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  the dragons and giant lizards now had narnia to themselves. they went to and fro tearing up the trees by the roots and crunching them up as if they were sticks of rhubarb.

  minute by minute the forests disappeared. the whole country became bare and you could see all sorts of things about its shape - all the little humps and hollows which you had never noticed before. the grass died. soon tirian found that he was looking at a world of bare rock and earth. you could hardly believe that anything had ever lived there. the monsters themselves grew old and lay down and died. their flesh shrivelled up and the bones appeared: soon they were only huge skeletons that lay here and there on the dead rock, looking as if they had died thousands of years ago. for a long time everything was still.

  at last something white - a long, level line of whiteness that gleamed in the light of the standing stars - came moving towards them from the eastern end of the world.

  a widespread noise broke the silence: first a murmur then a rumble, then a roar. and now they could see what it was that was coming, and how fast it came. it was a foaming wall of water. the sea was rising. in that tree-less world you could see it very well. you could see all the rivers getting wider and the lakes getting larger, and separate lakes joining into one, and valleys turning into new lakes, and hills turning into islands, and then those islands vanishing. and the high moors to their left and the higher mountains to their right crumbled and slipped down with a roar and a splash into the mounting water; and the water came swirling up to the very threshold of the doorway (but never passed it) so that the foam splashed about aslans forefeet. all now was level water from where they stood to where the waters met the sky.

  and out there it began to grow light. a streak of dreary and disastrous dawn spread along the horizon, and widened and grew brighter, till in the end they hardly noticed the light of the stars who stood behind them. at last the sun came up. when it did, the lord digory and the lady polly looked at one another and gave a little nod: those two, in a different world, had once seen a dying sun, and so they knew at once that this sun also was dying.

  it was three times - twenty times - as big as it ought to be, and very dark red. as its rays fell upon the great time-giant, he turned red too: and in the reflection of that sun the whole waste of shoreless waters looked like blood.

  then the moon came up, quite in her wrong position, very close to the sun, and she also looked red. and at the sight of her the sun began shooting out great flames, like whiskers or snakes of crimson fire, towards her. it is as if he were an octopus trying to draw her to himself in his tentacles. and perhaps he did draw her. at any rate she came to him, slowly at first, but then more and more quickly, till at last his long flames licked round her and the two ran together and became one huge ball like a burning coal. great lumps of fire came dropping out of it into the sea and clouds of steam rose up.

  then aslan said, "now make an end.”

  the giant threw his horn into the sea. then he stretched out one arm - very black it looked, and thousands of miles long - across the sky till his hand reached the sun. he took the sun and squeezed it in his hand as you would squeeze an orange. and instantly there was total darkness.

  everyone except aslan jumped back from the ice-cold air which now blew through the doorway. its edges were already covered with icicles.

  "peter, high king of narnia," said aslan. "shut the door.”

  peter, shivering with cold, leaned out into the darkness and pulled the door to. it scraped over ice as he pulled it. then, rather clumsily (for even in that moment his hands had gone numb and blue) he took out a golden key and locked it.

  they had seen strange things enough through that doorway. but it was stranger than any of them to look round and find themselves in warm daylight, the blue sky above them, flowers at their feet, and laughter in aslans eyes.

  he turned swiftly round, crouched lower, lashed himself with his tail and shot away like a golden arrow.

  "come further in! come further up!" he shouted over his shoulder. but who could keep up with him at that pace? they set out walking westward to follow him.

  "so," said peter, "night falls on narnia. what, lucy! youre not crying? with aslan ahead, and all of us here?”

  "dont try to stop me, peter," said lucy, "i am sure aslan would not. i am sure it is not wrong to mourn for narnia. think of all that lies dead and frozen behind that door.”

  "yes and i did hope," said jill, "that it might go on for ever. i knew our world couldnt. i did think narnia might.”

  "i saw it begin," said the lord digory. "i did not think i would live to see it die.”

  "sirs," said tirian. "the ladies do well to weep. see, i do so myself. i have seen my mothers death. what world but narnia have i ever known? it were no virtue, but great discourtesy, if we did not mourn.”

  they walked away from the door and away from the dwarfs who still sat crowded together in their imaginary stable. and as they went they talked to one another about old wars and old peace and ancient kings and all the glories of narnia.

  the dogs were still with them. they joined in the conversation but not much because they were too busy racing on ahead and racing back and rushing off to sniff at 【创建和谐家园】ells in the grass till they made themselves sneeze. suddenly they picked up a scent which seemed to excite them very much. they all started arguing about it - "yes it is - no it isnt - thats just what i said - anyone can 【创建和谐家园】ell what that is - take your great nose out of the way and let someone else 【创建和谐家园】ell.”

  "what is it, cousins?" said peter.

  "a calormene, sire," said several dogs at once.

  "lead on to him, then," said peter. "whether he meets us in peace or war, he shall be welcome.”

  the dogs darted on ahead and came back a moment later, running as if their lives depended on it, and barking loudly to say that it really was a calormene. (talking dogs,

  just like the common ones, behave as if they thought whatever they are doing at the moment immensely important.)

  the others followed where the dogs led them and found a young calormene sitting under a chestnut tree beside a clear stream of water. it was emeth. he rose at once and bowed gravely.

  "sir," he said to peter, "i know not whether you are my friend or my foe, but i should count it my honour to have you for either. has not one of the poets said that a noble friend is the best gift and a noble enemy the next best?”

  "sir," said peter, "i do not know that there need be any war between you and us.”

  "do tell us who you are and whats happened to you," said jill.

  "if theres going to be a story, lets all have a drink and sit down," barked the dogs.

  "were quite blown.”

  "well of course you will be if you keep tearing about the way you have done," said eustace.

  so the humans sat down on the grass. and when the dogs had all had a very noisy drink out of the stream they all sat down, bolt upright, panting, with their tongues hanging out of their heads a little on one side to hear the story. but jewel remained standing, polishing his horn against his side.

  wwＷ。xiaoshuotxt=com

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  ．小．说．．t．xt．天．堂．

  further up and further in "know, o warlike kings," said emeth, "and you, o ladies whose beauty illuminates the universe, that i am emeth the seventh son of harpha tarkaan of the city of tehishbaan, westward beyond the desert. i came lately into narnia with nine and twenty others under the command of rishda tarkaan now when i first heard that we should march upon narnia i rejoiced; for i had heard many things of your land and desired greatly to meet you in battle. but when i found that we were to go in disguised as merchants (which is a shameful dress for a warrior and the son of a tarkaan) and to work by lies and trickery, then my joy departed from me. and most of all when i found we must wait upon a monkey, and when it began to be said that tash and aslan were one, then the world became dark in my eyes. for always since i was a boy i have served tash and my great desire was to know more of him, if it might be, to look upon his face. but the name of aslan was hateful to me.

  "and, as you have seen, we were called together outside the straw-roofed hovel, night after night, and the fire was kindled, and the ape brought forth out of the hovel something upon four legs that i could not well see. and the people and the beasts bowed down and did honour to it. but i thought, the tarkaan is deceived by the ape: for this thing that comes out of the stable is neither tash nor any other god. but when i watched the tarkaans face, and marked every word that he said to the monkey, then i changed my mind: for i saw that the tarkaan did not believe in it himself. and then i understood that he did not believe in tash at all: for if he had, how could he dare to mock him?

  "when i understood this, a great rage fell upon me and i wondered that the true tash did not strike down both the monkey and the tarkaan with fire from heaven. nevertheless i hid my anger and held my tongue and waited to see how it would end. but last night, as some of you know, the monkey brought not forth the yellow thing but said that all who desired to look upon tashlan - for so they mixed the two words to pretend that they were all one - must pass one by one into the hovel. and i said to myself, doubtless this is some other deception. but when the cat had followed in and had come out again in a madness of terror, then i said to myself, surely the true tash, whom they called on without knowledge or belief, has now come among us, and will avenge himself. and though my heart was turned into water inside me because of the greatness and terror of tash, yet my desire was stronger than my fear, and i put force upon my knees to stay them from trembling, and on my teeth that they should not chatter, and resolved to look upon the face of tash though he should slay me. so i offered myself to go into the hovel; and the tarkaan, though unwillingly, let me go.

  "as soon as i had gone in at the door, the first wonder was that i found myself in this great sunlight (as we all are now) though the inside of the hovel had looked dark from outside. but i had no time to marvel at this, for immediately i was forced to fight for my head against one of our own men. as soon as i saw him i understood that the monkey and the tarkaan had set him there to slay any who came in if he were not in their secrets: so that this man also was a liar and a mocker and no true servant of tash. i had the better will to fight him; and having slain the villain, i cast him out behind me through the door.

  "then i looked about me and saw the sky and the wide lands, and 【创建和谐家园】elled the sweetness.

  and i said, by the gods, this is a pleasant place: it may be that i am come into the country of tash. and i began to journey into the strange country and to seek him.

  "so i went over much grass and many flowers and among all kinds of wholesome and delectable trees till lo! in a narrow place between two rocks there came to meet me a great lion. the speed of him was like the ostrich, and his size was an elephants; his hair was like pure gold and the brightness of his eyes like gold that is liquid in the furnace. he was more terrible than the flaming mountain of lagour, and in beauty he surpassed all that is in the world even as the rose in bloom surpasses the dust of the desert. then i fell at his feet and thought, surely this is the hour of death, for the lion (who is worthy of all honour) will know that i have served tash all my days and not him. nevertheless, it is better to see the lion and die than to be tisroc of the world and live and not to have seen

  him. but the glorious one bent down his golden head and touched my forehead with his tongue and said, son, thou art welcome. but i said, alas, lord, i am no son of thine but the servant of tash. he answered, child, all the service thou hast done to tash, i account as service done to me. then by reasons of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, i overcame my fear and questioned the glorious one and said, lord, is it then true, as the ape said, that thou and tash are one? the lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, it is false. not because he and i are one, but because we are opposites, i take to me the services which thou hast done to him. for i and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. therefore if any man swear by tash and keep his oath for the oaths sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is i who reward him. and if any man do a cruelty in my name, then, though he says the name aslan, it is tash whom he serves and by tash his deed is accepted. dost thou understand, child? i said, lord, thou knowest how much i understand. but i said also (for the truth constrained me), yet i have been seeking tash all my days. beloved, said the glorious one, unless thy desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly.

  for all find what they truly seek.

  "then he breathed upon me and took away the trembling from my limbs and caused me to stand upon my feet. and after that, he said not much, but that we should meet again, and i must go further up and further in. then he turned him about in a storm and flurry of gold and was gone suddenly.

  "and since then, o kings and ladies, i have been wandering to find him and my happiness is so great that it even weakens me like a wound. and this is the marvel of marvels, that he called me beloved, me who am but as a dog -”

  "eh? whats that?" said one of the dogs.

  "sir," said emeth. "it is but a fashion of speech which we have in calormen.”

  "well, i cant say its one i like very much," said the dog.

  "he doesnt mean any harm," said an older dog.

  "after all, we call our puppies boys when they dont behave properly.”

  "so we do," said the first dog. "or girls.”

  "s-s-sh!" said the old dog. "thats not a nice word to use. remember where you are.”

  "look!" said jill suddenly. someone was coming, rather timidly, to meet them; a graceful creature on four feet, all silvery-grey. and they stared at him for a whole ten seconds before five or six voices said all at once, "why, its old puzzle!" they had never seen him by daylight with the lion-skin off, and it made an extraordinary difference. he was himself now: a beautiful donkey with such a soft, grey coat and such a gentle, honest face

  that if you had seen him you would have done just what jill and lucy did - rushed forward and put your arms round his neck and kissed his nose and stroked his ears.

  when they asked him where he had been he said he had come in at the door along with all the other creatures but he had - well, to tell the truth, he had been keeping out of their way as much as he could; and out of aslans way. for the sight of the real lion had made him so ashamed of all that nonsense about dressing up in a lion-skin that he did not know how to look anyone in the face. but when he saw that all his friends were going away westward, and after he had had a mouthful of grass ("and ive never tasted such good grass in my life," said puzzle), he plucked up his courage and followed. "but what ill do if i really have to meet aslan, im sure i dont know," he added.

  "youll find it will be all right when you really do," said queen lucy.

  then they went forward together, always westward, for that seemed to be the direction aslan had meant when he cried out, "further up and futher in." many other creatures were slowly moving the same way, but that grassy country was very wide and there was no crowding.

  it still seemed to be early, and the morning freshness was in the air. they kept on stopping to look round and to look behind them, partly because it was so beautiful but partly also because there was something about it which they could not understand.

  "peter," said lucy, "where is this, do you suppose?”

  "i dont know," said the high king. "it reminds me of somewhere but i cant give it a name. could it be somewhere we once stayed for a holiday when we were very, very 【创建和谐家园】all?”

  "it would have to have been a jolly good holiday," said eustace. "i bet there isnt a country like this anywhere in our world. look at the colours! you couldnt get a blue like the blue on those mountains in our world.”

  "is it not aslans country?" said tirian.

  "not like aslans country on top of that mountain beyond the eastern end of the world,”

  said jill. "ive been there.”

  "if you ask me," said edmund, "its like somewhere in the narnian world. look at those mountains ahead - and the big ice-mountains beyond them. surely theyre rather like the mountains we used to see from narnia, the ones up westward beyond the waterfall?”

  "yes, so they are," said peter. "only these are bigger.”

  "i dont think those ones are so very like anything in narnia," said lucy. "but look there.”

  she pointed southward to their left, and everyone stopped and turned to look. "those

  hills," said lucy, "the nice woody ones and the blue ones behind - arent they very like the southern border of narnia?”

  "like!" cried edmund after a moments silence. "why, theyre exactly like. look, theres mount pire with his forked head, and theres the pass into archenland and everything!”

  "and yet theyre not like," said lucy. "theyre different. they have more colours on them and they look further away than i remembered and theyre more .. . more . . . oh, i dont know...”

  "more like the real thing," said the lord digory softly.

  suddenly farsight the eagle spread his wings, soared thirty or forty feet up into the air, circled round and then alighted on the ground.

  "kings and queens," he cried, "we have all been blind. we are only beginning to see where we are. from up there i have seen it all - ettin【创建和谐家园】uir, beaversdam, the great river, and cair paravel still shining on the edge of the eastern sea. narnia is not dead. this is narnia.”

  "but how can it be?" said peter. "for aslan told us older ones that we should never return to narnia, and here we are.”

  "yes," said eustace. "and we saw it all destroyed and the sun put out.”

  "and its all so different," said lucy.

  "the eagle is right," said the lord digory. "listen, peter. when aslan said you could never go back to narnia, he meant the narnia you were thinking of. but that was not the real narnia. that had a beginning and an end. it was only a shadow or a copy of the real narnia which has always been here and always will be here: just as our world, england and all, is only a shadow or copy of something in aslans real world. you need not mourn over narnia, lucy. all of the old narnia that mattered, all the dear creatures, have been drawn into the real narnia through the door. and of course it is different; as different as a real thing is from a shadow or as waking life is from a dream." his voice stirred everyone like a trumpet as he spoke these words: but when he added under his breath "its all in plato, all in plato: bless me, what do they teach them at these schools!" the older ones laughed. it was so exactly like the sort of thing they had heard him say long ago in that other world where his beard was grey instead of golden. he knew why they were laughing and joined in the laugh himself. but very quickly they all became grave again: for, as you know, there is a kind of happiness and wonder that makes you serious. it is too good to waste on jokes.

  it is as hard to explain how this sunlit land was different from the old narnia as it would be to tell you how the fruits of that country taste. perhaps you will get some idea of it if you think like this. you may have been in a room in which there was a window that

  looked out on a lovely bay of the sea or a green valley that wound away among mountains. and in the wall of that room opposite to the window there may have been a lookingglass. and as you turned away from the window you suddenly caught sight of that sea or that valley, all over again, in the looking glass. and the sea in the mirror, or the valley in the mirror, were in one sense just the same as the real ones: yet at the same time they were somehow different - deeper, more wonderful, more like places in a story: in a story you have never heard but very much want to know. the difference between the old narnia and the new narnia was like that. the new one was a deeper country: every rock and flower and blade of grass looked as if it meant more. i cant describe it any better than that: if ever you get there you will know what i mean.

  it was the unicorn who summed up what everyone was feeling. he stamped his right fore-hoof on the ground and neighed, and then cried: "i have come home at last! this is my real country! i belong here. this is the land i have been looking for all my life, though i never knew it till now. the reason why we loved the old narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this. bree-hee- hee! come further up, come further in!”

  he shook his mane and sprang forward into a great gallop - a unicorns gallop, which, in our world, would have carried him out of sight in a few moments. but now a most strange thing happened. everyone else began to run, and they found, to their astonishment, that they could keep up with him: not only the dogs and the humans but even fat little puzzle and short-legged poggin the dwarf. the air flew in their faces as if they were driving fast in a car without a windscreen. the country flew past as if they were seeing it from the windows of an express train. faster and faster they raced, but no one got hot or tired or out of breath.

  wＷw。xiaoshuo txt.coＭ

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  小.说。t。xt-天/堂

  farewell to shadowlands if one could run without getting tired, i dont think one would often want to do anything else. but there might be special reasons for stopping, and it was a special reason which made eustace presently shout: "i say! steady! look what were coming to!”

  and well he might. for now they saw before them caldron pool and beyond the pool the high unclimbable cliffs and, pouring down the cliffs, thousands of tons of water every second, flashing like diamonds in some places and dark, glassy green in others, the great waterfall; and already the thunder of it was in their ears.

  "dont stop! further up and further in," called farsight, tilting his flight a little upwards.

  "its all very well for him," said eustace, but jewel also cried out: "dont stop. further up and further in! take it in your stride.”

  his voice could only just be heard above the roar of the water but next moment everyone saw that he had plunged into the pool. and helter-skelter behind him, with splash after splash, all the others did the same. the water was not biting cold as all of them (and especially puzzle) expected, but of a delicious foamy coolness. they all found they were swimming straight for the waterfall itself.

  "this is absolutely crazy," said eustace to edmund.

  "i know. and yet -" said edmund.

  "isnt it wonderful?" said lucy. "have you noticed one cant feel afraid, even if one wants to? try it.”

  "by jove, neither one can," said eustace after he had tried.

  jewel reached the foot of the waterfall first, but tirian was only just behind him. jill was last, so she could see the whole thing better than the others. she saw something white moving steadily up the face of the waterfall. that white thing was the unicorn. you couldnt tell whether he was swimming or climbing, but he moved on, higher and higher.

  the point of his horn divided the water just above his head, and it cascaded out in two rainbow-coloured streams all round his shoulders. just behind him came king tirian. he moved his legs and arms as if he were swimming but he moved straight upwards: as if one could swim up the wall of a house.

  what looked funniest was the dogs. during the gallop they had not been at all out of breath, but now, as they swarmed and wriggled upwards, there was plenty of spluttering and sneezing among them; that was because they would keep on barking, and every time they barked they got their mouths and noses full of water. but before jill had time to notice all these things fully, she was going up the waterfall herself. it was the sort of thing that would have been quite impossible in our world. even if you hadnt been drowned, you would have been 【创建和谐家园】ashed to pieces by the terrible weight of water against the countless jags of rock. but in that world you could do it. you went on, up and up, with all kinds of reflected lights flashing at you from the water and all manner of coloured stones flashing through it, till it seemed as if you were climbing up light itself - and always higher and higher till the sense of height would have terrified you if you could be terrified, but later it was only gloriously exciting. and then at last one came to the lovely, 【创建和谐家园】ooth green curve in which the water poured over the top and found that one was out on the level river above the waterfall. the current was racing away behind you,