是布鲁恩吗?"

"不是，"那小矮人说，"我看到了那张脸，也听到了那声呼啸，它只不过是想要这小姑娘做早餐。刚才你说，你指望凯斯宾国王能款待你们一顿丰盛的早餐，我真不想扫你们的兴。说实话，营地里的肉少得可怜。听我说，朋友们，熊肉的味道肯定不错。我们要是不带上点儿熊肉，那可太遗憾了。怎么样，咱们顶多耽误半个钟头。我敢说，你们两个小伙子——对不起，我该说国王陛下——该知道怎么剥熊皮的吧?"8

"咱们到别的什么地方坐一会儿，"苏珊对露茜说，"我知道那活儿有多么脏，多么恶心。"露茜打了个哆嗦，立即站起来随姐姐走开，一边说，"苏，我脑子里闪过一个非常可怕的念头。"

"什么?"

"要是有一天，在我们自己的世界里，有人野蛮地向你冲过来，就像这儿的野兽，可样子却仍然是人，你也搞不清他是人是兽是敌是友，那不是很可怕吗?"

"我们在纳尼亚麻烦已经够多的了，"苏珊非常现实地说，"你不要幻想那样的事情了。"

剥熊皮的工作进行得很顺利，马上又要出发了。他们尽可能多地带上切割下来的熊肉。口袋不好装，他们便仔细地把肉包在新鲜的树叶里面。经验告诉他们，待会儿走累了，肚子饿了的时候，这些又湿又软、令人反感的小包包会有大用处的。

他们继续艰难地向前走。直到旭日东升，小鸟又开始歌唱，他们在一条小溪旁停了下来，仔细洗干净了三双沾满熊血的手。不知不觉中，昨天划船引起的浑身酸痛完全消失了，大家的情绪又振奋起来。

"咱们的方向没错吧?”一个钟头之后爱德蒙问道。

"我们并没有向左边去得太多，我还看不出来现在的方向会有什么不对。"彼得说，"要是咱们走得太靠右边，充其量不过是浪费一点时间;因为那样我们就会过早地靠近河边，从那里到河湾的路会难走一些。"

于是，他们继续往前走，谁也不说话，只有他们的脚步声和衣服的慧翠声。

"这可恨的河口在什么地方?"过了老半天爱德蒙说。

"我刚才满以为这会儿就该到了，"彼得说，"可现在只有继续向前走，别无选择。"他俩都发觉那小矮人正忧心忡忡地望着他们，便没有再说什么。

他们不停地走呀走，身上的盔甲开始变得沉重起来，使他们感到十分闷热。

"这是怎么回事?"彼得突然停下脚步。

不知不觉中他们来到一个悬崖的边缘，从这儿居高临下，可以看到一条峡谷，以及谷底的河流。对面的峭壁要离得多。除了爱德蒙以外(也许还有杜鲁普金)，谁也不曾在岩石上攀禑妄。

"真糟糕，"彼得说，"我们迷路了，以前从来没有见到过这个地方。对不起，这都怪我。"

小矮人轻轻吹了声口哨。

"唉，要不咱们返回去，从另一条路走吧，"苏珊苦着脸说，"我早就知道在这些树林里我们要迷路的。"

"苏珊!”露茜责备地看了她一眼，"别那么说，彼得已经尽了最大的努力。"

"你也别这样对苏珊讲话，"爱德蒙在一边打抱不平，"我想她的话是对的。"

"啧啧啧!”杜鲁普金抱怨道，"要是我们迷了路，怎样才能摸回去呢?况且，即便咱们又回到岛上，一切从头开始——假设那是可能的话——咱们可就把什么事都给耽误啦。因为那样的话，不等我们到达那里，弥若兹就已经把凯斯宾打垮了。"

"你认为我们应该继续往前走?"露茜问。

"不知道，"杜鲁普金耸耸肩膀，"隆下，你肯定咱们已误入歧途?你能断定这里不是河口吗?"

"因为河口不在峡谷里。"彼得说，竭力忍住没有发火。"隆下，是不是应该说:‘过去不在峡谷里?"小矮人仍不死心，"你所熟悉的是几百年甚至几千年以前的纳尼亚。这么多年过去了，难道它就不会改变?一次大塌方，就完全可能把那座山削去一面，留下光秃秃的岩石，成为峡谷那边的峭壁。以后，年复一年，端急的河流不断地冲击河槽，结果在这一面又形成了我们脚下的悬崖。我们还可以设想，这里曾经发生过地震之类的事情。"

"我从来没有想到过这些。"彼得说。

"无论如何，"杜鲁普金接着说，"即便这不是河口，可它涓涓流向北方，势将汇入那条大河口来的路上我似乎曾经走过这个地方。因此，假如我们朝下游走，再往右拐..

"看!快看!你们快看！"露茜突然叫了起来。

"哪里?什么?"大家顺着她手指的方向望去。

"狮子，"露茜激动不己，两只大眼睛闪闪发光，"就是阿斯兰，你们没有看见吗?U

"你是说——阿斯兰?”彼得顿时睁大了双眼。"你以为它在什么地方?"苏珊不大相信。

"不是以为，"露茜使劲跺着脚，"千真万确，我真的看到了阿斯兰!”

"在哪儿，露?"彼得问。

"就在山顶上，那些按树之间。不，在峡谷的这一边，往上看——它想要我们到它那儿去，与你选择的方向正好相反。"

"你怎么知道它想要我们去?”爱德蒙问。

"它……我……反正我知道，"露茜说，"从它的脸上可以看出来。"

大家迷惑不解地互相望一望，谁也不讲话。

"露茜女王隆下很可能真的看到了一头狮子，"杜鲁普金插嘴说，"这些树林里当然有狮子，而且肯定不止一头，这我太知道了。但它未必是一头友好的、会讲话的狮子，就像刚才那头熊一样。"

"噢，别傻了，"露茜说，"你以为我看见了阿斯兰会认不出来吗?"

"它现在该是一头老态龙钟的狮子了，"杜鲁普金说，"假如它就是你们的那位老相识，老朋友l再说，如果是它，谁又能够担保这么多年之后，它不会像许多其他的动物一样，变野变蠢呢

露茜一下子脸色通红，要不是彼得把一只手放在她肩膀上，她简直会扑向杜鲁普金。

"DLF是不明白的，他怎么会呢?"彼得一边安慰露茜，一边转向小矮人，"你记住，杜鲁普金，我们才真正了解阿斯兰，你不可以再那样谈论它了。现在必须搞清楚阿斯兰是否真的在那里。"

"我发誓，刚才就是在那儿的。"露茜说，眼睛里充满了泪水。

"或许是的，露。可是只有你看见了它，我们都没有看见。"

"我们没有别的办法了，大家表决吧。"爱德蒙说。

"好吧，"彼得回答道，"你年纪最大，DLF，你投什么票?往上走，还是往下?"

"往下，"小矮人毫不迟疑地说，"我对阿斯兰一无所知，可我确实知道倘若咱们向左拐，再顺着峡谷往上走，那可能得走一天才能找到一个可以过河的地方;可是如果往下游去，再往右拐，咱们肯定能在两个小时之内到达大河。再说，要是附近真的有狮子的话，咱们应该避开它们，而不要走近它们。"

"你怎么说，苏珊γ'

"你别生气，露，"苏珊说，"我真的认为我们应该朝下游走，我累极了，咱们赶紧离开这可恶的森林，到露天的空地去吧。我和大家一样，希望看到阿斯兰。可是，除了你一个人之外，我们大家什么都没看见。"

"爱德蒙?"彼得说。

"嗯，是这样，"爱德蒙讲得很快，脸色微微发红，"一年以前，咱们第一次发现纳尼亚的时候——也许是一千年以前，这个不去管它——是露茜首先发现了这个奇妙的国度，而我们都不相信她。我表现最糟了，这我知道。可事实证明她是对的，这一次我要支持她，也算向露茜表示歉意。我投票赞成向上游走。"

"噢，爱德蒙！"露茜紧紧抓住他的手。

"现在轮到你了，彼得，"苏珊说，"我真希望——"

"嘿，别说!让人家自己思考，"彼得打断了她的话，"我想我最好不参加投票。"

"你是至尊王。"杜鲁普金庄重地提醒道。

"向下。"沉默许久，彼得终于说，"我知道露茜很可能还是对的，但是……我没有别的办法，两者之中我们必须选择其一。

就这样，他们沿着右边的悬崖，朝下游出发了，露茜走在最后面，哭得好伤心。

引用

CHAPTER ELEVEN THE LION ROARS

WHEN the whole party was finally awake Lucy had to tell her story for the fourth time. The blank silence which followed it was as discouraging as anything could be.

"I can't see anything," said Peter after he had stared his eyes sore. "Can you, Susan?"

"No, of course I can't," snapped Susan. "Because there isn't anything to see. She's been dreaming. Do lie down and go to sleep, Lucy."

"And I do hope," said Lucy in a tremulous voice, "that you will all come with me. Because - because I'll have to go with him whether anyone else does or not."

"Don't talk nonsense, Lucy," said Susan. "Of course you can't go off on your own. Don't let her, Peter. She's being downright naughty."

"I'll go with her, if she must go," said Edmund. "She's been right before."

"I know she has," said Peter. "And she may have been right this morning. We certainly had no luck going down the gorge. Still - at this hour of the night. And why should Aslan be invisible to us? He never used to be. It's not like him. What does the D.L.F. say?"

"Oh, I say nothing at all," answered the Dwarf. "If you all go, of course, I'll go with you; and if your party splits up, I'll go with the High King. That's my duty to him and King Caspian. But, if you ask my private opinion, I'm a plain dwarf who doesn't think there's much chance of finding a road by night where you couldn't find one by day. And I have no use for magic lions which are talking lions and don't talk, and friendly lions though they don't do us any good, and whopping big lions though nobody can see them. It's all bilge and beanstalks as far as I can see."

"He's beating his paw on the ground for us to hurry," said Lucy. "We must go now. At least I must."

"You've no right to try to force the rest of us like that. It's four to one and you're the youngest," said Susan.

"Oh, come on," growled Edmund. "We've got to go. There'll be no peace till we do." He fully intended to back Lucy up, but he was annoyed at losing his night's sleep and was making up for it by doing everything as sulkily as possible.

"On the march, then," said Peter, wearily fitting his arm into his shield-strap and putting his helmet on. At any other time he would have said something nice to Lucy, who was his favourite sister, for he knew how wretched she must be feeling, and he knew that, whatever had happened, it was not her fault. But he couldn't help being a little annoyed with her all the same.

Susan was the worst. "Supposing I started behaving like Lucy," she said. "I might threaten to stay here whether the rest of you went on or not. I jolly well think I shall."

"Obey the High King, your Majesty," said Trumpkin, "and let's be off. If I'm not to be allowed to sleep, I'd as soon march as stand here talking."

And so at last they got on the move. Lucy went first, biting her lip and trying not to say all the things she thought of saying to Susan. But she forgot them when she fixed her eyes on Aslan. He turned and walked at a slow pace about thirty yards ahead of them. The others had only Lucy's directions to guide them, for Aslan was not only invisible to them but silent as well. His big cat-like paws made no noise on the grass.

He led them to the right of the dancing trees - whether they were still dancing nobody knew, for Lucy had her eyes on the Lion and the rest had their eyes on Lucy - and nearer the edge of the gorge. "Cobbles and kettledrums!" thought Trumpkin. "I hope this madness isn't going to end in a moonlight climb and broken necks."

For a long way Aslan went along the top of the precipices. Then they came to a place where some little trees grew right on the edge. He turned and disappeared among them. Lucy held her breath, for it looked as if he had plunged over the cliff; but she was too busy keeping him in sight to stop and think about this. She quickened her pace and was soon among the trees herself. Looking down, she could see a steep and narrow path going slantwise down into the gorge between rocks, and Aslan descending it. He turned and looked at her with his happy eyes. Lucy clapped her hands and began to scramble down after him. From behind her she heard the voices of the others shouting, "Hi! Lucy! Look out, for goodness' sake. You're right on the edge of the gorge. Come back - "and then, a moment later, Edmund's voice saying, "No, she's right. There is a way down."

Half-way down the path Edmund caught up with her.

"Look!" he said in great excitement. "Look! What's that shadow crawling down in front of us?"

"It's his shadow," said Lucy.

"I do believe you're right, Lu," said Edmund. "I can't think how I didn't see it before. But where is he?"

"With his shadow, of course. Can't you see him?"

"Well, I almost thought I did - for a moment. It's such a rum light."

"Get on, King Edmund, get on," came Trumpkin's voice from behind and above: and then, farther behind and still nearly at the top, Peter's voice saying, "Oh, buck up, Susan. Give me your hand. Why, a baby could get down here. And do stop grousing."

In a few minutes they were at the bottom and the roaring of water filled their ears. Treading delicately, like a cat, Aslan stepped from stone to stone across the stream. In the middle he stopped, bent down to drink, and as he raised his shaggy head, dripping from the water, he turned to face them again. This time Edmund saw him. "Oh, Aslan!" he cried, darting forward. But the Lion whisked round and began padding up the slope on the far side of the Rush.

"Peter, Peter," cried Edmund. "Did you see?"

"I saw something," said Peter. "But it's so tricky in this moonlight. On we go, though, and three cheers for Lucy. I don't feel half so tired now, either."

Aslan without hesitation led them to their left, farther up the gorge. The whole journey was odd and dream-like the roaring stream, the wet grey grass, the glimmering cliffs which they were approaching, and always the glorious, silently pacing Beast ahead. Everyone except Susan and the Dwarf could see him now.

Presently they came to another steep path, up the face of the farther precipices. These were far higher than the ones they had just descended, and the journey up them was a long and tedious zig-zag. Fortunately the Moon shone right above the gorge so that neither side was in shadow.

Lucy was nearly blown when the tail and hind legs of Aslan disappeared over the top: but with one last effort she scrambled after him and came out, rather shaky-legged and breathless, on the hill they had been trying to reach ever since they left Glasswater. The long gentle slope (heather and grass and a few very big rocks that shone white in the moonlight) stretched up to where it vanished in a glimmer of trees about half a mile away. She knew it. It was the hill of the Stone Table:

With a jingling of mail the others climbed up behind her. Aslan glided on before them and they walked after him.

"Lucy," said Susan in a very small voice.

"Yes?" said Lucy.

"I see him now. I'm sorry."

"That's all right."

"But I've been far worse than you know. I really believed it was him - he, I mean - yesterday. When he warned us not to go down to the fir wood. And I really believed it was him tonight, when you woke us up. I mean, deep down inside. Or I could have, if I'd let myself. But I just wanted to get out of the woods and - and - oh, I don't know. And what ever am I to say to him?"

"Perhaps you won't need to say much," suggested Lucy.

Soon they reached the trees and through them the children could see the Great Mound, Aslan's How, which had been raised over the Table since their days.

"Our side don't keep very good watch," muttered Trumpkin. "We ought to have been challenged before now -"

"Hush!" said the other four, for now Aslan had stopped and turned and stood facing them, looking so majestic that they felt as glad as anyone can who feels afraid, and as afraid as anyone can who feels glad. The boys strode forward: Lucy made way for them: Susan and the Dwarf shrank back.

"Oh, Aslan," said King Peter, dropping on one knee and raising the Lion's heavy paw to his face, "I'm so glad. And I'm so sorry. I've been leading them wrong ever since we started and especially yesterday morning."

"My dear son," said Aslan.

Then he turned and welcomed Edmund. "Well done," were his words.

Then, after an awful pause, the deep voice said, "Susan." Susan made no answer but the others thought she was crying. "You have listened to fears, child," said Aslan. "Come, let me breathe on you. Forget them. Are you brave again?"

"A little, Aslan," said Susan.

"And now!" said Aslan in a much louder voice with just a hint of roar in it, while his tail lashed his flanks. "And now, where is this little Dwarf, this famous swordsman and archer, who doesn't believe in lions? Come here, son of Earth, come HERE!" - and the last word was no longer the hint of a roar but almost the real thing.

"Wraiths and wreckage!" gasped Trumpkin in the ghost of a voice. The children, who knew Aslan well enough to see that he liked the Dwarf very much, were not disturbed; but it was quite another thing for Trumpkin, who had never seen a lion before, let alone this Lion. He did the only sensible thing he could have done; that is, instead of bolting, he tottered towards Aslan.

Aslan pounced. Have you ever seen a very young kitten being carried in the mother cat's mouth? It was like that. The Dwarf, hunched up in a little, miserable ball, hung from Aslan's mouth. The Lion gave him one shake and all his armour rattled like a tinker's pack and then - heypresto - the Dwarf flew up in the air. He was as safe as if he had been in bed, though he did not feel so. As he came down the huge velvety paws caught him as gently as a mother's arms and set him (right way up, too) on the ground.

"Son of Earth, shall we be friends?" asked Aslan.

"Ye - he - he - hes," panted the Dwarf, for it had not yet got its breath back.

"Now," said Aslan. "The Moon is setting. Look behind you: there is the dawn beginning. We have no time to lose. You three, you sons of Adam and son of Earth, hasten into the Mound and deal with what you will find there."

The Dwarf was still speechless and neither of the boys dared to ask if Aslan would follow them. All three drew their swords and saluted, then turned and jingled away into the dusk. Lucy noticed that there was no sign of weariness in their faces: both the High King and King Edmund looked more like men than boys.

The girls watched them out of sight, standing close beside Aslan. The light was changing. Low down in the east, Aravir, the morning star of Narnia, gleamed like a little moon. Aslan, who seemed larger than before, lifted his head, shook his mane, and roared.

The sound, deep and throbbing at first like an organ beginning on a low note, rose and became louder, and then far louder again, till the earth and air were shaking with it. It rose up from that hill and floated across all Narnia. Down in Miraz's camp men woke, stared palely in one another's faces, and grasped their weapons. Down below that in the Great River, now at its coldest hour, the heads and shoulders of the nymphs, and the great weedy-bearded head of the river-god, rose from the water. Beyond it, in every field and wood, the alert ears of rabbits rose from their holes, the sleepy heads of birds came out from under wings, owls hooted, vixens barked, hedgehogs grunted, the trees stirred. In towns and villages mothers pressed babies close to their breasts, staring with wild eyes, dogs whimpered, and men leaped up groping for lights. Far away on the northern frontier the mountain giants peered from the dark gateways of their castles.

What Lucy and Susan saw was a dark something coming to them from almost every direction across the hills. It looked first like a black mist creeping on the ground, then like the stormy waves of a black sea rising higher and higher as it came on, and then, at last, like what it was woods on the move. All the trees of the world appeared to be rushing towards Aslan. But as they drew nearer they looked less like trees; and when the whole crowd, bowing and curtsying and waving thin long arms to Aslan, were all around Lucy, she saw that it was a crowd of human shapes. Pale birch-girls were tossing their heads, willowwomen pushed back their hair from their brooding faces to gaze on Aslan, the queenly beeches stood still and adored him, shaggy oak-men, lean and melancholy elms, shockheaded hollies (dark themselves, but their wives all bright with berries) and gay rowans, all bowed and rose again, shouting, "Aslan, Aslan!" in their various husky or creaking or wave-like voices.

The crowd and the dance round Aslan (for it had become a dance once more) grew so thick and rapid that Lucy was confused. She never saw where certain other people came from who were soon capering about among the trees. One was a youth, dressed only in a fawn-skin, with vine-leaves wreathed in his curly hair. His face would have been almost too pretty for a boy's, if it had not looked, so extremely wild. You felt, as Edmund said when he saw him a few days later, "There's a chap who might do anything absolutely anything." He seemed to have a great many names - Bromios, Bassareus, and the Ram were three of them. There were a lot of girls with him, as wild as he. There was even, unexpectedly, someone on a donkey. And everybody was laughing: and everybody was shouting out, "Euan, euan, eu-oi-oi-oi."

"Is it a Romp, Aslan?" cried the youth. And apparently it was. But nearly everyone seemed to have a different idea as to what they were playing. It may have been Tig, but Lucy never discovered who was It. It was rather like Blind Man's Buff, only everyone behaved as if they were blindfolded. It was not unlike Hunt the Slipper, but the slipper was never found. What made it more complicated was that the man on the donkey, who was old and enormously fat, began calling out at once, "Refreshments! Time for refreshments," and falling off his donkey and being bundled on to it again by the others, while the donkey was under the impression that the whole thing was a circus and tried to give a display of walking on its hind legs. And all the time there were more and more vine leaves everywhere. And soon not only leaves but vines. They were climbing up everything. They were running up the legs of the tree people and circling round their necks. Lucy put up her hands to push back her hair and found she was pushing back vine branches. The donkey was a mass of them. His tail was completely entangled and something dark was nodding between his ears. Lucy looked again and saw it was a bunch of grapes. After that it was mostly grapes overhead and underfoot and all around.

"Refreshments! Refreshments," roared the old man.

Everyone began eating, and whatever hothouses your people may have, you have never tasted such grapes. Really good grapes, firm and tight on the outside, but bursting into cool sweetness when you put them into your mouth, were one of the things the girls had never had quite enough of before. Here, there were more than anyone could possibly want, and rib table-manners at all. One saw sticky and stained fingers everywhere, and, though mouths were full, the laughter never ceased nor the yodelling cries of Euan, euan, eu-oi-oi-oi-oi, till all of a sudden everyone felt at the same moment that the game (whatever it was), and the feast, ought to be over, and everyone flopped down breathless on the ground and turned their faces to Aslan to hear what he would say next.

At that moment the sun was just rising and Lucy remembered something and whispered to Susan,

"I say, Su, I know who they are."

"Who?"

"The boy with the wild face is Bacchus and the old one on the donkey is Silenus. Don't you remember Mr Tumnus telling us about them long ago?"

"Yes, of course. But I say, Lu "

"What?"

"I wouldn't have felt safe with Bacchus and all his wild girls if we'd met them without Aslan."

"I should think not," said Lucy.

11、雄狮长啸

终于，其他四个人都醒了过来。露茜不得不第四遍重复要讲的话。随之而来的长时间沉默，使她感到很沮丧。

彼得盯着前面的树林，把眼睛都看酸了。"我什么都没看见。你呢，苏珊?"

"没有，当然什么也看不见。"苏珊说，听上去她有些不高兴。"因为那儿根本什么都没有，她是在说梦话。露，快躺下睡觉，听话。"

"我真希望你们大家和我一起去，"露茜的声音有些颤抖，"因为——因为不论你们来或不来，我必须随它而去。"

"别胡扯，露茜，"苏珊说，"毫无疑问，你不可以独自离开。彼得，别让她去，她故意胡闹！"

"假如她执意要去，我将跟她一块儿去，"爱德蒙说，"她一直是对的。"

"这我知道，"彼得说，"而且很可能她现在还是正确的。显而易见，从下游走出峡谷这条路行不通，更何况在夜里这个时候。再说，阿斯兰为什么不让我们看到它呢?它过去从来不是这样，这不像它的为人。DLF，你怎么想?"

“我没什么说的，”小矮人回答道，“要是你们都去，当然，我也一起去。要是你们分成两路，我将跟随至尊王尊敬的彼得陛下，因为这是我的本分。然而，假如你问我个人的意见，这个嘛——我不过是个头脑简单的小矮人，我以为在白天都找不着路，夜里找到它的希望更校况且，对那法力无边的狮子，我也不喜欢——它会讲话却不肯讲话，非常友好却不给我们以帮助，战无不胜却又没人能看到它。这就是我想说的话，不起作用，请大家不要见笑。”

“瞧，它用爪子拍打着草地，是在催我们了。”露茜望着前面焦急地说，“咱们必须马上动身。你们不走，我可要走了。”

“你没有权利这样勉强我们大家听你的胡话。现在是四比一，你又年龄最校”苏珊说。

“嗨，快些行动吧，”爱德蒙有些不耐烦了，“我们只有去一趟，别无选择，呆在这里将会是无休止的争吵。”他有心全力支持露茜，却又因为被打搅了美梦而不很高兴，结果表现得似乎在与大伙儿怄气。

“那么走吧。”彼得一边说一边懒懒地穿上盔甲。如果换个其他场合，他都会对露茜说些鼓励或安慰的话，因为她毕竟是他最喜爱的小妹妹。他心里清楚，此时露茜一定十分难过，而且不论刚才发生了什么，都不是她的过错。然而，他也不由自主地对她有点儿恼火。

最不高兴的要数苏珊了。“我要是像露茜那么蛮不讲理，我现在就赖在这里不走，不管你们上哪儿去!我真想这么做!”

“请服从至尊王，尊敬的女王陛下，”杜鲁普金说，“我们这就上路吧。如果不能继续睡觉，我宁愿少讲话，多走路。”

一行人终于出发了。露茜走在最前面，她咬紧嘴唇，把一肚子想对苏珊说的话咽了下去。说也奇怪，她抬眼看到阿斯兰，便一下子把那些抱怨的话忘到九霄云外去了，阿斯兰在他们前面大约二十米开外，不慌不忙地领路。其他人只有跟着露茜。他们不仅看不到阿斯兰，也听不到它的声音。它那猫爪一样的巨爪落在草地上，悄然无声。

孩子们在阿斯兰的引导下，从舞蹈树林的右侧走过。谁也不知道那些树神是否仍在翩翩起舞，因为露茜紧盯着阿斯兰，其他人又紧盯着露茜，加上峡谷近在咫尺，谁也不敢大意。“上帝保佑，上帝保佑!”杜鲁普金嘴里不停地嘟哝着，“但愿这疯狂的举动不要以跌下悬崖粉身碎骨而告结束!”-

阿斯兰领他们沿着悬崖峭壁走了很长一段路，然后来到一个地方。崖边长着一些小树。它转个弯，消失在小树丛中。露茜一下屏住了呼吸。怎么，要从这悬崖跳下去?可是她必须跟紧阿斯兰，不能失去它的踪迹。来不及停下来细想，她加快脚步，一下子也消失在小树丛中。朝下望去，她看到一条陡直的羊肠小道，通向那夹在黑压压巨大岩石之间的峡谷底部，阿斯兰正沿着小路往下走。它忽然转过身来，用满意和鼓励的目光看着她。露茜拍拍手，随它而下。这时身后传来其他人的喊声：“喂，露茜，当心！上帝呀!你就在悬崖的边缘!快回来——”可是紧接着又传来爱德蒙的声音：“不，她没错，这儿是有一条往下去的小路。”

爱德蒙在半道追上了露茜。他激动地大声说：“看!在咱们前面的那个黑影是谁?”

那就是它的身影。”

“我们相信你是正确的，露。可奇怪的是，原先我怎么就看不见那身影呢?现在它在什么地方?”

“当然和影子在一起啰。你还看不见它?”

“我想刚才是看见了一下。光线太暗了。”

“快走畦，爱德蒙国王，快走。”身后传来杜鲁普金的催促声。接着，再往后，在靠近崖顶的地方，传来彼得的声音：“苏珊，勇敢些，把手伸给我。瞧你，小娃娃也能走到这里来，别吓成那个样子。”

没有多久，他们便都来到了峡谷的底部，湍急的河水发出很大的响声。阿斯兰在露出水面的大石头上猫一般灵巧地跳跃着，几下便跳到小河中部。它停住脚步，低头喝水。当它昂起那粗毛蓬松的头时，又转过脸来看一看孩子们。这下爱德蒙看见它了。“噢，阿斯兰!”他一边大声叫着，一边向前扑去。可阿斯兰倏地转过身，纵身跃到彼岸，沿着河开始向上游走去。

“彼得，彼得，”爱德蒙喊道，“你看到了吗?”

“我看见了什么?”彼得说，“在月光下，什么也看不清楚。继续走吧，我这会儿并不感到怎么累。现在，让我们向露茜欢呼致敬。多亏了她。”

阿斯兰毫不迟疑地领他们向左边上游的方向走去。一路上大家都有种奇怪的感觉，仿佛在做梦——那奔流的河水、湿润的草地、隐约的峭壁，还有走在前面那威严却一直默默无语的雄狮。此刻，除了苏珊和小矮人，别人都可以清楚地看到阿斯兰了。

不久，他们来到另一条陡峭的小路前。这条小路一直通向崖项。与刚刚走下来的河对岸的山崖相比，这边高多了，也险多了。值得庆幸的是，这时月亮恰好悬挂在峡谷的上方，把两岸山崖都照得雪亮。

当阿斯兰的身影在崖顶上消失之后，露茜差点儿泄了气。她鼓足最后的勇气，奋力登上崖项。这时她已是两腿发颤，上气不接下气了。自从离开清水湾以来，他们历尽了千辛万苦。这时她狂喜地看到，目的地就在眼前。一段不陡的坡地从容地向前延伸，直到数百米以外的一个小山丘，山丘上覆盖着绿色的树。露茜知道，那就是石桌所在地。

随着盔甲的丁当声，其他人一个接一个登上了崖顶。阿斯兰仍然默默地走在前面，领大家向小山丘走去。

“露茜。”苏珊轻声唤道。

“哎，什么事?”

“我现在看见它了。我向你道歉。”

“没关系。”

“你不知道，我比你想像的更糟。昨天，就在你第一次提醒大家，说阿斯兰警告我们不要到下游杉树林去的时候，我就相信你准是见到阿斯兰了。而且今天夜里你把我们唤醒时，我内心深处也是相信你的。可我一心想尽快离开树林，而且……唉，我也说不清楚是怎么搞的。现在，让我怎么向阿斯兰说呢?”

“你不必说这么许多。”露茜建议道。

不久，他们便来到树林跟前。透过树木的间隙，孩子们看到了阿斯兰堡垒，那是在他们统治的时代之后建筑在石桌上方的。

“我们的人警戒并不十分严密，”小矮人低声说，“否则早就该向我们进攻了。”

“嘘!”孩子们立刻制止了他。他们看到阿斯兰停下脚步，转过身来，默默地望着他们。那目光仿佛有种强大的魔力，使他们又高兴，又有些胆怯。两个男孩率先向它走去，露茜紧随其后，苏珊和小矮人走在最后面。

“阿斯兰!”国王彼得第一次走到雄狮面前，单腿下跪，拿起一只巨大的狮爪在脸颊上亲了一下，“见到你我高兴万分。我很抱歉，领大家走了这么多弯路，耽误了很多时间——尤其是从昨天早晨以来。”

“我亲爱的儿子，”阿斯兰亲切地说道，转身迎向爱德蒙，“你干得不错。”它夸奖道：沉默了一会，它又用那深沉的声音呼唤道：“苏珊。”苏珊没有回答，别的孩子都感觉到她在哭泣。“你几乎被恐惧所征服，孩子。过来，让我帮助你。”阿斯兰说着，向走近身边的苏珊吹了口气。“忘紵妄去吧。现在，你是否又恢复了勇气?”

“有一些了，阿斯兰。”苏珊答道。

“现在!”阿斯兰转而提高了声音，尾巴拍打着自己的身体，“现在，请你们告诉我，那位矮小的小矮人，著名的剑手和骑士，那位不相信我阿斯兰的朋友，他在哪里?到这儿来，大地的儿子，过来!”最后两个字简直就是吼出来的，带着撼人的威力。

“上帝保佑，上帝保佑，唷嗬嗬……”由于极度的敬畏和紧张，那小矮人叽里咕噜，嘴里不停地念叨着什么。孩子们都很熟悉阿斯兰，看得出它十分喜欢杜鲁普金，所以都让到一边，饶有兴趣地看着。杜鲁普金此刻的心情却大不一样。他从未见过狮子，更不曾单独与一头狮子呆在一起。好在他没有慌忙逃走，而是战战兢兢地向狮子挪过去，这倒是明智的。

阿斯兰猛地一扑，一口把他咬住，翻身又是一跃。你可曾见过猫妈妈衔着小宝宝跳跃的情景?现在就是那样的场面。

杜鲁普金被阿斯兰衔在嘴里，吓得缩作一团，一副可怜的样子。阿斯兰把头一摆，小矮人身上的盔甲便发出丁丁当当的响声，十分悦耳。接着，只听狮子嘿的一声，眨眼间小矮人已被抛到空中。大家都明白小矮人像躺在家里一样安全，惟独他本人在心里说：“完了!”当他从空中落下来时，阿斯兰用它巨大柔软的爪子轻轻地一接，再稳稳当当地把他放在地上。

“大地的儿子，让我们做个朋友，好吗?”阿斯兰问。

“好……好吧。”小矮人大口喘着气，惊魂未定。

“孩子们，”阿斯兰说，“月亮就要下去了，看看身后，东方已经露出晨曦。我们不能浪费时间了。你们三个，亚当和大地的儿子们，立即进入堡垒，看看那里面是怎样的情形。”

小矮人仍然一言不发，两个男孩谁也不敢开口问阿斯兰是否随后就来。三个人抽出宝剑，一齐向阿斯兰行个礼，然后转过身去，很快便消失在夜色中。露茜注意到他们脸上毫无倦意，只有男子汉一往直前的坚毅和果敢。

两个女孩紧靠在阿斯兰身边，默默地注视着他们三个人的背影。这时光线起了变化，在低垂的东方，阿罗维尔，那颗纳尼亚的晨星像一轮小小的月亮，发出明亮、柔和的光芒。袩外下的阿斯兰显得特别高大。它昂起头，摆动着鬣毛，放声长啸起来。

那声音深沉、有力，仿佛风琴从低音奏起，音调越来越高，音量越来越大，直到大地和空气都随之震颤。那吼声从他们脚下的小山上发出，很快向四面八方传去，震撼了整个纳尼亚。弥若兹的军队被惊醒了，士兵们一个个面无血色，茫然不知所措，老半天才想起去抓自己的武器；大河的下游，在这清晨最寒冷的时刻，树神扬起了头，水神也从河里探起身来。更远的地方，在每一块田野上，每一片树林里，窝里的兔子竖起了耳朵，熟睡的小鸟儿也把脑袋从翅膀下面伸了出来；各种动物的叫声汇成一支奇妙的交响乐。在城镇，在乡村，母亲们把孩子更紧地抱在怀里，睁大了眼睛聆听着。男人们则跳下床来，伸手去抓猎熗。连院子里的狗也忍不住汪汪叫个不停。在北部边陲的山上，巨人们揉着惺忪的睡眼，走出黑黑的山洞，想看看究竟发生了什么事。

露茜和苏珊看到大片黑乎乎的什么东西从四面八方向她们拥来。猛一看像是掠过地面的黑影，再看又像风暴中的黑色海浪，一浪压过一浪，滚滚而来，势不可挡。眨眼再去看时，又好像整片的树林在朝她们移动，似乎全世界的树都朝阿斯兰拥来。可是当它们来到跟前，树形居然渐渐消失，那些摆臂欢腾的，竟都是些人!秀美白皙的白桦姑娘高高扬起了头；杨柳姑娘们把长发束在脑后，以便更清楚地看到阿斯兰；有着皇后般尊严的山毛榉姑娘亭亭玉立，向阿斯兰行注目礼；须发丛生的栎树老人也用它们的最高礼节，俯首以示敬意。所有树神都高声呼唤着“阿斯兰!阿斯兰!”喊声此起彼伏，像大海的波涛，久久不息。-

聚集在阿斯兰身边的人越来越多，欢乐的舞蹈也更加热烈，这使露茜感到有点儿不可理解。她从未经历过如此激动人心的场面。一个年轻人，身穿树皮，鬈发之上戴着一只树叶编织的草环，要不是脸上充满了野性，就会漂亮得简直不像个男孩了。你从这张脸上可以看出，正如爱德蒙几天后见到他时说的那样：“这个人什么事都干得出来。”他身边有许多女孩子，和他一样充满了野性的活力。每个人都在欢呼，在雀跃。最出人意料也最引人注目的是位极其肥胖的矮个子老人。他骑着一头毛驴。那毛驴确信这是大显身手的最好时机，决定给大家表演后腿行走。结果胖老人一次又一次给摔下来，马上又被身边快乐的人们扶上去。老人高兴地在驴背上扭摆着，嘴里不停地喊：“来点儿喝的!来点儿点心!”不知谁送来许多好吃的东西，大家也顾不得礼仪，下手就抓。一边吃，一边跳，一边嬉笑，一边高声喊叫着：“呜依——呜，呜依……依……依呜!”

突然，大家同时意识到狂欢和宴会该结束了。于是纷纷坐到草地上，仰望着阿斯兰，听它将要说些什么。

这时太阳刚刚升起。露茜忽然眼睛一亮，悄悄地对苏珊说：

“听我说，苏，我知道他们是什么人了。”

“谁?”

“一脸野性的那个青年人是巴库斯，骑毛驴的老人就是塞利努斯。你记不记得，图姆纳斯先生很久以前给我们讲过他们的故事。”

“当然记得。可是，露——”

“什么?”

“要不是有阿斯兰在，我会觉得和巴库斯以及他的那些野性姑娘们在一起是不安全的。”

“我并不这么想。”露茜回答道。

引用

CHAPTER THIRTEEN THE HIGH KING IN COMMAND

"Now," said Peter, as they finished their meal, "Aslan and the girls (that's Queen Susan and Queen Lucy, Caspian) are somewhere close. We don't know when he will act. In his time, no doubt, not ours. In the meantime he would like us to do what we can on our own. You say, Caspian, we are not strong enough to meet Miraz in pitched battle?"

"I'm afraid not, High King," said Caspian. He was liking Peter very much, but was rather tongue-tied. It was much stranger for him to meet the great Kings out of the old stories than it was for them to meet him.

"Very well, then," said Peter, "I'll send him a challenge to single combat." No one had thought of this before.

"Please," said Caspian, "could it not be me? I want to avenge my father."

"You're wounded," said Peter. "And anyway, wouldn't he just laugh at a challenge from you? I mean, we have seen that you are a king and a warrior but he thinks of you as a kid."

"But, Sire," said the Badger, who sat very close to Peter and never took his eyes off him. "Will he accept a . challenge even from you? He knows he has the stronger . army."

"Very likely he won't," said Peter, "but there's always the chance. And even if he doesn't, we shall spend the best part of the day sending heralds to and fro and all that. By then Aslan may have done something. And at least I can inspect the army and strengthen the position. I will send the challenge. In fact I will write it at once. Have you pen and ink, Master Doctor?"

"A scholar is never without them, your Majesty," answered Doctor Cornelius.

"Very well, I will dictate," said Peter. And while the Doctor spread out a parchment and opened his ink-horn and sharpened his pen, Peter leant back with half-closed eyes and recalled to his mind the language in which he had written such things long ago in Narnia's golden age.

"Right," he said at last. "And now, if you are ready, Doctor?"

Doctor Cornelius dipped his pen and waited. Peter dictated as follows:

"Peter, by the gift of Aslan, by election, by prescription, and by conquest, High King over all Kings in Narnia, Emperor of the Lone Islands and Lord of Cair Paravel, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Lion, to Miraz, Son of Caspian the Eighth, sometime Lord Protector of Narnia and now styling himself King of Narnia, Greeting. Have you got that?"

"Narnia, comma, greeting," muttered the Doctor. "Yes, Sire."

"Then begin a new paragraph," said Peter. "For to prevent the effusion of blood, and for the avoiding all other inconveniences likely to grow from the wars now levied in our realm of Narnia, it is our pleasure to adventure our royal person on behalf of our trusty and well-beloved Caspian in clean wager of battle to prove upon your Lordship's body that the said Caspian is lawful King under us in Narnia both by our gift and by the laws of the Telmarines, and your Lordship twice guilty of treachery both in withholding the dominion of Narnia from the said Caspian and in the most abhominable, - don't forget to spell it with an H, Doctor - bloody, and unnatural murder of your kindly lord and brother King Caspian Ninth of that name. Wherefore we most heartily provoke, challenge, and defy your Lordship to the said combat and monomachy, and have sent these letters by the hand of our well beloved and royal brother Edmund, sometime King under us in Narnia, Duke of Lantern Waste and Count of the Western March, Knight of the Noble Order of the Table, to whom we have given full power of determining with your Lordship all the conditions of the said battle. Given at our lodging in Aslan's How this XII day of the month Greenroof in the first year of Caspian Tenth of Narnia.

"That ought to do," said Peter, drawing a deep breath.

"And now we must send two others with King Edmund. I think the Giant ought to be one."

"He's - he's not very clever, you know," said Caspian.

"Of course not," said Peter. "But any giant looks impressive if only he will keep quiet. And it will cheer him up. But who for the other?"

"Upon my word," said Trumpkin, "if you want someone who can kill with looks, Reepicheep would be the best."

"He would indeed, from all I hear," said Peter with a laugh. "If only he wasn't so small. They wouldn't even see him till he was close!"

"Send Glenstorm, Sire," said Trufflehunter. "No one ever laughed at a Centaur."

An hour later two great lords in the army of Miraz, the Lord Glozelle and the Lord Sopespian, strolling along their lines and picking their teeth after breakfast, looked up and saw coming down to them from the wood the Centaur and Giant Wimbleweather, whom they had seen before in battle, and between them a figure they could not recognize. Nor indeed would the other boys at Edmund's school have recognized him if they could have seen him at that moment. For Aslan had breathed on him at their meeting and a kind of greatness hung about him.

"What's to do?" said the Lord Glozelle. "An attack?"

"A parley, rather," said Sopespian. "See, they carry green branches. They are coming to surrender most likely."

"He that is walking between the Centaur and the Giant has no look of surrender in his face," said Glozelle. "Who can he be? It is not the boy Caspian."

"No indeed," said Sopespian. "This is a fell warrior, I warrant you, wherever the rebels have got him from. He is (in your Lordship's private ear) a kinglier man than ever Miraz was. And what mail he wears! None of our smiths can make the like."

"I'll wager my dappled Pomely he brings a challenge, not a surrender," said Glozelle.

"How then?" said Sopespian. "We hold the enemy in our fist here. Miraz would never be so hair-brained as to throw away his advantage on a combat."

"He might be brought to it," said Glozelle in a much lower voice.

"Softly," said Sopespian. "Step a little aside here out of earshot of those sentries. Now. Have I taken your Lordship's meaning aright?"

"If the King undertook wager of battle," whispered Glozelle, "why, either he would kill or be killed."

"So," said Sopespian, nodding his head.

"And if he killed we should have won this war."

"Certainly. And if not?"

"Why, if not, we should be as able to win it without the King's grace as with him. For I need not tell your Lordship that Miraz is no very great captain. And after that, we should be both victorious and kingless."

"And it is your meaning, my Lord, that you and I could hold this land quite as conveniently without a King as with one?"

Glozelle's face grew ugly. "Not forgetting," said he, "that it was we who first put him on the throne. And in all the years that he has enjoyed it, what fruits have come our way? What gratitude has he shown us?"

"Say no more," answered Sopespian. "But look - herd comes one to fetch us to the King's tent." `

When they reached Miraz's tent they saw Edmund and his two companions seated outside it and being entertained with cakes and wine, having already delivered the challenge, and withdrawn while the King was considering it. When they saw them thus at close quarters the two Telmarine lords thought all three of them very alarming.

Inside, they found Miraz, unarmed and finishing his breakfast. His face was flushed and there was a scowl on his brow.

"There!" he growled, flinging the parchment across the table to them. "See what a pack of nursery tales our jackanapes of a nephew has sent us."

"By your leave, Sire," said Glozelle. "If the young warrior whom we have just seen outside is the King Edmund mentioned in the writing, then I would not call him a nursery tale but a very dangerous knight."

"King Edmund, pah!" said Miraz. "Does your Lordship believe those old wives' fables about Peter and Edmund and the rest?"

"I believe my eyes, your Majesty," said Glozelle.

"Well, this is to no purpose," said Miraz, "but as touching the challenge, I suppose there is only one opinion between us?"

"I suppose so, indeed, Sire," said Glozelle.

"And what is that?" asked the King.

"Most infallibly to refuse it," said Glozelle. "For though I have never been called a coward, I must plainly say that to meet that young man in battle is more than my heart would serve me for. And if (as is likely) his brother, the High King, is more dangerous than he why, on your life, my Lord King, have nothing to do with him."

"Plague on you!" cried Miraz. "It was not that sort of council I wanted. Do you think I am asking you if I should be afraid to meet this Peter (if there is such a man)? Do you think I fear him? I wanted your counsel on the policy of the matter; whether we, having the advantage, should hazard it on a wager of battle."

"To which I can only answer, your Majesty," said Glozelle, "that for all reasons the challenge should be refused. There is death in the strange knight's face."

"There you are again!" said Miraz, now thoroughly angry. "Are you trying, to make it appear that I am as great a coward as your Lordship?"

"Your Majesty may say your pleasure," said Glozelle sulkily.

"You talk like an old woman, Glozelle," said the King. "What say you, my Lord Sopespian?"

"Do not touch it, Sire," was the reply. "And what your Majesty says of the policy of the thing comes in very happily. It gives your Majesty excellent grounds for a refusal without any cause for questioning your Majesty's honour or courage."

"Great Heaven!" exclaimed Miraz, jumping to his feet. "Are you also bewitched today? Do you think I am looking for grounds to refuse it? You might as well call me coward to my face."

The conversation was going exactly as the two lords wished, so they said nothing.

"I see what it is," said Miraz, after staring at them as if his eyes would start out of his head, "you are as lilylivered as hares yourselves and have the effrontery to imagine my heart after the likeness of yours! Grounds for a refusal, indeed! Excuses for not fighting! Are you soldiers? Are you Telmarines? Are you men? And if I dog refuse it (as ail good reasons of captaincy and martial policy urge me to do) you will think, and teach others tan think, I was afraid. Is it not so?"

"No man of your Majesty's age," said Glozelle, "would be called coward by any wise soldier for refusing the combat with a great warrior in the flower of his youth."

"So I'm to be a dotard with one foot in the grave, as well as a dastard," roared Miraz. "I'll tell you what it is, my Lords. With your womanish counsels (ever shying from the true point, which is one of policy) you have done the very opposite of your intent. I had meant to refuse it. But I'll accept it. Do you hear, accept it! I'll not be shamed because some witchcraft or treason has frozen both your bloods."

"We beseech your Majesty -" said Glozelle, but Miraz had flung out of the tent and they could hear him bawling out his acceptance to Edmund.

The two lords looked at one another and chuckled quietly.

"I knew he'd do it if he were properly chafed," said Glozelle. "But I'll not forget he called me coward. It shall be paid for."

There was a great stirring at Aslan's How when the news came back and was communicated to the various creatures. Edmund, with one of Miraz's captains, had already marked out the place for the combat, and ropes and stakes had been put round it. Two Telmarines were to stand at two of the corners, and one in the middle of one side, as marshals of the lists. Three marshals for the other two corners and the other side were to be furnished by the High King. Peter was just explaining to Caspian that he could not be one, because his right to the throne was what they were fighting about, when suddenly a thick, sleepy voice said, "Your Majesty, please." Peter turned and there stood the eldest of the Bulgy Bears.

"If you please, your Majesty," he said, "I'm a bear, I am."

"To be sure, so you are, and a good bear too, I don't doubt," said Peter.

"Yes," said the Bear. "But it was always a right of the, bears to supply one marshal of the lists."

"Don't let him," whispered Trumpkin to Peter. "He's a good creature, but he'll shame us all. He'll go to sleep and he will suck his paws. In front of the enemy too."

"I can't help that," said Peter. "Because he's quite right. The Bears had that privilege. I can't imagine how it has been remembered all these years, when so many other things have been forgotten."

"Please, your Majesty," said the Bear.

"It is your right," said Peter. "And you shall be one of the marshals. But you must remember not to suck your paws."

"Of course not," said the Bear in a very shocked voice.

"Why, you're doing it this minute!" bellowed Trumpkin.

The Bear whipped his paw out of his mouth and pretended he hadn't heard.

"Sire!" came a shrill voice from near the ground.

"Ah - Reepicheep!" said Peter after looking up and down and round as people usually did when addressed by the Mouse.

"Sire," said Reepicheep. "My life is ever at your command, but my honour is my own. Sire, I have among my people the only trumpeter in your Majesty's army. I had thought, perhaps, we might have been sent with the challenge. Sire, my people are grieved. Perhaps if it were your pleasure that I should be a marshal of the lists, it would content them."

A noise not unlike thunder broke out from somewhere overhead at this point, as Giant Wimbleweather burst into one of those not very intelligent laughs to which the nicer sorts of Giant are so liable. He checked himself at once and looked as grave as a turnip by the time Reepicheep discovered where the noise came from.

"I am afraid it would not do," said Peter very gravely. "Some humans are afraid of mice -"

"I had observed it, Sire," said Reepicheep.

"And it would not be quite fair to Miraz," Peter continued, "to have in sight anything that might abate the edge of his courage."

"Your Majesty is the mirror of honour," said the Mouse with one of his admirable bows. "And on this matter we have but a single mind... I thought I heard someone laughing just now. If anyone present wishes to make me the subject of his wit, I am very much at his service - with my sword - whenever he has leisure."

An awful silence followed this remark, which was broken by Peter saying, "Giant Wimbleweather and the Bear and the Centaur Glenstorm shall be our marshals. The combat will be at two hours after noon. Dinner at noon precisely."

"I say," said Edmund as they walked away, "I suppose it is all right. I mean, I suppose you can beat him?"

"That's what I'm fighting him to find out," said Peter.

13、决斗

吃过早餐，彼得开口说话了：“朋友们，阿斯兰和两个女孩子，也就是苏珊女王和露茜女王，就在附近。我们不知道它什么时候开始行动。自然，它深知如何把握战机，但与此同时，它希望我们也能看准时机，有所作为。凯斯宾，你看我们有没有足够的力量与弥若兹的部队进行决战?”

“恐怕我们的力量不够，陛下。”凯斯宾答道。他非常喜欢彼得，可与他在一起时，又总觉得自己笨嘴拙舌。两个年代相差很远的国王坐在一起，凯斯宾尤其感到陌生和新奇。

“那么好吧，我向他挑战，一对一与他较量。”彼得从容地说。这主意，在场各位还没有人想到过。

“让我来吧，”凯斯宾说，“我要为父亲报仇。”

“不行，你负伤了。再说，他不会介意你的挑战，或者他会嘲笑你的。我的意思是说，我们大家都亲眼目睹了你作为国王和勇士的丰采。可是在他的眼里，你不过是个孩子而已。”

“可是陛下，他会接受你的挑战吗?他很清楚自己拥有一支强大的军队。”说话的是獾，它紧挨彼得坐着，一直默默地注视着他。

“是的，他很可能拒绝我。但可能性还是有的，即便他真的拒绝应战，我们也将照样派出使臣与他周旋，这时阿斯兰就会不失时机，给敌人以致命的打击。我们也可乘这个时机检查部队，加固工事。我一定要发出挑战，我这就写。博士先生，你这里有没有纸笔?”

“一个学者从来不缺这类东西，陛下。”克奈尔斯博士答道。

“好极了，我来口述。”

博士忙着铺开纸，削尖了笔。与此同时，彼得靠在椅子上，微闭双眼，回想着在遥远过去纳尼亚的黄金时代，他下令写这类战书的措词

“就这样写。”他终于睁开眼睛，转向克奈尔斯，“你准备好了没有，博士?”

博士提起笔，俯身在纸上，默默地一字一句记下了彼得口述的战书：

“彼得，凭着阿斯兰的赋予，凭着人民的选举，凭着古老的传统，凭着赫赫的战功，谨以如下名义——纳尼亚的至尊王，孤独岛与凯尔帕拉维尔的统治者，阿斯兰帐下的无畏骑士，向凯斯宾八世之子，一度为纳尼亚的护国公，现自封为纳尼褵旺王的弥若兹阁下，致意。博士，你记下来没有?”

“弥若兹阁下，逗号，致意，”博士口中喃喃地重复着，一边挥笔疾书，“好了，陛下。”

“下面另起一段。”彼得吩咐道，“我受众人爱戴的阿斯兰的派遣，游历到此，现已证实：第一，凯斯宾王子是纳尼亚王位的法定继承人。第二，阁下犯有双重大罪——谋杀亲兄凯斯宾九世，篡夺王位并实行恐怖统治。为此，我代表纳尼亚的正义势力向阁下宣战。为了避免不必要的流血，为了避免这场战争可能引起的太多伤亡及种种不幸，我本人向阁下发出挑战。如阁下愿意同我刀熗相见、一决雌雄，本人将不胜荣幸。

“递交战书者是我尊敬的兄弟爱德蒙，纳尼亚历史上的国王，石桌大骑士。对阁下就决斗所提出的各种条件，他有权代表我作出全部决定。此战书写于阿斯兰堡垒，凯斯宾十世元年元月十二日。”

“这样就行了，”彼得长长地吐了一口气，“现在，我们要挑选两名卫士与爱德蒙同行。我想巨人可以算一个。”

“他?你知道，他并不十分聪明。”凯斯宾说。

“那倒是，”彼得说，“可是任何一个巨人，只要闭上嘴巴保持沉默别人就得注意他。再说，委之以重任，会增加他的荣誉感和责任感。另一个派谁去?”

“依我的看法，”杜鲁普金说，“假如要找一个用目光就能杀人的勇士，那么老鼠将军雷佩契普最合适不过了。”

“从有关它的那些故事来判断，它的确能做到这一点。”彼得说着笑了一笑，“要是它身材再高大一点儿就好了，敌人还没有走到它眼前就得完蛋了。”

“派人头马格兰斯托姆去，”特鲁佛汉特建议说，“从来没有谁取笑过它。”

一个小时之后，在敌人的防线上，弥若兹的两个贵族军官哥洛和索皮正在阵前，一边溜达，一边用火柴棍儿剔着牙齿，看来早餐吃得十分惬意。他们无意中抬起头来，一眼发现人头马和巨人从树林里向他们走来，不由吃了一惊。战斗中他们早已领教过这两个庞然大物的厉害，可走在中间的那个人是谁，却一时难以分辨。的确，爱德蒙在与阿斯兰相会并受它仙气点化之后，从外表到气质都变了许多，变得更加成熟，更加英俊，浑身洋溢出一股活力，一股凛然正气。就是他的同学们此时见到他，恐怕也不能一下子认出他来。

“他们干什么来了?”哥洛说，“想搞突然袭击?”

“我看像是使节，”索皮揣度着，“你看，他们手持绿色的树枝，很可能是来投降的。”

“走在巨人和人头马中间的那人脸上，看不出要投降的意思。他是谁?不像是凯斯宾那孩子。”

“当然不是他，”索皮说，“我敢说，那是个凶猛的斗土。不知叛贼们从哪儿把他找来的。咱哥儿俩在这儿说说，这人比弥若兹可气派多了。瞧他那身盔甲!咱们的铁匠哪有这个手艺!”

“我敢打赌，他是来下战书的，绝不可能是来投降的。”哥洛说。

“怎么?”索皮大惑不解，“我们已经把敌军攥在手心里了，弥若兹不会愚蠢地放弃我们的优势，去和一个不知底细的人决斗。”

或许是他们引诱他，或者迫使他这么做。”哥洛压低了声音说。

“小声点，”索皮警觉地四下望了一望，“咱们往一边挪挪，别让那些放哨的听见……现在，你能不能把话说得更明白些?”

“假如国王接受挑战，和敌人首领单独决斗，结果会怎样?”

哥洛向同伴耳语道，“要么他把对方杀掉，要么被对方所杀，对不对?”

“不错。”索皮点点头。

“如果他干掉了对手，我们就打赢了这场战争。”

“那当然。可是如果……”

“如果国王被干掉了，没有他咱们照样可以战胜敌人。这就不必多说了，大家心里都清楚，弥若兹并非一个顶天立地的英明君主。到那个时候，我们打了胜仗，却没有了国王……”

“阁下的意思是说，没有国王，我们可以更方便地统治这片国土?”

哥洛的面孔变得十分丑恶起来。“别忘了，把他推上国王宝座的正是我们。这么多年来，他享尽荣华富贵，而我们得到了什么好处?他向我们表示过多少感激之情?”

“别往下说了，”索皮打断他的话，“你瞧，有人来传我们到国王的帐篷里去。”

他们两人来到国王帐前，看见爱德蒙和两个卫士正坐在帐篷的外面享用由奴仆们端上来的美酒糕点。显然，他们已经把战书递了上去，国王正在考虑如何答复。这两个贵族军官在这么近的距离细细打量对手，不由感到一阵心悸。

在帐篷里他们当然也看见了弥若兹。只见他眉头紧锁，脸色通红，显然动怒了。

“喏!看看这是什么!”他咬牙切齿地说，一边从桌子的另一端向他们扔过那份战书来。“看看我的宝贝侄儿给我送来了什么!”

“启禀王上，”哥洛说，“假如我们在帐外见到的那个青年就是信中提到的爱德蒙国王的话，我认为这是个危险的骑士，万万不可轻视。”

“爱德蒙国王?呸!阁下是否也相信老太婆嘴里那些有关彼得、爱德蒙之类的无稽之谈?”

“我只相信自己的眼睛，陛下。”哥洛回答道。

“哼，你这话毫无意义，”弥若兹不满地说，“至于如何答复这个挑战，或许我们持有相同的意见?”

“我的确认为是这样，陛下。”

“你说说看。”

“断然拒绝。我想这是最为明智之举，”哥洛说，“因为尽管从来没有人称我作懦夫，但坦白地讲，在一场生死搏斗中与那样一个青年人交手，我的内心是不会平静的。假如，而且十分可能，他的哥哥，那个至尊王，比他更加勇猛危险，那么，为了您宝贵的性命，还是别惹他为妙。”

“放肆!”弥若兹叫了起来，“这不是我想听到的忠告，不是的!你以为我在问你，我是不是应该惧怕这个叫彼得的人(而且有没有这么个人还很难说)?你以为我怕他?我不过想听听你们的意见，在目前我们处于优势的情况下有没有决斗的必要。”

“陛下，我惟一的忠告，便是拒绝挑战，”哥洛说，“那陌生骑士的脸上有一股杀气。”

“你又来了!”这时，弥若兹已完全被激怒了，“你是不是想让我表现出与你同样的怯懦?”

“任凭陛下怎么说。”哥洛谦卑地退在一边。

“哥洛，你讲话简直像个没见识的乡下老太太!”弥若兹说着把身子转向索皮，“爱臣索皮，对这件事你有何高见?我们该如何答复这封战书?”

“不予答复，陛下。”一直默默地站在一边的索皮开口了，“这就是最好的策略，不予答复!既然陛下没有明确拒绝敌人的挑战，别人也不会对陛下的荣誉和勇气表示任何怀疑。”

“活见鬼!，”弥若兹一边大声叫嚷，一边从椅子上跳了起来，“你今天也中了邪吗?你以为我在为拒绝挑战而寻找借口吗?你还不如当面叫我懦夫。”

眼看达到了目的，两个大臣装做恭恭敬敬的样子，不再吭声了。

“我明白了，”瞪着眼盯了他们半晌，弥若兹终于说道，“你们是两个胆小如鼠的家伙，却把我也当成与你们一样无用的东西!找拒绝的理由，找不战的借口。好畦，你们还是不是军人?你们还是不是台尔马人的子孙?你们还算是男子汉吗?假如我拒绝挑战(尽管我有充分的理由这么做，而且我的经验、我的感觉都告诉我应该这么做)，你们就会认为，并且使别人相信，我是由于胆怯才拒绝挑战，对不对?”

“以陛下这般年纪，拒绝一个血气方刚的青年斗士的挑战，没有人会称之为怯懦的。”

“这么说，我已经半截入土、行将就木了，是吗?”弥若兹咆哮起来，“我要让你们亲眼看一看，我的阁下!你们这种婆娘式的劝告，结果适得其反!我原打算拒绝这挑战，可现在我宣布，我正式接受它。你们听清楚没有，我接受了!应该感到羞耻的是你们!”

“我们为陛下的安全深表……”哥洛的话还没有说完，弥若兹早已疾步走出帐篷。他们听到他大声对爱德蒙宣布应战的决定，互相挤挤眼睛，无声地笑了起来。.

“我知道，只要把他激怒起来，他就准会接受挑战。”哥洛说，“可是我不会忘记，他把我叫做懦夫!他将为此付出代价的!”

使者带回的消息不胫而走，在阿斯兰堡垒引起一阵激动。爱德蒙和弥若兹手下的一个队长共同划出了决斗的场地，并打下界桩，用绳子圈了起来。双方将各派三个人站立在决斗场的两端，作为决斗的助手和公证人。这时候，彼得正忙着给凯斯宾鼓气，使他相信自己绝窡吐军作战，因为他们进行的是一场正义的战争。突然，他们身边响起了一个带点儿睡意的粗嗓子：“陛下，能听我说一句话吗?”彼得转过身来，看清那是一只年长的大棕熊。“陛下，是我大棕熊，陛下。”

“我认得你，而且知道你是好样儿的，对此我深信不疑。”彼得友好地对它说。

“不错，我是一只善良的熊，”大棕熊顿了一下，继续说，“我想提醒陛下，决斗的助手向来是由我们家族来担任的，想必你早有安排了吧?”

“别派它去当助手，”杜鲁普金小声对彼得说，“不错，它秉性善良，但是派去当公证人，它会给我们丢脸的。它会在决斗还没有结束的时候呼呼睡大觉。它还会吮它的爪子——当着敌人的面这么做!”

“哈!真没办法，”彼得说，“可是它的话一点儿不错——熊家族是有这个特权。也不知道为什么，我对此印象很深，而对过去其他许多事情早都记不得了。”

“请陛下恩准。”棕熊又说。

“这是你们的权利，”彼得说，“就委任你做助手吧。不过你要记住，不可以在那种场合吮爪子。”

“当然不。”棕熊美滋滋地答应着走开了。

“瞧，它又吮上了!”杜鲁普金指着棕熊的背影对彼得说。棕熊赶忙把爪子从嘴里抽出来，装出一副若无其事的样子，去看它在决斗场上的位置。

“陛下!”一个尖尖的声音从附近什么地方传来。彼得四下看了半天，才发现地上仰头站着鼠将军。

“啊——是雷佩契普，有事吗?”

“陛下，我的生命可以随你支配，但我的荣誉只属于我自己。”雷佩契普讲到这里，眼里流露出一丝忧伤。“陛下，我的部下中有我们大军惟一的吹鼓手。本来我以为会被挑选去下战书的，结果我失望了，我的部队也因此而士气大落。如果这次你能选我做决斗的助手，我的部下想必会安下心来。”

这时，在他们上方突然响起一阵雷鸣般的声音，这是巨人韦姆布威热那傻乎乎的笑声。直到雷佩契普狠狠地瞪了他一眼，他才意识到自己的失态，立即闭上嘴，憋出一脸苦相。彼得皱着眉头回答鼠将军说：

“这恐怕不行，有些人害怕老鼠……”“这我注意到了，陛下。”

“这样对弥若兹不大公平，”彼得继续说，“我们不能在决斗场上故意安排一名可能影响他情绪和勇气的助手。”

“陛下真是诚实的化身。”鼠将军姿势优美地鞠了一躬，“在这件事情上，我的考虑有欠周全……刚才我听到有人在笑。假如在场诸位中有谁想拿我开心，那么我随时恭候——我这把剑可不是吃素的。”

雷佩契普这充满火药味的宣言，带来了一阵沉默。最后，还是彼得先开口：“巨人韦姆布威热、棕熊和人头马格兰斯托姆将作为助手随我参加决斗。决斗下午两点开始，十二点准时开饭。”