【连载】The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe《狮子、女巫与魔衣橱》_English Corner

秋靖寒(内阁元老)

楼主 2012-09-10

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《狮子、女巫与魔衣橱》（The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe），英国作家C.S.路易斯，于1950年代所著《纳尼亚传奇》系列奇幻儿童文学小说第二部。　　
C.S.刘易斯是英国20世纪著名的文学家，杰出的批评家，也是公认的二十世纪最重要的基督教作者之一

【故事简介】

佩文西家四个兄弟姐妹彼得、苏珊、爱德蒙和露茜在一位老教授家做客，无意中发现衣橱后隐藏着一个神奇的魔法王国。这里的居民有羊怪、海狸、矮人、树精……但在阿斯兰离开纳尼亚期间，这个国家被一个邪恶的白女巫占领。她压迫纳尼亚的居民，将其置于永恒的冬季之中。羊怪曾冒着生命危险救过露茜，海狸一家也帮助他们兄妹逃脱白女巫的追杀。爱德蒙曾受白女巫土耳其软糖的诱惑，一度背叛过自己的兄妹。后来，阿斯兰伴随着圣诞老人来到纳尼亚，带领大家战胜了女巫。四个孩子成为纳尼亚的国王与女王。多年后，他们在打猎时无意中穿过衣橱，重新以孩子的身份回到自己的世界。

[ 此帖被昭昭木暮在2012-09-10 14:28重新编辑 ]

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秋靖寒(内阁元老)

沙发 2012-09-10

PREFACE
前言

TO LUCY BARFIELD
献给露西· 巴菲尔德

My Dear Lucy,
亲爱的露西，
I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand, a word you say, but I shall still be.
这个故事是写给你的，不过我动笔时，就意识到小女孩比书长得要快。现在你已经长大到过了读童话的年纪。等到这个故事印出来装订好，你会长得更大了。不过有一天，你会长大到要再读童话。到那时，你就可以丛书架上层把它取下来，擦掉上面的灰尘，然后跟我说说你的读后感。我大概会耳朵聋得听不见，也老得不明白你说的，一个字也不能，可我永远都会是。

Your affectionate Godfather,
深爱你的教父 C.S.
Lewis C.S
路易斯

秋靖寒(内阁元老)

板凳 2012-09-10

Chapter One:
LUCY LOOKS INTO A WARDROBE
第1章:露茜窥探衣橱

ONCE there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them when they were sent away from London during the war because of the air-raids. They were sent to the house of an old Professor who lived in the heart of the country, ten miles from the nearest railway station and two miles from the nearest post office. He had no wife and he lived in a very large house with a housekeeper called Mrs Macready and three servants. (Their names were Ivy, Margaret and Betty, but they do not come into the story much.) He himself was a very old man with shaggy white hair whichgrew over most of his face as well as on his head, and they liked him almost at once; but on the first evening when he came out to meet them at the front door he was so odd-looking that Lucy (who was the youngest) was a little afraid of him, and Edmund (who was the next youngest) wanted to laugh and had to keep on pretending he was blowing his nose to hide it.
从前，有这么四个孩子，他们的名字分别叫彼得、苏珊、爱德蒙和露茜。下面讲的故事就是他们亲身经历过的事情。那是在战争时期，为了躲避空袭，他们被送离伦敦，来到一位老教授的家里。这位老教授的家在英国的中部，离最近的火车站有十英里远，离最近的邮局也有两英里。他没有老伴，和女管家玛卡蕾蒂太太以及另外三个仆人一起，住着一所很大很大的房子（这三个仆人一个叫爱薇，一个叫玛格丽特，还有一个叫蓓蒂，但她们在这个故事中出现的不多）。教授已经老态龙钟，一头蓬乱的白发。孩子们一来就喜欢上了他。但在头天傍晚，当他从大门口出来迎接他们一行的时候，他的这副怪模样使年龄最小的露茜感到有点害怕，而爱德蒙呢（除了露茜他年龄最小），却忍不住要笑，他只好一次又一次的装做擦鼻涕，这才没有笑出声来。
As soon as they had said good night to the Professor and gone upstairs on the first night, the boys came into the girls' room and they all talked it over.
第一天晚上，他们向老教授道了晚安，就一起上楼，两个男孩来到女孩子的寝室，互相交谈起来。
"We've fallen on our feet and no mistake," said Peter. "This is going to be perfectly splendid. That old chap will let us do anything we like."
“我们的确运气不错，”彼得说，“这儿太好了，我们高兴干啥就可以干啥，这位老先生是不会管我们的。”
"I think he's an old dear," said Susan.
“我看他是个惹人喜欢的老头。”苏珊说。
"Oh, come off it!" said Edmund, who was tired and pretending not to be tired, which always made him bad-tempered. "Don't go on talking like that."
“哎呀，别东拉西扯了！”爱德蒙说，他已经很累了，但偏偏装作不累的样子，每当这时，他往往要发脾气，“别再说这些啦！”
"Like what?" said Susan; "and anyway, it's time you were in bed."
“说什么才好？”苏珊回了他一句，“你该睡了。”
"Trying to talk like Mother," said Edmund. "And who are you to say when I'm to go to bed? Go to bed yourself."
“你倒学着妈妈教训起我来了，”爱德蒙说，“你是什么人？我什么时间睡，还要你管！你自己去睡吧。”
"Hadn't we all better go to bed?" said Lucy. "There's sure to be a row if we're heard talking here."
“大家都睡，好不好？”露茜调解说，“如果人家听见我们还在这儿说话，非要骂我们不可。”
"No there won't," said Peter. "I tell you this is the sort of house where no one's going to mind what we do. Anyway, they won't hear us. It's about ten minutes' walk from here down to that dining-room, and any amount of stairs and passages in between."
“根本不会，”彼德说，“我不是说过，在老教授家里，谁也不会管我们的吗？再说，他们也不会听见我们讲话。从这里下去到饭厅，中间有这么多楼梯和过道，大约要走十分钟的路。”
"What's that noise?" said Lucy suddenly. It was a far larger house than she had ever been in before and the thought of all those long passages and rows of doors leading into empty rooms was beginning to make her feel a little creepy.
“什么声音？”露茜突然问道。这所房子比她以前住过的任何一所房子都要大得多，一想到那些长长过道和一排排通向空荡荡的房间的门，她就感到有点儿害怕，浑身都起了鸡皮疙瘩。
"It's only a bird, silly," said Edmund.
“傻东西，这是鸟儿叫。”爱德蒙说。
"It's an owl," said Peter. "This is going to be a wonderful place for birds. I shall go to bed now. I say, let's go and explore tomorrow. You might find anything in a place like this. Did you see those mountains as we came along? And the woods? There might be eagles. There might be stags. There'll be hawks."
“这是猫头鹰的叫声。”彼得说，“这里是各种鸟儿栖息的最好场所。我要去睡啦。喂，我们明天去探险吧。在这样一个地方，随便什么东西你也许都可以找到。在来的路上，你们看见了那些山没有？还有那些树林？那里也许有鹰啊，鹿，鹫啊。”
"Badgers!" said Lucy.
“有獾吗？”露茜问。
"Foxes!" said Edmund.
“还有蛇！”爱德蒙说。
"Rabbits!" said Susan.
“还有狐狸呢！！”苏珊说。
But when next morning came there was a steady rain falling, so thick that when you looked out of the window you could see neither the mountains nor the woods nor even the stream in the garden.
但第二天早晨，却冷沥沥地下起雨来了。雨很大，透过窗子朝外望去，你既看不见山，也看不见树林，甚至连花园里的小溪也看不见。
"Of course it would be raining!" said Edmund. They had just finished their breakfast with the Professor and were upstairs in the room he had set apart for them - a long, low room with two windows looking out in one direction and two in another.
“没有办法，天大概还要下雨，我们只好听天由命喽，”爱德蒙说。他们刚和教授一起吃好了早饭，就来到楼上教授给他们安排的房间。这是一个狭长而又低矮的房间，两头各开着两扇窗子可以看到外面。
"Do stop grumbling, Ed," said Susan. "Ten to one it'll clear up in an hour or so. And in the meantime we're pretty well off. There's a wireless and lots of books."
“别发牢骚，艾德，”苏珊说，“说不定过个把小时以后，天会转晴。就是现在，也不是没有什么可玩的。这里有无线电，还有许多书。”
"Not for me"said Peter; "I'm going to explore in the house."
“我才不稀罕这些玩意儿呢，”彼得说，“我要在这所住宅内进行探险。”
Everyone agreed to this and that was how the adventures began. It was the sort of house that you never seem to come to the end of, and it was full of unexpected places. The first few doors they tried led only into spare bedrooms, as everyone had expected that they would; but soon they came to a very long room full of pictures and there they found a suit of armour; and after that was a room all hung with green, with a harp in one corner; and then came three steps down and five steps up, and then a kind of little upstairs hall and a door that led out on to a balcony, and then a whole series of rooms that led into each other and were lined with books- most of them very old books and some bigger than a Bible in a church. And shortly after that they looked into a room that was quite empty except for one big wardrobe; the sort that has a looking-glass in the door. There was nothing else in the room at all except a dead blue-bottle on the window-sill.
大家都同意彼得的这个建议，一场奇遇就是这样开始的。这所住宅，你似乎永远也走不到它的尽头，里边净是些意料不到的地方。他们先试着打开了几扇门，原来是几间无人居住的空房间，这是大家事先预料到的。接下来，他们进了一个非常狭长的房间，墙上挂满了画，他们还在屋内发现了一副盔甲。然后，他们又进了另一个房间，里面全是绿色的装饰物，只是在角落里放着一把竖琴。这以后，他们走过一下一上的两段楼梯，来到楼上的一间小厅，小厅有一扇门通向外面的阳台。从小厅出来以后，他们又走进了一连串各自相通的房间，里面都放满了书，这些书绝大部分都是很旧的，有些比教堂里的《圣经》还要大。他们在这里逗留了片刻，又顺路走进另一个空荡荡的房间望了一下，只见里面放着一只很大很大的衣橱，橱门上镶着镜子。除了窗台上面放着一个褪了色的蓝花瓶以外，别的什么也没有了。
"Nothing there!" said Peter, and they all trooped out again - all except Lucy. She stayed behind because she thought it would be worth while trying the door of the wardrobe, even though she felt almost sure that it would be locked. To her surprise it opened quite easily, and two moth-balls dropped out.
“这有啥意思？”彼得说。大家都跟着走出去了，只有露茜一个人留在后面。她想试试能否把那个大衣橱打开，尽管她几乎肯定衣橱的门是锁着的。她自己都没有想到，橱门竟然很容易的被打开了，里面还滚出了两颗樟脑丸。
Looking into the inside, she saw several coats hanging up - mostly long fur coats. There was nothing Lucy liked so much as the smell and feel of fur. She immediately stepped into the wardrobe and got in among the coats and rubbed her face against them, leaving the door open, of course, because she knew that it is very foolish to shut oneself into any wardrobe. Soon she went further in and found that there was a second row of coats hanging up behind the first one. It was almost quite dark in there and she kept her arms stretched out in front of her so as not to bump her face into the back of the wardrobe. She took a step further in - then two or three steps always expecting to feel woodwork against the tips of her fingers. But she could not feel it.
她朝橱里仔细看了一下，里面并排挂着好几件外套，几乎全都是长长的皮外套。这些衣服摸上去软绵绵的，还带有樟脑丸的清香，露茜高兴极了。她一步跨进衣橱，挤到皮衣中间，把她的小脸蛋贴在毛茸茸的皮衣上轻轻地摩擦。当然喽，她让橱门开在那儿，因为她知道，一个人把自己关在衣橱里是非常愚蠢的。她往里挪动了一下身子，发现在第一排衣服的后面还挂着一排衣服，里面黑糊糊是。她把两只手往前伸，生怕自己的脸碰到了橱的后壁。她向前又跨了一步，接着两步，三步，想用手指尖摸到木头的橱壁，但她始终没能摸到。
"This must be a simply enormous wardrobe!" thought Lucy, going still further in and pushing the soft folds of the coats aside to make room for her. Then she noticed that there was something crunching under her feet. "I wonder is that more mothballs?" she thought, stooping down to feel it with her hand. But instead of feeling the hard, smooth wood of the floor of the wardrobe, she felt something soft and powdery and extremely cold. "This is very queer," she said, and went on a step or two further.
“这个衣橱多大啊！”露茜一边暗自想，一边又继续往前走。她不时拨开交迭着的柔软的皮衣，为自己开路。这时，她感到脚底下有什么东西在“吱嘎”“吱嘎”作响。“我难道踩着了樟脑丸了？”她想，一边蹲下身来用手去摸。然而她摸到的不是坚硬而又光滑的木头橱底，而是一样柔软的、粉末似的、冰冷的东西。“多么奇怪啊？”她一边说，一边又朝前走了一两步。
Next moment she found that what was rubbing against her face and hands was no longer soft fur but something hard and rough and even prickly. "Why, it is just like branches of trees!" exclaimed Lucy. And then shesaw that there was a light ahead of her; not a few inches away where the back of the wardrobe ought to have been, but a long way off. Something cold and soft was falling on her. A moment later she found that she was standing in the middle of a wood at night-time with snow under her feet and snowflakes falling through the air.
她很快就发现，碰在她脸上和手上的已不再是软绵绵的皮毛了，而是一种又坚硬又粗糙甚至有点戳手的东西。“哎呦，这像树枝嘛！”露茜一声惊叫。这时，她看见前面亮着一盏灯。本来衣橱后壁只有几英寸远，但这盏灯看上去却在老远老远的地方。一种轻飘飘的冰冷的东西落在她身上。一会儿以后，她发现自己站在深夜的树林中，雪花正从空中飘落下来，她的脚下全是积雪。
Lucy felt a little frightened, but she felt very inquisitive and excited as well. She looked back over her shoulder and there, between the dark tree trunks; she could still see the open doorway of the wardrobe and even catch a glimpse of the empty room from which she had set out. (She had, of course, left the door open, for she knew that it is a very silly thing to shut oneself into a wardrobe.) It seemed to be still daylight there. "I can always get back if anything goes wrong," thought Lucy. She began to walk forward, crunch-crunch over the snow and through the wood towards the other light. In about ten minutes she reached it and found it was a lamp-post. As she stood looking at it, wondering why there was a lamp-post in the middle of a wood and wondering what to do next, she heard a pitter patter of feet coming towards her. And soon after that a very strange person stepped out from among the trees into the light of the lamp-post.
露茜有点害怕起来，但同时又感到好奇和兴奋。她回头望去，穿过树干与树干之间的幽暗的空隙，依然可以看到敞开着的橱门，甚至还可以瞥见她从那里进来的那间空屋。（当然，她是让橱门开着的，因为她知道，把自己关在衣橱里是件非常愚蠢的事）。那里好像还是白天。“即使出了什么事，我也能回去。”露茜想。她又继续朝前走，“嘎吱”、“嘎吱”的踩着积雪，穿过树林，一直朝着那盏灯走去。大约走了十分钟，她就到了那里，原来这是一根灯柱。正当她凝神望着灯柱，猜测着为什么在树林中有一个灯柱，考虑着下一步该怎么办的时候，她猛地听到一阵“啪嗒”“啪嗒”的脚步声。没多久，从树林中走出一个样子奇怪的人，一直来到灯柱下面。
He was only a little taller than Lucy herself and he carried over his head an umbrella, white with snow. From the waist upwards he was like a man, but his legs were shaped like a goat's (the hair on them was glossy black) and instead of feet he had goat's hoofs. He also had a tail, but Lucy did not notice this at first because it was neatly caught up over the arm that held the umbrella so as to keep it from trailing in the snow. He had a red woollen muffler round his neck and his skin was rather reddish too. He had a strange, but pleasant little face, with a short pointed beard and curly hair, and out of the hair there stuck two horns, one on each side of his forehead. One of his hands, as I have said, held the umbrella: in the other arm he carried several brown-paper parcels. What with the parcels and the snow it looked just as if he had been doing his Christmas shopping. He was a Faun. And when he saw Lucy he gave such a start of surprise that he dropped all his parcels.
这人只比露茜略高一点，头上打着一把伞，伞上满是雪，一片白色。他的上半身看起来像人，但他的腿却像山羊，上面的毛黑油油的；他没有脚，却长着山羊的蹄子。他还有一条尾巴，但露茜最初并没有看见。因为怕拖在雪地里搞脏，他把它放在拿伞的那个手臂弯里。他的颈项里围着一条红色的羊毛围巾，红扑扑的小脸，长相有点奇怪，却又惹人喜欢。他留着尖尖的短胡子，长着卷曲的头发，额头两边各长着一只角。他一只手撑着伞，另一只手臂抱着几个棕色的纸包。看起来，他很像刚买了东西回来准备过圣诞节的。原来，他就是古罗马农牧之神丰讷。当他发现露茜时，他大吃一惊，手中所有的纸包都掉落在雪地上。
"Goodness gracious me!" exclaimed the Faun.
“天哪！”羊怪惊叫了一声。

[ 此帖被昭昭木暮在2012-09-11 17:10重新编辑 ]

秋靖寒(内阁元老)

地板 2012-09-10

Chapter Two:
WHAT LUCY FOUND THERE
第2章:柜中天地

"GOOD EVENING," said Lucy. But the Faun was so busy picking up its parcels that at first it did not reply. When it had
finished it made her a little bow.
“晚安！”露茜说。但是丰纳因为只顾拾地上的纸包，没有来得及回答露茜的问候。等他把东西全部拾起来以后，他才向露茜微微地鞠了一个躬。
"Good evening, good evening," said the Faun. "Excuse me - I don't want to be inquisitive - but should I be right in thinking that you are a Daughter of Eve?"
“晚安，晚安。”丰纳说，“实在对不起，请问，你大概就是夏娃的女儿吧？”
"My name's Lucy," said she, not quite understanding him.
"But you are - forgive me - you are what they call a girl?" said the Faun.
“我的名字叫露茜，”露茜回答说，她不全懂他的话。 “请问，你是个女孩吗？”
"Of course I'm a girl," said Lucy.
“当然啰，我是个女孩，”露茜说。
"You are in fact Human?"
“你真的是人吗？”
"Of course I'm human," said Lucy, still a little puzzled.
“我当然是人，”露茜说，她仍然有点摸不着头脑。
"To be sure, to be sure," said the Faun. "How stupid of me! But I've never seen a Son of Adam or a Daughter of Eve before. I am delighted. That is to say -" and then it stopped as if it had been going to say something it had not intended but had remembered in time. "Delighted, delighted," it went on. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tumnus."
“肯定是的了，肯定是的了，”丰纳说，“我多傻啊！我从没看见过亚当的儿子和夏娃的女儿是什么样子。我很高兴，这就是说……”说到这里他忽然停住不说了，话已到了嘴边，好像又猛地想起不该这么说似的。“很高兴，很高兴，”停了一会儿他继续说道，“请允许我作自我介绍，我的名字叫杜穆纳斯。”
"I am very pleased to meet you, Mr Tumnus," said Lucy.
“见到你我也很高兴，杜穆纳斯先生！”露茜说。
"And may I ask, O Lucy Daughter of Eve," said Mr Tumnus, "how you have come into Narnia?"
“啊，露茜，夏娃的女儿，”杜穆纳斯先生说，“请问，你是怎样到纳尼亚来的？”
"Narnia? What's that?" said Lucy.
“纳尼亚？那是什么地方？”露茜问道。
"This is the land of Narnia," said the Faun, "where we are now; all that lies between the lamp-post and the great castle of Cair Paravel on the eastern sea. And you - you have come from the wild woods of the west?"
“这儿就是纳尼亚的国土，”丰纳说，“它全部的国土是在灯柱和东海边上的凯尔．巴拉维尔大城堡之间。你呢，你是从西边的野树林那里来的吗？”
"I - I got in through the wardrobe in the spare room," said Lucy.
“我，我是从一间空屋的衣橱里进来的，”露茜说。
"Ah!" said Mr Tumnus in a rather melancholy voice, "if only I had worked harder at geography when I was a little Faun, I should no doubt know all about those strange countries. It is too late now."
“唉！”杜穆纳斯先生以一种有点忧郁的声音说道，“假如我小时候多学点地理，对这些奇怪的国家的情况就会一清二楚的了，现在后悔莫及啊。”
"But they aren't countries at all," said Lucy, almost laughing. "It's only just back there - at least - I'm not sure. It is summer there."
“它们根本不是什么国家，”露茜说，她几乎要笑出声来，“就在我后面不远的地方，真的呀，那儿还是夏天。”
"Meanwhile," said Mr Tumnus, "it is winter in Narnia, and has been for ever so long, and we shall both catch cold if we stand here talking in the snow. Daughter of Eve from the far land of Spare Oom where eternalsummer reigns around the bright city of War Drobe, how would it be if you came and had tea with me?"
“可是，”图姆纳斯先生说，“在那尼亚，现在却是冬天。这里的冬天是这样漫长。嗯，我们这样站在冰天雪地里谈话会着凉呢。啊，夏娃的女儿，你来自遥远的空屋之国，那里，永恒的夏天统治着光明的衣橱之城。你愿意到我家里和我一起吃点茶点吗？”
"Thank you very much, Mr Tumnus," said Lucy. "But I was wondering whether I ought to be getting back."
“不了，图姆纳斯先生，”露茜说，“我该回去了，谢谢你。”
"It's only just round the corner," said the Faun, "and there'll be a roaring fire - and toast - and sardines - and cake."
“只要转个弯就到了，”羊怪说，“我家里生着很旺的炉火，有烤面包，沙丁鱼，还有鸡蛋糕。”
"Well, it's very kind of you," said Lucy. "But I shan't be able to stay long."
“啊，你真好，”露茜说，“但我只能稍坐一会儿。”
"If you will take my arm, Daughter of Eve," said Mr Tumnus, "I shall be able to hold the umbrella over both of us. That's the way. Now - off we go."
“请你抓住我的手臂，夏娃的女儿，”图姆纳斯先生说，“这样，我们就可以合撑一把伞了。好，请跟我走吧。”
And so Lucy found herself walking through the wood arm in arm with this strange creature as if they had known one another all their lives.
露茜就这样，和这个奇怪的人手挽着手穿过了树林，好像他们老早就是好朋友似的。
They had not gone far before they came to a place where the ground became rough and there were rocks all about and little hills up and little hills down. At the bottom of one small valley Mr Tumnus turned suddenly aside as if he were going to walk straight into an unusually large rock, but at the last moment Lucy found he was leading her into the entrance of a cave. As soon as they were inside she found herself blinking in the light of a wood fire. Then Mr Tumnus stooped and took a flaming piece of wood out of the fire with a neat little pair of tongs, and lit a lamp. "Now we shan't be long," he said, and immediately put a kettle on.
没过多久，他们来到了一个地方，这里的路面高低不平，到处都是石头，起伏的小山连绵成片。在一个小山谷的谷底，图姆纳斯先生突然拐向一旁，向着一块大石头径直走去，最后，露茜发现他正领着她来到一个洞口。他们一走进洞内，露茜就感到两眼被木柴火照得睁不开来。图姆纳斯先生蹲下去，用一把小巧的火钳，从火堆里夹出一块正在燃烧的木柴头，点亮了一盏灯。“马上就好啦！”他一边说，一边把一个水壶放在火上。
Lucy thought she had never been in a nicer place. It was a little, dry, clean cave of reddish stone with a carpet on the floor and two little chairs ("one for me and one for a friend," said Mr Tumnus) and a table and a dresser and a mantelpiece over the fire and above that a picture of an old Faun with a grey beard. In one corner there was a door which Lucy thought must lead to Mr Tumnus's bedroom, and on one wall was a shelf full of books. Lucy looked at these while he was setting out the tea things. They had titles like The Life and Letters of Silenus or Nymphs and Their Ways or Men, Monks and Gamekeepers; a Study in Popular Legend or Is Man a Myth?
露茜想，她从来没有到过比着更舒适的地方。窑洞不大，四壁的石头泛着红光，洞内很干净，地上铺着一条地毯，摆着两张小椅子（“一张我坐，另一张给朋友坐。”图姆纳斯先生说），还有一张桌子，一个碗橱，火炉上有个壁台，壁台的上方挂着一幅白胡子老羊怪的画像。窑洞的一角有一扇门，露茜想，这一定是通向图姆纳斯先生的卧室的。门边的壁橱上面放满了书，书名有：《森林之神的生活和学习》、《山林水泽中的仙女》、《人、僧侣和猎场看守人》、《民间传说的研究》、《人类神秘吗？》等等，羊怪摆出餐具的时候，露茜就翻看着这些书。
"Now, Daughter of Eve!" said the Faun.
“好了，夏娃的女儿，就请吃吧。”羊怪说。
And really it was a wonderful tea. There was a nice brown egg, lightly boiled, for each of them, and then sardines on toast, and then buttered toast, and then toast with honey, and then a sugar-topped cake. And when Lucy was tired of eating the Faun began to talk. He had wonderful tales to tell of life in the forest. He told about the midnight dances and how the Nymphs who lived in the wells and the Dryads who lived in the trees came out to dance with the Fauns; about long hunting parties after the milk-white stag who could give you wishes if you caught him; about feasting and treasure-seeking with the wild Red Dwarfs in deep mines and caverns far beneath the forest floor; and then about summer when the woods were green and old Silenus on his fat donkey would come to visit them, and sometimes Bacchus himself, and then the streams would run with wine instead of water and the whole forest would give itself up to jollification for weeks on end. "Not that it isn't always winter now," he added gloomily. Then to cheer himself up he took out from its case on the dresser a strange little flute that looked as if it were made of straw and began to play. And the tune he played made Lucy want to cry and laugh and dance and go to sleep all at the same time. It must have been hours later when she shook herself and said:
说实在话。这是一顿很丰盛的茶点，先是每人一只深黄色的煮鸡蛋，煮得很嫩，接着是沙丁鱼盖烤面包，然后又是奶油面包，蜂蜜拌烤面包，白糖蛋糕，应有尽有。等露茜一点儿也不想再吃的时候，羊怪就和她攀谈起来。他有许多有关林中生活的精彩的故事。他向她描述了夜半舞会的盛况，讲水仙和树仙怎样出来和农牧之神一起跳舞，讲长长的打猎队伍怎样追逐乳白色的仙鹿，这种仙鹿如果你捕捉到了，它就会给你带来希望。他还讲了森林里的宴会，讲了怎样和机灵的红发矮神在离地面很深的矿井和岩洞里寻宝。最后，他讲了林中的夏天。那时，树木都披上了绿装，年迈的森林之神常常骑着肥壮的驴子来拜访他们。有时，酒神巴克斯也亲自光临。巴克斯一来，河里流着的水都变成了酒，整座森林一连好几个星期都沉浸在节日的欢宴中。“哪里像现在这样，冬天总是没完没了啊！”他话头一转，显得很是忧伤。为了振奋精神，他从碗橱上面的箱子里拿出一根小笛子吹了起来，这笛子看起来很奇怪，好像是用稻草秆做的。那曲调使露茜一会儿想哭，一会儿想笑，一会儿想跳舞，一会儿又想睡觉。露茜一直感到恍恍忽忽的，过了好几个钟头，她才醒转过来，对羊怪说：
"Oh, Mr Tumnus - I'm so sorry to stop you, and I do love that tune - but really, I must go home. I only meant to stay for a few minutes."
“哦，图姆纳斯先生，打断了你的演奏，实在抱歉。我非常喜欢这种曲调，可是我得回去了，真的，我本来只想逗留几分钟的。”
"It's no good now, you know," said the Faun, laying down its flute and shaking its head at her very sorrowfully.
“现在不行啊，你知道吗？”羊怪说，他放下笛子，非常悲伤地对她摇了摇头。
"No good?" said Lucy, jumping up and feeling rather frightened. "What do you mean? I've got to go home at once. The others will be wondering what has happened to me." But a moment later she asked, "Mr Tumnus! Whatever is the matter?" for the Faun's brown eyes had filled with tears and then the tears began trickling down its cheeks, and soon they were running off the end of its nose; and at last it covered its face with its hands and began to howl.
“怎么不行？”露茜被吓得猛地跳了起来，“你说什么？我要马上回去。别人还以为我出了什么事呢！”接着，她又问羊怪：“图姆纳斯先生，这究竟是怎么一回事？”这时，羊怪那棕色的眼睛里噙满了泪水，泪水沿着双颊一滴一滴地往下淌，又从鼻尖底下滚落了下来。最后，他用双手捂住了脸，号啕大哭起来。
"Mr Tumnus! Mr Tumnus!" said Lucy in great distress. "Don't! Don't! What is the matter? Aren' you well? Dear Mr Tumnus, do tell me what is wrong." But the Faun continued sobbing as if its heart would break. And even when Lucy went over and put her arms round him and lent him her hand kerchief, he did not stop. He merely took the handker chief and kept on using it, wringing it out with both hands whenever it got too wet to be any more use, so that presently Lucy was standing in a damp patch.
“图姆纳斯先生，图姆纳斯先生，”露茜感到很难过，“别哭！别哭！到底是怎么回事？你哪儿不舒服吗？亲爱的图姆纳斯先生，你得告诉我呀！”但羊怪依旧哭个不停，好像他的心都要碎了似的。露茜走过去，双手搂住了他，把她的手绢儿掏出来递给他，他还是不停的抽泣。他接过手绢，一边哭，一边擦着眼泪，手绢湿的不能再用时就用双手拧几下，不一会儿，露茜脚下的一小块地方就湿漉漉的了。
"Mr Tumnus!" bawled Lucy in his ear, shaking him. "Do stop. Stop it at once! You ought to be ashamed of yourself, a great big Faun like you. What on earth are you crying about?"
“图姆纳斯先生！”露茜摇着他的身子，在他的耳边大声喊道，“停住，立即停住！你应该为自己感到羞愧，一个像你这样伟大的农牧之神！究竟是什么事情使你哭的这样伤心？”
"Oh - oh - oh!" sobbed Mr Tumnus, "I'm crying because I'm such a bad Faun."
“呜，呜，呜。”图姆纳斯抽噎着，“我哭，因为我是这样坏的一个农牧之神。”
"I don't think you're a bad Faun at all," said Lucy. "I think you are a very good Faun. You are the nicest Faun I've ever met."
“不，你决不是一个坏的农牧之神。”露茜说，“你是一个非常好的农牧之神。你是我遇到过的最好的农牧之神。”
"Oh - oh - you wouldn't say that if you knew," replied Mr Tumnus between his sobs. "No, I'm a bad Faun. I don't suppose there ever was a worse Faun since the beginning of the world."
“呜，呜，你如果知道了事情的真相，你就不会这样说了。”图姆纳斯先生抽泣着回答，“我是一个坏的农牧之神。我想，从开天辟地以来，再也没有一个比我更坏的农牧之神了。”
"But what have you done?" asked Lucy.
“那么你到底做了些什么坏事？”露茜问。
"My old father, now," said Mr Tumnus; "that's his picture over the mantelpiece. He would never have done a thing like this."
“我的年迈的父亲，”图姆纳斯先生说，“你瞧，挂在壁炉台上面的就是他的画像，就不会做出这样的事来。”
"A thing like what?" said Lucy.
“什么样的事？”露茜问。
"Like what I've done," said the Faun. "Taken service under the White Witch. That's what I am. I'm in the pay of the White Witch."
“我所做的事，”羊怪回答，“是替白女巫效劳。我干的就是这种事情，我是被白女巫收买的。”
"The White Witch? Who is she?"
“白女巫？她是什么人？”
"Why, it is she that has got all Narnia under her thumb. It's she that makes it always winter. Always winter and never Christmas; think of that!"
“哎哟，这还用问吗？就是她，控制了整个那尼亚；就是她，使那尼亚全年都是冬天，从来没有圣诞节，请你想想看，这是一种什么样的情景呀！”
"How awful!" said Lucy. "But what does she pay you for?"
“多可怕呀！”露茜说，“但是她要你干些什么？”
"That's the worst of it," said Mr Tumnus with a deep groan. "I'm a kidnapper for her, that's what I am. Look at me, Daughter of Eve. Would you believe that I'm the sort of Faun to meet a poor innocent child in the wood, one that had never done me any harm, and pretend to be friendly with it, and invite it home to my cave, all for the sake of lulling it asleep and then handing it over to the White Witch?"
“她要我干的是丧尽天良的事，”图姆纳斯先生长叹一声说，“我专门替她拐骗小孩，这就是我干的勾当。夏娃的女儿，这你会相信吗？我就是这样的一个农牧之神，在森林里遇到一个可怜的天真无辜的孩子以后，我就假装和他交朋友，请他到我的洞里来，骗他睡熟以后，就把他给白女巫送去。”
"No," said Lucy. "I'm sure you wouldn't do anything of the sort."
“这我不相信，”露茜说，“我能肯定，你不会做出这种事情来的。”
"But I have," said the Faun.
“可是我已做了。”羊怪说。
"Well," said Lucy rather slowly (for she wanted to be truthful and yet not be too hard on him), "well, that was pretty bad. But you're so sorry for it that I'm sure you will never do it again."
“嗯，”露茜的语调慢了下来（因为她不愿撒谎，又不想对他过分严厉），“这确实是太没有良心了。但是，你为此这样的难过，我相信你决不会再做这样的事了。”
"Daughter of Eve, don't you understand?" said the Faun. "It isn't something I have done. I'm doing it now, this very moment."
“夏娃的女儿，你还不明白吗？”羊怪说，“这不是我以前干过的事，而是此刻我正在干的事。”
"What do you mean?" cried Lucy, turning very white.
“你想干什么？”露茜尖叫一声，脸色一下子变得煞白。
"You are the child," said Tumnus. "I had orders from the White Witch that if ever I saw a Son of Adam or a Daughter of Eve in the wood, I was to catch them and hand them over to her. And you are the first I've ever met. And I've pretended to be your friend an asked you to tea, and all the time I've been meaning to wait till you were asleep and then go and tell Her."
“你就是那种孩子。”图姆纳斯先生说，“我早就从白女巫那里得到命令，如果我在树林里发现亚当和夏娃的儿女，我就必须把他们抓来，送交给她。你是我遇到的第一个孩子。我假装和你交朋友，邀请你来吃茶点，我一直在等着，想等你睡熟以后，我就去向她报告。”
"Oh, but you won't, Mr Tumnus," said Lucy. "Yo won't, will you? Indeed, indeed you really mustn't."
“嗯，不过，你不会去报告的，对吗？真的，真的，你千万不能去告诉她啊！”
"And if I don't," said he, beginning to cry again "she's sure to find out. And she'll have my tail cut off and my horns sawn off, and my beard plucked out, and she'll wave her wand over my beautiful clove hoofs and turn them into horrid solid hoofs like wretched horse's. And if she is extra and specially angry she'll turn me into stone and I shall be only statue of a Faun in her horrible house until the four thrones at Cair Paravel are filled and goodness knows when that will happen, or whether it will ever happen at all."
“假如我不去告诉她，”说着，他又哭了起来，“她最后总会发现，她就要割去我的尾巴，锯断我的角，拔掉我的胡子。她还会挥动她的魔杖打掉我这美丽的偶蹄，把它们变成像劣马那样可怕的单蹄。如果她恼羞成怒，她就会把我变成石头，变成她那可怕的庭院里一座羊怪石像，直到凯尔·巴拉维尔的四个国王的宝座被人类占去以后为止。可是，谁知道这样的事情哪一天才能发生。到底是否会发生呢。”
"I'm very sorry, Mr Tumnus," said Lucy. "But please let me go home."
“非常对不起，图姆纳斯先生，”露茜说，“请你让我回家吧。”
"Of course I will," said the Faun. "Of course I've got to. I see that now. I hadn't known what Humans were like before I met you. Of course I can't give you up to the Witch; not now that I know you. But we must be off at once. I'll see you back to the lamp-post. I suppose you can find your own way from there back to Spare Oom and War Drobe?"
“当然要让你回家，”羊怪说，“我一定得这样做。在遇见你以前，我不知道人类是什么样子。现在我明白了。既然认识了你，我就不能把你交给白女巫。但是我们必须立刻离开这儿。我把你送回到灯柱那儿。我想，到了那儿以后，你就可以找到回衣橱和空屋的路了。”
"I'm sure I can," said Lucy.
“我相信能找到的。”露茜说。
"We must go as quietly as we can," said Mr Tumnus. "The whole wood is full of her spies. Even some of the trees are on her side."
“我们走的时候，尽可能不要有声音，”图姆纳斯先生说，“整座森林都布满了她的暗探，甚至有些树木也站在她那边。”
They both got up and left the tea things on the table, and Mr Tumnus once more put up his umbrella and gave Lucy his arm, and they went out into the snow. The journey back was not at all like the journey to the Faun's cave; they stole along as quickly as they could, without speaking a word, and Mr Tumnus kept to the darkest places. Lucy was relieved when they reached the lamp-post again.
他们站起身来，连茶具也没有收拾，图姆纳斯先生又撑起了伞，让露茜夹着，两人出了门，走进了雪地里。他们一声不响地抄着小路，从树林中最隐蔽的地方急匆匆地跑着，一直跑到灯柱面前，露茜才松了一口气。
"Do you know your way from here, Daughter o Eve?" said Tumnus.
“夏娃的女儿，你认得从这里回去的路吗？”图姆纳斯问。
Lucy looked very hard between the trees and could just see in the distance a patch of light that looked like daylight. "Yes," she said, "I can see the wardrobe door."
露茜在树林里仔细的看了看，瞧见远方有一片亮光，看起来很像阳光。“认得。”她说，“我已看见了橱门。”
"Then be off home as quick as you can," said the Faun, "and - c-can you ever forgive me for what meant to do?"
“那你就赶快走吧，”羊怪说，“还有，你——你肯原谅我本来想做的坏事吗？”
"Why, of course I can," said Lucy, shaking him heartily by the hand. "And I do hope you won't get into dreadful trouble on my account."
“说到哪里去了，”露茜十分诚恳地握着他的手说，“我只是衷心地希望你不要因为我而遭到麻烦。”
"Farewell, Daughter of Eve," said he. "Perhaps I may keep the handkerchief?"
“再见了，夏娃的女儿。”他说，“这块手绢可以让我随身带走吗？”
"Rather!" said Lucy, and then ran towards the far off patch of daylight as quickly as her legs would carry her. And presently instead of rough branch brushing past her she felt coats, and instead of crunching snow under her feet she felt wooden board and all at once she found herself jumping out of the wardrobe into the same empty room from which the whole adventure had started. She shut the wardrobe door tightly behind her and looked around, panting for breath. It was still raining and she could hear the voices of the others in the passage.
“当然可以。”露茜说完，就急急忙忙向着远处有亮光的地方飞奔过去。不一会，她就感到从她身上擦过的已不再是粗硬的树枝而是柔软的衣服了，她脚下也不是“嘎吱”“嘎吱”的雪，而是坚硬的木板了。一眨眼，她发现自己已离开了衣橱，来到了原来的那间空屋——这一段奇异的经历就是从这间空屋开始的。她紧紧地关上了橱门，向四周张望了一下，不停地喘着粗气。雨仍在下着，她清清楚楚地听见他们还在走廊里说话呢。
"I'm here," she shouted. "I'm here. I've come back I'm all right."
“我在这儿哪。”她高兴喊着说，“我在这儿哪。我回来啦，平平安安地回来啦。”

[ 此帖被昭昭木暮在2012-09-11 17:15重新编辑 ]

秋靖寒(内阁元老)

4楼 2012-09-10

Chapter Three:
EDMUND AND THE WARDROBE
第3章:爱德蒙和衣橱

Lucy ran out of the empty room into the passage and found the other three.
露茜从空屋里奔出来，一口气跑到走廊里，找到了另外三个人。
"It's all right," she repeated, "I've comeback."
“好啦，好啦。”她连声说，“我可回来啦！”
"What on earth are you talking about, Lucy?" asked Susan.
“露茜，你大惊小怪些什么？”苏珊问。
"Why? said Lucy in amazement, "haven't you all been wondering where I was?"
“啊？”露茜感到很惊异，“你们干吗不问问我到哪里去过？”
"So you've been hiding, have you?" said Peter. "Poor old Lu, hiding and nobody noticed! You'll have to hide longer than that if you want people to start looking for you."
“你躲起来了，是不是？”彼得说，“可怜的璐啊，你就躲这么一会儿，谁也不会理你。如果你想要别人来找你，你就得躲上更长的时间。”
"But I've been away for hours and hours," said Lucy.
“但是我已到那里去了好几个钟头啦！”露茜说。
The others all stared at one another.
三个人都惊讶地瞪起了眼睛，我看看你，你看看我。
"Batty!" said Edmund, tapping his head. "Quite batty."
“发疯啦！”爱德蒙拍着他的脑袋瓜说，“真是发疯啦！”
"What do you mean, Lu?" asked Peter.
“我是说，“露茜回答道，“吃了早点以后，我走进了衣橱，我在里边呆了好几个钟头，人家请我吃了茶点，我还遇到了许多奇怪的事。”
"What I said," answered Lucy. "It was just after breakfast when I went into the wardrobe, and I've been away for hours and hours, and had tea, and all sorts of things have happened."
“别说傻话，露茜，”苏珊说，“我们刚从空屋里出来，你躲在哪里就这么一会儿工夫。”
"Don't be silly, Lucy," said Susan. "We've only just come out of that room a moment ago, and you were there then."
“她一点儿也不傻，”彼得说，“她是在编造一个很有趣的故事，是吗，露茜？这有什么不好呢？”
"She's not being silly at all," said Peter, "she's just making up a story for fun, aren't you, Lu? And why shouldn't she?"
“不，彼得，我不是编故事。”她辩解说，“这是一个非常神秘的衣橱，里面有一座森林，正在下着雪，那里有一个农牧之神和一个女巫，那个国家叫那尼亚，你们来看吧。”
"No, Peter, I'm not," she said. "It's - it's a magic wardrobe. There's a wood inside it, and it's snowing, and there's a Faun and a Witch and it's called Narnia; come and see."
她这么一说，其余的人更加莫名其妙了，但露茜越说越激动，他们就都跟她一起回到了屋里。她急匆匆地抢先推开了橱门说：“喏，你们自己进去看吧。”
The others did not know what to think, but Lucy was so excited that they all went back with her into the room. She rushed ahead of them, flung open the door of the wardrobe and cried, "Now! go in and see for yourselves."
“你这个笨蛋，”苏珊把头伸进橱里，把皮衣向两边拨开说，“这只不过是一个普通的衣橱，瞧，那儿不是衣橱的后壁吗！”
"Why, you goose," said Susan, putting her head inside and pulling the fur coats apart, "it's just an ordinary wardrobe; look! there's the back of it."
大家都朝衣橱里仔细地观察了一番，把皮衣拨开以后，他们都看见——露茜自己也看见——这完全是一只普通的衣橱。里面没有树林，也没有雪，只有衣橱的后壁，上面钉着一些衣钩。彼得跨进衣橱里，用手指头轻轻地敲了敲，证实这确实是衣橱的后壁。
Then everyone looked in and pulled the coats apart; and they all saw - Lucy herself saw - a perfectly ordinary wardrobe. There was no wood and no snow, only the back of the wardrobe, with hooks on it. Peter went in and rapped his knuckles on it to make sure that it was solid.
“你真会说谎啊，璐。”他一边走出来，一边说，“我得承认，我们真的被你骗了，我们几乎听信你说的话。”
"A jolly good hoax, Lu," he said as he came out again; "you have really taken us in, I must admit. We half believed you."
“我一点儿也没说谎，”露茜说，“的的确确是真的，刚才的情况不是这样。我敢发誓，这是真的。”
"But it wasn't a hoax at all," said Lucy, "really and truly. It was all different a moment ago. Honestly it was. I promise."
“你过来，璐，”彼得说，“这样就更不对了，你说了谎，还不想改正。”
"Come, Lu," said Peter, "that's going a bit far. You've had your joke. Hadn't you better drop it now?"
露茜急得满脸通红，她想争辩，但又不知说什么好，忽然，她大声哭了起来。
Lucy grew very red in the face and tried to say something, though she hardly knew what she was trying to say, and burst into tears.
以后接连好几天，露茜一直闷闷不乐。如果她不顾事实随口承认这个故事只是编出来让大家开开心的，那她就很容易随时与大家和好。但露茜是一个非常诚实的小姑娘，她坚信自己是对的，她不肯随便乱说。可是别人呢，都认为她在说谎，而且是说了一个非常愚蠢的谎，这使她感到非常的委屈。彼得和苏姗批评她说谎并不是有意奚落她，但爱德蒙却是有点故意找茬，这次，他抓住了把柄似的不断取笑露茜，一次又一次地问她是不是在屋内别的橱里又发现了别的国家。那几天本该是非常令人愉快的日子，天气很好，他们从早到晚都在外边，洗澡啦，钓鱼啦，爬树啦，掏鸟窝啦，躲在石楠树丛中玩啦，但露茜对这些却一点也不感兴趣。这样的情况一直延续到以后的又一个阴雨天。
For the next few days she was very miserable. She could have made it up with the others quite easily at any moment if she could have brought herself to say that the whole thing was only a story made up for fun. But Lucy was a very truthful girl and she knew that she was really in the right; and she could not bring herself to say this. The others who thought she was telling a lie, and a silly lie too, made her very unhappy. The two elder ones did this without meaning to do it, but Edmund could be spiteful, and on this occasion he was spiteful. He sneered and jeered at Lucy and kept on asking her if she'd found any other new countries in other cupboards all over the house. What made it worse was that these days ought to have been delightful. The weather was fine and they were out of doors from morning to night, bathing, fishing, climbing trees, and lying in the heather. But Lucy could not properly enjoy any of it. And so things went on until the next wet day.
那一天，直到下午，雨还没有停，一点也没有转晴的迹象。他们决定做捉迷藏的游戏，其他三个人躲，由苏珊负责“捉”。大家刚散开，露茜就走进了放衣橱的那间空屋。她并不想躲到橱里去，因为她知道，如果那样做的话，就只会使旁人再次谈论起那件令人难堪的事来。但她很想到橱里去看一看，因为这些天来，她开始怀疑那尼亚和农牧之神只不过是个梦罢了。她想，房子这样大，结构又是这样复杂，可躲藏的地方多得很，先到橱里看一看，再躲到旁的地方，时间总是来得及的。但她一走进衣橱，就听见外边走廊里有脚步声，她没有别的办法，只好跳了进去，并顺手带上了橱门。她没有将门关严，因为她知道，即使这不是一个神秘的衣橱，一个人把自己关在衣橱里也是非常愚蠢的。
That day, when it came to the afternoon and there was still no sign of a break in the weather, they decided to play hide-and-seek. Susan was "It" and as soon as the others scattered to hide, Lucy went to the room where the wardrobe was. She did not mean to hide in the wardrobe, because she knew that would only set the others talking again about the whole wretched business. But she did want to have one more look inside it; for by this time she was beginning to wonder herself whether Narnia and the Faun had not been a dream. The house was so large and complicated and full of hiding-places that she thought she would have time to have one look into the wardrobe and then hide somewhere else. But as soon as she reached it she heard steps in the passage outside, and then there was nothing for it but to jump into the wardrobe and hold the door closed behind her. She did not shut it properly because she knew that it is very silly to shut oneself into a wardrobe, even if it is not a magic one.
原来是爱德蒙跑进来了，他走进屋内，刚好看见露茜的身影消失在衣橱中。他急忙追上去，这倒不是他把衣橱看做是躲藏的好地方，而是因为他想继续嘲笑她编造的那个国家的故事。他拉开橱门，里边像平常一样挂着外套，还有樟脑丸的气味，黑糊糊，静悄悄的，不见露茜的人影。“她以为我是苏珊来找她的，”爱德蒙自言自语地说，“所以她一直躲在衣橱里不吱声。”于是，他一步跨进去，关上了门，也忘记了这样做有多傻。他随即在暗中摸索起来，他原以为不消几秒钟就能摸到她，但使他吃惊的是，他怎么也摸不到。他想去开门，让亮光透一点进来，可他没能找到橱门。他气得四下乱摸，还高声喊着：
Now the steps she had heard were those of Edmund; and he came into the room just in time to see Lucy vanishing into the wardrobe. He at once decided to get into it himself - not because he thought it a particularly good place to hide but because he wanted to go on teasing her about her imaginary country. He opened the door. There were the coats hanging up as usual, and a smell of mothballs, and darkness and silence, and no sign of Lucy. "She thinks I'm Susan come to catch her," said Edmund to himself, "and so she's keeping very quiet in at the back." He jumped in and shut the door, forgetting what a very foolish thing this is to do. Then he began feeling about for Lucy in the dark. He had expected to find her in a few seconds and was very surprised when he did not. He decided to open the door again and let in some light. But he could not find the door either. He didn't like this at all and began groping wildly in every direction; he even shouted out, "Lucy! Lu! Where are you? I know you're here."
“露茜，璐！你躲在哪里呀？还不出来，我知道，你就在这儿。”
There was no answer and Edmund noticed that his own voice had a curious sound - not the sound you expect in a cupboard, but a kind of open-air sound. He also noticed that he was unexpectedly cold; and then he saw a light.
没有回答，爱德蒙发现他的声音非常奇怪，不像你所想象的在橱里的那种声音，而像是在旷野里发出来的。他感到冷的出奇。正在这时，他看见前面有一线亮光。
"Thank goodness," said Edmund, "the door must have swung open of its own accord." He forgot all about Lucy and went towards the light, which he thought was the open door of the wardrobe. But instead of finding himself stepping out into the spare room he found himself stepping out from the shadow of some thick dark fir trees into an open place in the middle of a wood.
“谢天谢地。”爱德蒙说，“一定是橱门自己荡开了。”他已经将露茜忘的一干二净，只顾朝着那亮光走去，他还以为那里就是开着的橱门呢。但他马上发现，他并没有走出衣橱返回空屋，而是从浓密的枞树荫里走进了林中的一片空地。
There was crisp, dry snow under his feet and more snow lying on the branches of the trees. Overhead there was pale blue sky, the sort of sky one sees on a fine winter day in the morning. Straight ahead of him he saw between the tree-trunks the sun, just rising, very red and clear. Everything was perfectly still, as if he were the only living creature in that country. There was not even a robin or a squirrel among the trees, and the wood stretched as far as he could see in every direction. He shivered.
他的脚下踩着又干又脆的雪，树林上也堆着一簇一簇的积雪，头顶上空是一片蔚蓝的天，这就像人们在冬天晴朗的早晨看到的那种天上的颜色。太阳刚从正前方的树干间升起，鲜红鲜红的。四周一片寂静，好像在那个国家，除了他以外，什么生灵也不存在了。在树林中间，连一只知更鸟和松鼠也没有，森林向四面八方伸展开去，一望无际。他不禁打起了寒战。
He now remembered that he had been looking for Lucy; and also how unpleasant he had been to her about her "imaginary country" which now turned out not to have been imaginary at all. He thought that she must be somewhere quite close and so he shouted, "Lucy! Lucy! I'm here too-Edmund."
这时他忽然想起，他是来寻找露茜的，他也想到，他对她讲的故事是多么反感，而现在周围的一切证明她讲的情况原是真的。他想露茜一定就在附近什么地方，所以他高声喊叫着：“露茜！露茜！我是爱德蒙，我也来了。”
There was no answer.
没有回答。
"She's angry about all the things I've been saying lately," thought Edmund. And though he did not like to admit that he had been wrong, he also did not much like being alone in this strange, cold, quiet place; so he shouted again.
“她是因为我最近错怪了她而生我的气吧。”爱德蒙想。虽然他不愿意承认自己错了，但也不想一个人孤零零地站在这个陌生、寒冷而又孤寂的地方，于是他又喊了起来：
"I say, Lu! I'm sorry I didn't believe you. I see now you were right all along. Do come out. Make it Pax."
“喂，露茜，以前我不相信你说的话，请你原谅。现在我已明白，你说的是对的。赶快出来，我们和好吧。”
Still there was no answer.
仍然没有回答。
"Just like a girl," said Edmund to himself, "sulking somewhere, and won't accept an apology." He looked round him again and decided he did not much like this place, and had almost made up his mind to go home, when he heard, very far off in the wood, a sound of bells. He listened and the sound came nearer and nearer and at last there swept into sight a sledge drawn by two reindeer.
“真是女孩子气，”爱德蒙自言自语地说，“一个劲地闹别扭，人家向她赔礼道歉了，她还是不睬人。”他又看了看四周，感到实在没有必要在这里逗留。他正要准备回家的时候，听见遥远的树林里传来了铃儿的响声。他仔细倾听着。铃声越来越近，最后他看见，一辆雪橇由两匹驯鹿拉着疾驰而来。
The reindeer were about the size of Shetland ponies and their hair was so white that even the snow hardly looked white compared with them; their branching horns were gilded and shone like something on fire when the sunrise caught them. Their harness was of scarlet leather and covered with bells. On the sledge, driving the reindeer, sat a fat dwarf who would have been about three feet high if he had been standing. He was dressed in polar bear's fur and on his head he wore a red hood with a long gold tassel hanging down from its point; his huge beard covered his knees and served him instead of a rug. But behind him, on a much higher seat in the middle of the sledge sat a very different person - a great lady, taller than any woman that Edmund had ever seen. She also was covered in white fur up to her throat and held a long straight golden wand in her right hand and wore a golden crown on her head. Her face was white - not merely pale, but white like snow or paper or icing-sugar, except for her very red mouth. It was a beautiful face in other respects, but proud and cold and stern.
这两匹驯鹿和谢德兰群岛的矮种马差不多大小，它们身上的毛比雪还要白，它们头上的叉角在朝阳的映照下闪烁着红光。它们脖子上的套具是用深红色的皮革制成的，上面带着铃铛。坐在雪橇上赶鹿的是个肥胖的小妖，如果他站直了的话，大约只有三英尺高。他穿着北极熊皮做的衣服，头上围着一条红色的头巾，长长的金黄色的穗子从它的顶上垂下来；他的大胡子一直垂到两膝，简直可以当作一条围巾来使用。在他后面，在雪橇中间一个高得多的座位上，坐着一个与众不同的女人，她比爱德蒙以前见过的任何一个女人都要高大。她也全身穿着雪白的毛皮衣服，右手握着一根又长又直的金棍，头上戴着一顶金冠。除了她那血红的嘴以外，她的脸就像雪、纸或冰糖一样白。她的脸孔还算漂亮，但却显得十分骄横和冷酷。
The sledge was a fine sight as it came sweeping towards Edmund with the bells jingling and the dwarf cracking his whip and the snow flying up on each side of it.
雪橇向爱德蒙疾驰而来，铃儿“叮当”“顶当”地响着，小妖“噼噼啪啪”地挥着鞭子，雪向雪橇的四边飞溅，看上去真像一幅美丽的图画。
"Stop!" said the Lady, and the dwarf pulled the reindeer up so sharp that they almost sat down. Then they recovered themselves and stood champing their bits and blowing. In the frosty air the breath coming out of their nostrils looked like smoke.
“停！”坐在雪橇上的那个女人说，小妖猛地拉了一下驯鹿，驯鹿几乎都坐了起来。它们很快恢复了原状，立在那儿，“格格”地咬着嘴里的嚼子，呼呼直喘气。在这种严寒的天气里，它们鼻孔里呼出来的热气看起来就像烟雾一般。
"And what, pray, are you?" said the Lady, looking hard at Edmund.
“喂，你是干什么的？”那个女人问，两眼紧盯着爱德蒙。
"I'm-I'm-my name's Edmund," said Edmund rather awkwardly. He did not like the way she looked at him.
“我，我，我的名字叫爱德蒙。”爱德蒙局促不安地说。他很不满意她打量他时的那种神情。
The Lady frowned, "Is that how you address a Queen?" she asked, looking sterner than ever.
那女人皱起了双眉，“你就这样对女王讲话吗？”她说，样子显得更加严厉了。
"I beg your pardon, your Majesty, I didn't know," said Edmund:
“请原谅，陛下，我不知道你是女王。”爱德蒙说。
"Not know the Queen of Narnia?" cried she. "Ha! You shall know us better hereafter. But I repeat-what are you?"
“不认识那尼亚的女王？”她尖声喊道，“哈，很快你就会认得的。回我的话：你到底是干什么的？”
"Please, your Majesty," said Edmund, "I don't know what you mean. I'm at school - at least I was it's the holidays now."
“陛下，”爱德蒙说，“我不懂你的意思，我在上学——确实是这样，陛下——这几天学校放假。”

[ 此帖被昭昭木暮在2012-09-11 17:17重新编辑 ]

秋靖寒(内阁元老)

5楼 2012-09-10

Chapter Four:
TURKISH DELIGHT
第4章:土耳其软糖

"BUT what are you?" said the Queen again. "Are you a great overgrown dwarf that has cut off its beard?"
“但你究竟是干什么的？”那女人又问，“你是个剃掉了胡子，长得特别高大的小妖吗？”
"No, your Majesty," said Edmund, "I never had a beard, I'm a boy."
“不，陛下，”爱德蒙说，“我还没有长胡子呢，我是个男孩。”
"A boy!" said she. "Do you mean you are a Son of Adam?"
“一个男孩！”她说，“你是说你是亚当的儿子？”
Edmund stood still, saying nothing. He was too confused by this time to understand what the question meant.
爱德蒙一愣，没有开口。他被问的莫名其妙，一点也不懂这句话的意思。
"I see you are an idiot, whatever else you may be," said the Queen. "Answer me, once and for all, or I shall lose my patience. Are you human?"
“我看，不管你是干什么的，你都像个白痴，”女王说，“回答我的问题，就这么一次了，别惹我发怒，你是人吗？”
"Yes, your Majesty," said Edmund.
“是的，陛下。”爱德蒙说。
"And how, pray, did you come to enter my dominions?"
“那么，我问你，你是怎么来到我统治的这个地方的？”
"Please, your Majesty, I came in through a wardrobe."
“陛下，对不起，我是从一个衣橱进来的。”
"A wardrobe? What do you mean?"
“一个衣橱？这是怎么一回事？”
"I - I opened a door and just found myself here, your Majesty," said Edmund.
“陛下，我，我开了橱门，一跑到里面，就发现我在这儿了。”爱德蒙回答说。
"Ha!" said the Queen, speaking more to herself than to him. "A door. A door from the world of men! I have heard of such things. This may wreck all. But he is only one, and he is easily dealt with." As she spoke these words she rose from her seat and looked Edmund full in the face, her eyes flaming; at the same moment she raised her wand. Edmund felt sure that she was going to do something dreadful but he seemed unable to move. Then, just as he gave himself up for lost, she appeared to change her mind.
“哈哈！”女王像是在自言自语，“一扇门，一扇通向人类世界的门！以前我也听说过这样的事。这下可糟糕了。不过，他只有一个人，还容易对付。”她一边说，一边从她的座位上站起来，死死的盯着爱德蒙的脸，眼里射出恶狠狠的光焰。她挥起手中的棍子。爱德蒙想，她一定要干什么可怕的事情了。他似乎觉得自己已动弹不得。正当他感到自己快要死的时候，那女王又好像改变了主意。
"My poor child," she said in quite a different voice, "how cold you look! Come and sit with me here on the sledge and I will put my mantle round you and we will talk."
“我可怜的孩子，”她说话的腔调变得不同了，“瞧，你被冻得这个样子！坐到我雪橇上来吧，我给你裹上披风，好一起谈谈心。”
Edmund did not like this arrangement at all but he dared not disobey; he stepped on to the sledge and sat at her feet, and she put a fold of her fur mantle round him and tucked it well in.
爱德蒙内心不愿意，但又不敢违抗，他只好跨上雪橇，坐在她脚旁。她把毛皮披风的一角披在他身上，将他裹的紧紧的。
"Perhaps something hot to drink?" said the Queen. "Should you like that?"
“你想喝点什么热的东西吗？”女王问。
"Yes please, your Majesty," said Edmund, whose teeth were chattering.
“谢谢，陛下。”爱德蒙说，他的牙齿在不停地打战。
The Queen took from somewhere among her wrappings a very small bottle which looked as if it were made of copper. Then, holding out her arm, she let one drop fall from it on the snow beside the sledge. Edmund saw the drop for a second in mid-air, shining like a diamond. But the moment it touched the snow there was a hissing sound and there stood a jewelled cup full of something that steamed. The dwarf immediately took this and handed it to Edmund with a bow and a smile; not a very nice smile. Edmund felt much better as he began to sip the hot drink. It was something he had never tasted before, very sweet and foamy and creamy, and it warmed him right down to his toes.
女王从身边掏出一个很小的瓶子，它看上去是铜做的。然后，她伸出手臂，从瓶里倒出一滴东西滴在雪橇旁边的雪地上。爱德蒙看到，这一滴东西在落地前像宝石一样闪闪发光，但它一碰到雪，便发出一阵咝咝的响声，顿时就变成了一个宝石杯，杯子里盛满了饮料，还直冒热气。那个小妖马上拿起杯子，递给爱德蒙，皮笑肉不笑地向他鞠了一个躬。爱德蒙呷了一口，感到舒服多了。这是他从没尝到过的奶油饮料，非常甜，泡沫很多，他喝下以后，一直暖到脚跟。
"It is dull, Son of Adam, to drink without eating," said the Queen presently. "What would you like best to eat?"
“亚当的儿子，只饮不吃是傻瓜，”女王过了一会儿说，“你最喜欢吃什么东西呀？”
"Turkish Delight, please, your Majesty," said Edmund.
“土耳其软糖，陛下。”爱德蒙说。
The Queen let another drop fall from her bottle on to the snow, and instantly there appeared a round box, tied with green silk ribbon, which, when opened, turned out to contain several pounds of the best Turkish Delight. Each piece was sweet and light to the very centre and Edmund had never tasted anything more delicious. He was quite warm now, and very comfortable.
于是，女王又从瓶子里倒出一滴东西滴到雪地上，地上立即出现了一个圆盒子，用绿丝带扎着，把它一打开，里面装着好几磅最好的土耳其软糖。每一块又甜又软，爱德蒙从没有吃过比它还要好吃的东西。他现在感到非常暖和，非常舒适。
While he was eating the Queen kept asking him questions. At first Edmund tried to remember that it is rude to speak with one's mouth full, but soon he forgot about this and thought only of trying to shovel down as much Turkish Delight as he could, and the more he ate the more he wanted to eat, and he never asked himself why the Queen should be so inquisitive. She got him to tell her that he had one brother and two sisters, and that one of his sisters had already been in Narnia and had met a Faun there, and that no one except himself and his brother and his sisters knew anything about Narnia. She seemed especially interested in the fact that there were four of them, and kept on coming back to it. "You are sure there are just four of you?" she asked. "Two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve, neither more nor less?" and Edmund, with his mouth full of Turkish Delight, kept on saying, "Yes, I told you that before," and forgetting to call her "Your Majesty", but she didn't seem to mind now.
在他吃软糖的时候，女王接二连三地问了他许多问题。开始，爱德蒙竭力让自己记住，嘴里塞满了东西讲话是不礼貌的，但没有多久他就忘得干干净净，只顾狼吞虎咽地吃软糖。他吃得越多，就越是想吃，一点儿也没想到为什么女王要问他这么多问题。最后，他把一切情况都告诉了她：他有一个哥哥，一个姐姐和一个妹妹，他的妹妹也曾到过那尼亚，还遇见了一个农牧之神，除了他们兄妹四人以外，没有谁知道那尼亚的情况。女王听到他们有兄妹四人，似乎感到特别有兴趣，她反反复复地问：“你能肯定你们正好是四个人吗？亚当的两个儿子和夏娃的两个女儿，不多也不少？”爱德蒙嘴里塞满了软糖，一遍又一遍地回答：“是的，我已经告诉过你了。”现在他都忘了称她“陛下”，但她好像并不在乎。
At last the Turkish Delight was all finished and Edmund was looking very hard at the empty box and wishing that she would ask him whether he would like some more. Probably the Queen knew quite well what he was thinking; for she knew, though Edmund did not, that this was enchanted Turkish Delight and that anyone who had once tasted it would want more and more of it, and would even, if they were allowed, go on eating it till they killed themselves. But she did not offer him any more. Instead, she said to him,
最后，土耳其软糖全吃完了，爱德蒙的眼睛滴溜溜地看着那个空盒子，巴不得她再问他一声是不是还想吃。女王很可能知道他此时的思想活动。因为，爱德蒙虽然没有说出口，但她却十分清楚，这种土耳其软糖是一种施了妖法的迷魂糖，不管哪个吃了以后，都会越吃越想吃，只要有得吃，他就不会住口，一直吃到被毒死为止。女王并没有再给他吃，只是说：
"Son of Adam, I should so much like to see your brother and your two sisters. Will you bring them to see me?"
“亚当的儿子，我多么希望能够看到你的哥哥和姐妹啊！请你把他们带到我这儿来好吗？”
"I'll try," said Edmund, still looking at the empty box.
“我一定照办。”爱德蒙说，两只眼睛依旧盯住那只空盒子。
"Because, if you did come again - bringing them with you of course - I'd be able to give you some more Turkish Delight. I can't do it now, the magic will only work once. In my own house it would be another matter."
“如果你再来的话——当然要把他们一起带来——我就会给你更多的土耳其软糖吃。但现在不能给你，因为这种魔法只能使用一次。当然，到了我的家，情况就不同了。”
"Why can't we go to your house now?" said Edmund. When he had first got on to the sledge he had been afraid that she might drive away with him to some unknown place from which he would not be able to get back; but he had forgotten about that fear now.
“那么我们现在就到你家里去好吗？”爱德蒙试探着问道。他刚坐上雪橇时，担心她会把他带到一个非常陌生的地方去，他将永远回不来了，可是现在，他的这种担心已被抛到了九霄云外。
"It is a lovely place, my house," said the Queen. "I am sure you would like it. There are whole rooms full of Turkish Delight, and what's more, I have no children of my own. I want a nice boy whom I could bring up as a Prince and who would be King of Narnia when I am gone. While he was Prince he would wear a gold crown and eat Turkish Delight all day long; and you are much the cleverest and handsomest young man I've ever met. I think I would like to make you the Prince - some day, when you bring the others to visit me."
“我家是个很舒适的地方。”女王说，“我肯定你会喜欢，那里有好些房间是专门放土耳其软糖的。再说，我自己没有孩子，我很想领一个漂亮的男孩当王子。你哪一天把另外三个人带到我家来，我就哪一天让你当王子。”
"Why not now?" said Edmund. His face had become very red and his mouth and fingers were sticky. He did not look either clever or handsome, whatever the Queen might say.
“为什么不让我现在就去呢？”爱德蒙说，他脸色变得通红，嘴和手指上面都黏糊糊的。不管女王怎么夸奖她，他乍看起来既不聪明又不漂亮。
"Oh, but if I took you there now," said she, "I shouldn't see your brother and your sisters. I very much want to know your charming relations. You are to be the Prince and - later on - the King; that is understood. But you must have courtiers and nobles. I will make your brother a Duke and your sisters Duchesses."
“哦，假如我现在就把你带回家去，”她说，“我就见不到你的哥哥、姐姐和妹妹了。我很想认识他们。你将成为王子，以后还要做国王，但你还必须有大臣和贵族。我将封你的哥哥当公爵，封你的姐姐和妹妹当作女公爵。”
"There's nothing special about them," said Edmund, "and, anyway, I could always bring them some other time."
“他们没有什么值得你特别器重的，”爱德蒙说，“而且，我可以随便在哪一天把他们带来。”
"Ah, but once you were in my house," said the Queen, "you might forget all about thern. You would be enjoying yourself so much that you wouldn't want the bother of going to fetch them. No. You must go back to your own country now and come to me another day, with them, you understand. It is no good coming without them."
“不错，但是如果你现在到了我的家里，”女王说，“你就会把他们忘得干干净净，你就会只顾自己玩乐，而不想再去找他们了。不行！你现在必须回到你自己的国家去，过几天和他们一起到我这儿来，不和他们一起来是不行的。”
"But I don't even know the way back to my own country," pleaded Edmund. "That's easy," answered the Queen. "Do you see that lamp?" She pointed with her wand and Edmund turned and saw the same lamp-post under which Lucy had met the Faun. "Straight on, beyond that, is the way to the World of Men. And now look the other way'- here she pointed in the opposite direction - "and tell me if you can see two little hills rising above the trees."
“但我不认得回去的路。”爱德蒙恳求说。“这容易。”女王回答说，“你看见那盏灯吗？”她用手中的棍子指了指，爱德蒙转过身去，看见了露茜曾在那儿碰见了农牧之神的那个灯柱。“一直往前走，到灯柱那边，就能找到通向人世间的路，嗯，现在请你看另外一条路，”她指着相反的方向问，“顺着树梢的上头看过去，你看到有两座小山吗？”
"I think I can," said Edmund.
“看到了。”爱德蒙回答。
"Well, my house is between those two hills. So next time you come you have only to find the lamp-post and look for those two hills and walk through the wood till you reach my house. But remember - you must bring the others with you. I might have to be very angry with you if you came alone."
"I'll do my best," said Edmund.
“好哇，我住的地方就在那两座小山之间。你下次来的时候，只要找到灯柱，朝着那两座小山的方向，穿过这座森林，就可以到我住的地方。你要让这条河流一直紧靠在你的右边。但必须记住，你得带着你的哥哥、姐姐和妹妹一起来。如果只来你一个人，可别怪我发怒。”
“我将尽我最大努力。”爱德蒙回答说。
"And, by the way," said the Queen, "you needn't tell them about me. It would be fun to keep it a secret between us two, wouldn't it? Make it a surprise for them. Just bring them along to the two hills - a clever boy like you will easily think of some excuse for doing that - and when you come to my house you could just say "Let's see who lives here" or something like that. I am sure that would be best. If your sister has met one of the Fauns, she may have heard strange stories about me - nasty stories that might make her afraid to come to me. Fauns will say anything, you know, and now -"
"Please, please," said Edmund suddenly, "please couldn't I have just one piece of Turkish Delight to eat on the way home?"
“嗯，顺便说一句，”女王说，“你不必把我的情况告诉他们。我们两人必须严守秘密，这将是非常有趣的事情，你说是不是？要让他们来了以后大吃一惊。你只要想办法把他们带进那两座小山就行了——一个像你这样聪明的孩子要找个这样的借口还不容易——你到了我家以后，只消说一声，‘让我们看看谁住在这儿’或别的这一类的话就行了。据我看来，这是再好不过的办法。如果你的妹妹见到过一个农牧之神，她或许听到过关于我的什么坏话。她可能怕到我这儿来。那些农牧之神最会瞎说一通，现在……”
“陛下，”爱德蒙插嘴问道，“请你再给我一块土耳其软糖，让我在回家的路上吃吃好吗？”
"No, no," said the Queen with a laugh, "you must wait till next time." While she spoke, she signalled to the dwarf to drive on, but as the sledge swept away out of sight, the Queen waved to Edmund, calling out, "Next time! Next time! Don't forget. Come soon."
Edmund was still staring after the sledge when he heard someone calling his own name, and looking round he saw Lucy coming towards him from another part of the wood.
“不行，不行，”女王大笑着说，“一定要等到下一次，”她一边说，一边向小妖打了一个继续赶路的手势，于是雪橇便疾驶而去，女王朝爱德蒙挥手喊道，“等到下一次，等到下一次。别忘了，过几天就到我家里来。”
正当爱德蒙凝视着远去的雪橇的时候，他忽然听见有人在喊他的名字。他掉转头来，看见露茜正从树林的另一个方向朝他走了过来。
"Oh, Edmund!" she cried. "So you've got in too! Isn't it wonderful, and now-"
"All right," said Edmund, "I see you were right and it is a magic wardrobe after all. I'll say I'm sorry if you like. But where on earth have you been all this time? I've been looking for you everywhere."
“噢，爱德蒙！”她惊喜地喊了起来，“你也进来了！还好玩吗？”
“是啊，”爱德蒙说，“你看，你以前说的事是真的，这真的是个神秘的衣橱。我必须向你道歉，可是你刚才究竟在哪里？我到处找你呢。”
"If I'd known you had got in I'd have waited for you," said Lucy, who was too happy and excited to notice how snappishly Edmund spoke or how flushed and strange his face was. "I've been having lunch with dear Mr Tumnus, the Faun, and he's very well and the White Witch has done nothing to him for letting me go, so he thinks she can't have found out and perhaps everything is going to be all right after all."
"The White Witch?" said Edmund; "who's she?"
“要是我知道你也进来了，我一定会等你。”露茜说，她高兴极了，一点也没注意到爱德蒙说话时是多么急躁；他的脸色是多么红，多么奇怪。“我和亲爱的农牧之神图姆纳斯先生一起吃过饭，他平安无事，上次他把我放走了，白女巫没有对他怎么样，他说这件事女巫没有发觉，他大概不会遇到什么麻烦了。”
“白女巫？”爱德蒙问，“她是谁呀？”
"She is a perfectly terrible person," said Lucy. "She calls herself the Queen of Narnia though she has no right to be queen at all, and all the Fauns and Dryads and Naiads and Dwarfs and Animals - at least all the good ones - simply hate her. And she can turn people into stone and do all kinds of horrible things. And she has made a magic so that it is always winter in Narnia - always winter, but it never gets to Christmas. And she drives about on a sledge, drawn by reindeer, with her wand in her hand and a crown on her head."
Edmund was already feeling uncomfortable from having eaten too many sweets, and when he heard that the Lady he had made friends with was a dangerous witch he felt even more uncomfortable. But he still wanted to taste that Turkish Delight again more than he wanted anything else.
“她是个十分可怕的女巫。”露茜说，“她自称是那尼亚的女王，可是她根本没有资格作女王。所有的农牧之神、水神、树神小妖和动物，凡是心肠好的，都对她恨之入骨。她能把人变成石头，她能做出各种各样恐怖的事来。她施行一种妖术，使那尼亚一年到头都是冬天，始终过不上圣诞节。她手持魔杖，头戴王冠，坐在驯鹿拉的雪橇里，到处跑着。”
爱德蒙软糖吃得太多，早已感到不很舒服，现在听说和他交朋友的那个女人原来是个危险的女巫，他就感到更不舒服了。虽然如此，与别的东西相比，他还是喜欢吃土耳其软糖。
"Who told you all that stuff about the White Witch?" he asked.
“所有这些情况，是谁告诉你的？”他问。
"Mr Tumnus, the Faun," said Lucy.
"You can't always believe what Fauns say," said Edmund, trying to sound as if he knew far more about them than Lucy.
“农牧之神图姆纳斯先生。”露茜说。“你不要总是相信农牧之神的话。”爱德蒙说，装出一副比露茜更加了解农牧之神的样子。
"Who said so?" asked Lucy.
“这话是谁说的？”露茜问。
"Everyone knows it," said Edmund; "ask anybody you like. But it's pretty poor sport standing here in the snow. Let's go home."
“大家都知道，”爱德蒙说，“随你问哪一个都行。但是，冒雪站在这儿有什么好玩的，我们还是回去吧。”
"Yes, let's," said Lucy. "Oh, Edmund, I am glad you've got in too. The others will have to believe in Narnia now that both of us have been there. What fun it will be!"
“也好，”露茜说，“哦，爱德蒙，你也来了，我感到很高兴。我们两人都到过那尼亚，别人一定会相信我们了。那该多有趣呀！”
But Edmund secretly thought that it would not be as good fun for him as for her. He would have to admit that Lucy had been right, before all the others, and he felt sure the others would all be on the side of the Fauns and the animals; but he was already more than half on the side of the Witch. He did not know what he would say, or how he would keep his secret once they were all talking about Narnia.
爱德蒙却暗自认为，对他来说，那尼亚并不像露茜说的那样有趣，但是他不得不在大家面前承认露茜是对的。他敢肯定，别人都会站在农牧之神和别的动物一边，而他却站在女巫这一边。如果大家都知道那尼亚的情况，那他就有口难辨了，也无法保守他的秘密了。
By this time they had walked a good way. Then suddenly they felt coats around them instead of branches and next moment they were both standing outside the wardrobe in the empty room.
不知不觉，他们已经走了好远，忽然他们发现，他们周围已不再是树枝而是衣服了，转瞬间，两人已站在衣橱的空屋里了。
"I say," said Lucy, "you do look awful, Edmund. Don't you feel well?"
“哎呦，”露茜说，“你的脸色多么难看啊，爱德蒙，你不舒服吗？”
"I'm all right," said Edmund, but this was not true. He was feeling very sick.
“我很好。”爱德蒙回答，但这并不是真话，他感到很不舒服。
"Come on then," said Lucy, "let's find the others. What a lot we shall have to tell them! And what wonderful adventures we shall have now that we're all in it together."
“那么走吧，”露茜说，“我们找他们去，我们有许多话要告诉他们！如果我们四个人全到了里边，我们将会遇到很多奇异的事情！”

[ 此帖被昭昭木暮在2012-09-11 17:21重新编辑 ]

秋靖寒(内阁元老)

6楼 2012-09-10

Chapter Five:
BACK ON THIS SIDE OF THE DOOR
第5章:回到了橱门这一边

BECAUSE the game of hide-and-seek was still going on, it took Edmund and Lucy some time to find the others. But when at last they were all together (which happened in the long room, where the suit of armour was) Lucy burst out:
"Peter! Susan! It's all true. Edmund has seen it too. There is a country you can get to through the wardrobe. Edmund and I both got in. We met one another in there, in the wood. Go on, Edmund; tell them all about it."
"What's all this about, Ed?" said Peter.
And now we come to one of the nastiest things in this story. Up to that moment Edmund had been feeling sick, and sulky, and annoyed with Lucy for being right, but he hadn't made up his mind what to do. When Peter suddenly asked him the question he decided all at once to do the meanest and most spiteful thing he could think of. He decided to let Lucy down.
"Tell us, Ed," said Susan.
And Edmund gave a very superior look as if he were far older than Lucy (there was really only a year's difference) and then a little snigger and said, "Oh, yes, Lucy and I have been playing - pretending that all her story about a country in the wardrobe is true. just for fun, of course. There's nothing there really."
Poor Lucy gave Edmund one look and rushed out of the room.
Edmund, who was becoming a nastier person every minute, thought that he had scored a great success, and went on at once to say, "There she goes again. What's the matter with her? That's the worst of young kids, they always -"
"Look here," said Peter, turning on him savagely, "shut up! You've been perfectly beastly to Lu ever since she started this nonsense about the wardrobe, and now you go playing games with her about it and setting her off again. I believe you did it simply out of spite."
"But it's all nonsense," said Edmund, very taken aback.
"Of course it's all nonsense," said Peter, "that's just the point. Lu was perfectly all right when we left home, but since we've been down here she seems to be either going queer in the head or else turning into a most frightful liar. But whichever it is, what good do you think you'll do by jeering and nagging at her one day and encouraging her the next?"
"I thought - I thought," said Edmund; but he couldn't think of anything to say.
"You didn't think anything at all," said Peter; "it's just spite. You've always liked being beastly to anyone smaller than yourself; we've seen that at school before now."
"Do stop it," said Susan; "it won't make things any better having a row between you two. Let's go and find Lucy."
It was not surprising that when they found Lucy, a good deal later, everyone could see that she had been crying. Nothing they could say to her made any difference. She stuck to her story and said:
"I don't care what you think, and I don't care what you say. You can tell the Professor or you can write to Mother or you can do anything you like. I know I've met a Faun in there and - I wish I'd stayed there and you are all beasts, beasts."
It was an unpleasant evening. Lucy was miserable and Edmund was beginning to feel that his plan wasn't working as well as he had expected. The two older ones were really beginning to think that Lucy was out of her mind. They stood in the passage talking about it in whispers long after she had gone to bed.
The result was the next morning they decided that they really would go and tell the whole thing to the Professor. "He'll write to Father if he thinks there is really something wrong with Lu," said Peter; "it's getting beyond us." So they went and knocked at the study door, and the Professor said "Come in," and got up and found chairs for them and said he was quite at their disposal. Then he sat listening to them with the tips of his fingers pressed together and never interrupting, till they had finished the whole story. After that he said nothing for quite a long time. Then he cleared his throat and said the last thing either of them expected:
"How do you know," he asked, "that your sister's story is not true?"
"Oh, but -" began Susan, and then stopped. Anyone could see from the old man's face that he was perfectly serious. Then Susan pulled herself together and said, "But Edmund said they had only been pretending."
"That is a point," said the Professor, "which certainly deserves consideration; very careful consideration. For instance - if you will excuse me for asking the question - does your experience lead you to regard your brother or your sister as the more reliable? I mean, which is the more truthful?"
"That's just the funny thing about it, sir," said Peter. "Up till now, I'd have said Lucy every time."
"And what do you think, my dear?" said the Professor, turning to Susan.
"Well," said Susan, "in general, I'd say the same as Peter, but this couldn't be true - all this about the wood and the Faun."
"That is more than I know," said the Professor, "and a charge of lying against someone whom you have always found truthful is a very serious thing; a very serious thing indeed."
"We were afraid it mightn't even be lying," said Susan; "we thought there might be something wrong with Lucy."
"Madness, you mean?" said the Professor quite coolly. "Oh, you can make your minds easy about that. One has only to look at her and talk to her to see that she is not mad."
"But then," said Susan, and stopped. She had never dreamed that a grown-up would talk like the Professor and didn't know what to think.
"Logic!" said the Professor half to himself. "Why don't they teach logic at these schools? There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth. You know she doesn't tell lies and it is obvious that she is not mad For the moment then and unless any further evidence turns up, we must assume that she is telling the truth."
Susan looked at him very hard and was quite sure from the expression on his face that he was no making fun of them.
"But how could it be true, sir?" said Peter.
"Why do you say that?" asked the Professor.
"Well, for one thing," said Peter, "if it was true why doesn't everyone find this country every time they go to the wardrobe? I mean, there was nothing there when we looked; even Lucy didn't pretend the was."
"What has that to do with it?" said the Professor.
"Well, sir, if things are real, they're there all the time."
"Are they?" said the Professor; and Peter did'nt know quite what to say.
"But there was no time," said Susan. "Lucy had no time to have gone anywhere, even if there was such a place. She came running after us the very moment we were out of the room. It was less than minute, and she pretended to have been away for hours."
"That is the very thing that makes her story so likely to be true," said the Professor. "If there really a door in this house that leads to some other world (and I should warn you that this is a very strange house, and even I know very little about it) - if, I say, she had got into another world, I should not be at a surprised to find that the other world had a separate time of its own; so that however long you stay there it would never take up any of our time. On the other hand, I don't think many girls of her age would invent that idea for themselves. If she had been pretending, she would have hidden for a reasonable time before coming out and telling her story."
"But do you really mean, sir," said Peter, "that there could be other worlds - all over the place, just round the corner - like that?"
"Nothing is more probable," said the Professor, taking off his spectacles and beginning to polish them, while he muttered to himself, "I wonder what they do teach them at these schools."
"But what are we to do?" said Susan. She felt that the conversation was beginning to get off the point.
"My dear young lady," said the Professor, suddenly looking up with a very sharp expression at both of them, "there is one plan which no one has yet suggested and which is well worth trying."
"What's that?" said Susan.
"We might all try minding our own business," said he. And that was the end of that conversation.
After this things were a good deal better for Lucy. Peter saw to it that Edmund stopped jeering at her, and neither she nor anyone else felt inclined to talk about the wardrobe at all. It had become a rather alarming subject. And so for a time it looked as if all the adventures were coming to an end; but that was not to be.
This house of the Professor's - which even he knew so little about - was so old and famous that people from all over England used to come and ask permission to see over it. It was the sort of house that is mentioned in guide books and even in histories; and well it might be, for all manner of stories were told about it, some of them even stranger than the one I am telling you now. And when parties of sightseers arrived and asked to see the house, the Professor always gave them permission, and Mrs Macready, the housekeeper, showed them round, telling them about the pictures and the armour, and the rare books in the library. Mrs Macready was not fond of children, and did not like to be interrupted when she was telling visitors all the things she knew. She had said to Susan and Peter almost on the first morning (along with a good many other instructions), "And please remember you're to keep out of the way whenever I'm taking a party over the house."
"Just as if any of us would want to waste half the morning trailing round with a crowd of strange grown-ups!" said Edmund, and the other three thought the same. That was how the adventures began for the second time.
A few mornings later Peter and Edmund were looking at the suit of armour and wondering if they could take it to bits when the two girls rushed into the room and said, "Look out! Here comes the Macready and a whole gang with her."
"Sharp's the word," said Peter, and all four made off through the door at the far end of the room. But when they had got out into the Green Room and beyond it, into the Library, they suddenly heard voices ahead of them, and realized that Mrs Macready must be bringing her party of sightseers up the back stairs - instead of up the front stairs as they had expected. And after that - whether it was that they lost their heads, or that Mrs Macready was trying to catch them, or that some magic in the house had come to life and was chasing them into Narnia they seemed to find themselves being followed everywhere, until at last Susan said, "Oh bother those trippers! Here - let's get into the Wardrobe Room till they've passed. No one will follow us in there." But the moment they were inside they heard the voices in the passage - and then someone fumbling at the door - and then they saw the handle turning.
"Quick!" said Peter, "there's nowhere else," and flung open the wardrobe. All four of them bundled inside it and sat there, panting, in the dark. Peter held the door closed but did not shut it; for, of course, he remembered, as every sensible person does, that you should never never shut yourself up in a wardrobe.

因为彼得和苏珊还在捉迷藏，所以爱德蒙和露茜花了好长时间才找到他俩。当大家一起聚集到放有盔甲的那间狭长屋子里以后，露茜大声说：
“彼得！苏珊！一点也不错，爱德蒙也看见了，那里有一个国家，可以从衣橱里边进去。爱德蒙和我进去过了，把所有的情况都告诉他们。”
“艾德，这到底是怎么一回事？”彼得问。
现在我们写到这个故事中最令人不愉快的部分。在这以前，爱德蒙一直感到很不舒服，一直在生露茜的气，但对露茜究竟采取什么行动，他一时还没有拿定主意。现在彼得突如其来地问起他这个问题，他就把心一横，决定干出他所能想到的最不光彩的事情，来整一下露茜。
“告诉我们吧，艾德。”苏珊说。
艾德显出老成持重的样子，好像他比露茜要大得多(实际上两人只相差一岁)。他噗嗤一笑说：“噢，对啦，露茜和我一直在做游戏，她故意说上次讲的衣橱里有个国家的故事是真的。当然喽，我们只是开开玩笑，其实，那儿什么东西也没有。”
可怜的露茜看了爱德蒙一眼，便一口气奔到了屋外。
爱德蒙现在变得越来越不像话了，他自以为已经取得了极大的成功，立刻接下去说道：“她又去啦，她是中了魔法还是怎么的？小孩子就是爱胡闹，他们老是……”
“听我说，”彼得转过身来，两眼盯住了他，十分气愤地说：“住口！自从她上次瞎扯了一些衣橱的事以来，你对她总是凶声凶气的，现在你跟她一起躲进了衣橱里做游戏，又把她气走了。我看，你这样做完全不怀好意。”
“但她讲的通通都是胡说八道。”爱德蒙说，彼得的话使他大吃一惊。
“当然都是胡言乱语，”彼得说，“问题的严重性就在这里。在家的时候，璐是好好的，但到了乡下以后，她看上去要么神经不很正常，要么就是谎话连篇。但无论是哪种情况，你想想看，你今天嘲笑她，对她喋喋不休说个不停，明天你又去怂恿她，这对她有什么帮助？”
“我原来想，我原来……”爱德蒙说，可是他又想不出说什么好。
“你想什么来着，”彼得说，“你尽想坏主意。你对比你小的孩子总喜欢这一套，我们以前在学校里就经常看到你这样。”
“别说了，”苏珊说，“你们互相埋怨又有什么用处?我们还是去找找露茜吧。”
他们找了好长一段时间，才找到了露茜。果然不出大家所料，她正哭的伤心。无论他们怎么说，露茜都坚持她说的情况是真的。
“不管你们怎么想，也不管你们怎么说，我都无所谓。你们可以去告诉教授，也可以写信告诉妈妈，随便你们怎么做都可以。我只知道我在那里碰见了一个农牧之神。我要是留在那里多好啊！你们净欺侮人。”
这是一个十分不愉快的夜晚。露茜感到很委屈，爱德蒙也开始感到，他的计划并没有像他预料的那样奏效。那两个年龄大些的孩子却真以为露茜的精神不大正常。在她入睡以后很久，他们还站在走廊里小声议论着。
第二天早上，他们决定把全部情况都告诉教授。“假如他也认为露茜真的有什么毛病，他将写信去告诉爸爸，”彼得说，“我们可管不了这样的事。”于是，他们就去敲老教授书房的门。教授说了声“请进”，便站起身来，找了椅子让他们坐下，还说有事尽管来找他，他乐意为他们效劳。然后他坐下来，将手指合拢，静静地听他们把整个故事讲完。听完以后，他好长时间没有吭声，最后他清了清嗓子，出乎意外地问道：
“你们怎能断定露茜讲的故事就不是真的呢？”
“哦，，但是……”苏珊刚想开口又停住了。从老人的脸色可以看出，他是十分严肃的。过了一会儿，苏珊鼓起了勇气说：“但是爱德蒙亲口告诉我们，他们只是假装说说玩的。”
“有一个关键问题倒值得你们仔细考虑，”教授说，“根据你们的经验——请原谅我提出这个问题——你们认为谁更诚实一些，是你们的弟弟，还是你们的妹妹？”
“这真是一个十分有趣的问题，先生，”彼得说，“直到现在为止，我应该说，露茜要比爱德蒙诚实。”
“你认为怎样呢，我亲爱的孩子？”教授转过头来又问苏珊。
“嗯，”苏珊说，“我嘛，基本上和彼得的看法相同。但关于森林和农牧之神的故事总不可能是真的。”
“这个问题我就不清楚了，”教授说，“但是，随口指责一个你们都认为是诚实的人说谎，这倒是一个非常严重的问题。”
“我们担心的倒不是露茜说谎，”苏珊说，“我们认为很可能露茜精神有了毛病。”
“你的意思是说她发了疯？”教授非常冷静地说，“嗯，这个你们很容易判断。你们只要观察观察她的脸色，再和她交谈交谈，就可以断定出来了。”
“但是……”苏珊刚开口又不说了。她做梦也没想到像教授这样的大人会说出这种话来，她真被搞糊涂了。
“逻辑！”教授多半自言自语地说，“现在这些学校为什么不教你们一点逻辑呢？这件事只有三种可能：或是你们的妹妹说了谎，或者是她精神不正常，要不，她讲的就是真话。你们都说她向来不说谎，她的精神又没有什么问题。那么在发现更充分的证据之前，我们就只能假定她讲的是真实的。”
苏珊两眼紧盯着他，从他脸上的表情，她可以肯定他不是在和他们开玩笑。
“但是，这怎么可能呢，先生？”彼得问。
“为什么就一定不可能呢？”教授反问了一句。
“因为，”彼得说，“假如是真的，为什么不是每个人每次到橱里都能发现那个国家呢？有一次，我们到橱里看的时候，根本没有发现什么别的情况，还是露茜亲自领着我们去看的呢，她自己也没有说她看到了旁的东西。”
“这有什么关系呢？”教授说。
“有关系，先生。如果是真的，那些东西就应该始终都在那里。”
“始终？”教授问道，彼得不知如何回答才完全正确。
“但是露茜躲在橱里只有一眨眼工夫，”苏珊说，“即使橱里有这么一个地方，她也不曾有时间去呀。我们刚从空屋里出来，她就跟在我们后面溜出来了，前后还不到一分钟，她却硬是说离开了好几个钟头。”
“正因为如此，她说的故事才更像真的，”教授说，“如果这间屋里真的有一个门通向某一个别的世界(我得提醒你们，这是一栋非常神秘的房屋，即使是我，对它也了解很少)——就算她真的到了另一个世界，那我们也不应该感到奇怪，那个世界一定有它自己的时间概念，所以不管你在那儿逗留多久，也不会占去我们这个世界的任何一点时间。另外我还认为，像她这样年龄的女孩子，是不可能自己编造出这样的故事来的。假如她想说谎，她就会在里面多藏一段时间，然后再出来讲她的故事。”
“先生，你是说，“彼得问道，“在这栋房屋里，譬如说，就在附近，到处都有可能有别的世界吗？”
“这是非常可能的，”教授说，他一边摘下眼镜擦擦干净，一边又自言自语，“我真不懂，这些孩子在学校里，到底学了些什么东西？”
“这叫我们怎么办？”苏珊说，她感到这场谈话已经开始离题了。
“孩子们，”教授突然抬起头来，用一种非常严肃的神情看着他俩说，“有一个计划值得一试，但谁也没有提起过。”
“什么计划？”苏珊问。
“这个我们就别去管它了。”他说。那次谈话就这样结束了。彼得做了许多工作，使爱德蒙不再嘲笑露茜，她和别人都不想再谈衣橱的事，这已成了使人不快的话题。所以，在相当长的一段时间里，一切奇遇似乎都已成了过去，但事实却并不如此。
教授的这栋房屋——即使他自己，也了解得很少——是这样古老，又是这样闻名，全国各地的人都常常要求来此参观，这所房屋在旅游指南一类的书上，甚至在历史书上，都有所记载，在各式各样的故事中都谈到过，其中有些故事比我现在对你讲的这个故事还要离奇。每当观光的人要求进屋看看的时候，教授总是满口答应，女管家玛卡蕾蒂太太就带领着他们到各处转转，给他们介绍画儿啦，盔甲啦，以及图书馆里稀有的书籍啦。玛卡蕾蒂太太不很喜欢孩子，当她给客人们滔滔不绝地讲述她所知道的各种掌故时，她是不喜欢别人从旁边插嘴打扰的。几乎在孩子们来的第一天早上，她就向苏珊和彼得交代说(同时还交待了许多别的规矩)：“请你们记着，我领人参观的时候，你们要躲远一点儿。”
“就好像我们当中会有人故意要跟一群陌生的大人浪费半天似的。”爱德蒙说。其余三人也有同样的想法。谁知，第二次奇遇就是由此引起的。
几天以后，彼得和爱德蒙正望着那副盔甲出神，想试试能否把它拆卸下来，两个女孩忽然奔进屋里说：“不好啦，玛卡蕾蒂带着一群人来了！”
“真糟糕！”彼得说，四个人很快就从另外一头的门溜掉了。他们溜出来以后先进了那间休息室，后来又跑到了图书馆，这时他们突然听到前面有说话的声音，他们都以为玛卡蕾蒂太太带着观光的人群到后楼去了，而没有像他们预料的那样到前楼来。以后，不知是他们自己昏了头，还是玛卡蕾蒂太太要来抓他们，还是这所住宅的魔力再次显现，要把他们赶往那尼亚，他们似乎感到每到一处都有人跟踪着。最后，苏珊说：“啊，这些游客真够讨厌！喂，让我们躲到放衣橱的那间空屋里去吧，等他们走了以后再说，谁也不会跟我们到那儿去的。”但他们刚进空屋，就听见走廊里有人在讲话，接着又是摸门的声音，一看，门把手已在移动了。
“赶快！”彼得说，“没有别的地方可躲了！”他猛地一下推开了橱门。四个人蜷缩在黑咕隆咚的衣橱里边，不停地喘气。彼得带上了橱门，但并没有把它关紧，因为，像每一个有理智的人一样，他懂得，一个人怎么可以把自己关在衣橱里面呢？

[ 此帖被昭昭木暮在2012-09-11 17:22重新编辑 ]

秋靖寒(内阁元老)

7楼 2012-09-11

Chapter Six:
INTO THE FOREST
第6章:进入森林

"I wish the Macready would hurry up and take all these people away," said Susan presently, "I'm getting horribly cramped."
"And what a filthy smell of camphor!" said Edmund.
"I expect the pockets of these coats are full of it," said Susan, "to keep away the moths."
"There's something sticking into my back," said Peter.
"And isn't it cold?" said Susan.
"Now that you mention it, it is cold," said Peter, "and hang it all, it's wet too. What's the matter with this place? I'm sitting on something wet. It's getting wetter every minute." He struggled to his feet.
"Let's get out," said Edmund, "they've gone."
"O-o-oh!" said Susan suddenly, and everyone asked her what was the matter.
"I'm sitting against a tree," said Susan, "and look! It's getting light - over there."
"By Jove, you're right," said Peter, "and look there - and there. It's trees all round. And this wet stuff is snow. Why, I do believe we've got into Lucy's wood after all."
And now there was no mistaking it and all four children stood blinking in the daylight of a winter day. Behind them were coats hanging on pegs, in front of them were snow-covered trees.
Peter turned at once to Lucy.
"I apologize for not believing you," he said, "I'm sorry. Will you shake hands?"
"Of course," said Lucy, and did.
"And now," said Susan, "what do we do next?"
"Do?" said Peter, "why, go and explore the wood, of course."
"Ugh!" said Susan, stamping her feet, "it's pretty cold. What about putting on some of these coats?"
"They're not ours," said Peter doubtfully.
"I am sure nobody would mind," said Susan; "it isn't as if we wanted to take them out of the house; we shan't take them even out of the wardrobe."
"I never thought of that, Su," said Peter. "Of course, now you put it that way, I see. No one could say you had bagged a coat as long as you leave it in the wardrobe where you found it. And I suppose this whole country is in the wardrobe."
They immediately carried out Susan's very sensible plan. The coats were rather too big for them so that they came down to their heels and looked more like royal robes than coats when they had put them on. But they all felt a good deal warmer and each thought the others looked better in their new get-up and more suitable to the landscape.
"We can pretend we are Arctic explorers," said Lucy.
"This is going to be exciting enough without pretending," said Peter, as he began leading the way forward into the forest. There were heavy darkish clouds overhead and it looked as if there might be more snow before night.
"I say," began Edmund presently, "oughtn't we to be bearing a bit more to the left, that is, if we are aiming for the lamp-post?" He had forgotten for the moment that he must pretend never to have been in the wood before. The moment the words were out of his mouth he realized that he had given himself away. Everyone stopped; everyone stared at him. Peter whistled.
"So you really were here," he said, "that time Lu said she'd met you in here - and you made out she was telling lies."
There was a dead silence. "Well, of all the poisonous little beasts -" said Peter, and shrugged his shoulders and said no more. There seemed, indeed, no more to say, and presently the four resumed their journey; but Edmund was saying to himself, "I'll pay you all out for this, you pack of stuck-up, selfsatisfied prigs."
"Where are we going anyway?" said Susan, chiefly for the sake of changing the subject.
"I think Lu ought to be the leader," said Peter; "goodness knows she deserves it. Where will you take us, Lu?"
"What about going to see Mr Tumnus?" said Lucy. "He's the nice Faun I told you about."
Everyone agreed to this and off they went walking briskly and stamping their feet. Lucy proved a good leader. At first she wondered whether she would be able to find the way, but she recognized an oddlooking tree on one place and a stump in another and brought them on to where the ground became uneven and into the little valley and at last to the very door of Mr Tumnus's cave. But there a terrible surprise awaited them.
The door had been wrenched off its hinges and broken to bits. Inside, the cave was dark and cold and had the damp feel and smell of a place that had not been lived in for several days. Snow had drifted in from the doorway and was heaped on the floor, mixed with something black, which turned out to be the charred sticks and ashes from the fire. Someone had apparently flung it about the room and then stamped it out. The crockery lay smashed on the floor and the picture of the Faun's father had been slashed into shreds with a knife.
"This is a pretty good wash-out," said Edmund; "not much good coming here."
"What is this?" said Peter, stooping down. He had just noticed a piece of paper which had been nailed through the carpet to the floor.
"Is there anything written on it?" asked Susan.
"Yes, I think there is," answered Peter, "but I can't read it in this light. Let's get out into the open air."
They all went out in the daylight and crowded round Peter as he read out the following words:
The former occupant of these premises, the Faun Tumnus, is under arrest and awaiting his trial on a charge of High Treason against her Imperial Majesty Jadis, Queen of Narnia, Chatelaine of Cair Paravel, Empress of the Lone Islands, etc., also of comforting her said Majesty's enemies, harbouring spies and fraternizing with Humans.
signed MAUGRIM, Captain of the Secret Police, LONG LIVE THE QUEEN
The children stared at each other.
"I don't know that I'm going to like this place after all," said Susan.
"Who is this Queen, Lu?" said Peter. "Do you know anything about her?"
"She isn't a real queen at all," answered Lucy; "she's a horrible witch, the White Witch. Everyone all the wood people - hate her. She has made an enchantment over the whole country so that it is always winter here and never Christmas."
"I - I wonder if there's any point in going on," said Susan. "I mean, it doesn't seem particularly safe here and it looks as if it won't be much fun either. And it's getting colder every minute, and we've brought nothing to eat. What about just going home?"
"Oh, but we can't, we can't," said Lucy suddenly; "don't you see? We can't just go home, not after this. It is all on my account that the poor Faun has got into this trouble. He hid me from the Witch and showed me the way back. That's what it means by comforting the Queen's enemies and fraternizing with Humans. We simply must try to rescue him."
"A lot we could do! said Edmund, "when we haven't even got anything to eat!"
"Shut up - you!" said Peter, who was still very angry with Edmund. "What do you think, Susan?"
"I've a horrid feeling that Lu is right," said Susan. "I don't want to go a step further and I wish we'd never come. But I think we must try to do something for Mr Whatever-his-name is - I mean the Faun."
"That's what I feel too," said Peter. "I'm worried about having no food with us. I'd vote for going back and getting something from the larder, only there doesn't seem to be any certainty of getting into this country again when once you've got out of it. I think we'll have to go on."
"So do I," said both the girls.
"If only we knew where the poor chap was imprisoned!" said Peter.
They were all still wondering what to do next, when Lucy said, "Look! There's a robin, with such a red breast. It's the first bird I've seen here. I say! - I wonder can birds talk in Narnia? It almost looks as if it wanted to say something to us." Then she turned to the Robin and said, "Please, can you tell us where Tumnus the Faun has been taken to?" As she said this she took a step towards the bird. It at once flew away but only as far as to the next tree. There it perched and looked at them very hard as if it understood all they had been saying. Almost without noticing that they had done so, the four children went a step or two nearer to it. At this the Robin flew away again to the next tree and once more looked at them very hard. (You couldn't have found a robin with a redder chest or a brighter eye.)
"Do you know," said Lucy, "I really believe he means us to follow him."
"I've an idea he does," said Susan. "What do you think, Peter?"
"Well, we might as well try it," answered Peter.
The Robin appeared to understand the matter thoroughly. It kept going from tree to tree, always a few yards ahead of them, but always so near that they could easily follow it. In this way it led them on, slightly downhill. Wherever the Robin alighted a little shower of snow would fall off the branch. Presently the clouds parted overhead and the winter sun came out and the snow all around them grew dazzlingly bright. They had been travelling in this way for about half an hour, with the two girls in front, when Edmund said to Peter, "if you're not still too high and mighty to talk to me, I've something to say which you'd better listen to."
"What is it?" asked Peter.
"Hush! Not so loud," said Edmund; "there's no good frightening the girls. But have you realized what we're doing?"
"What?" said Peter, lowering his voice to a whisper.
"We're following a guide we know nothing about. How do we know which side that bird is on? Why shouldn't it be leading us into a trap?"
"That's a nasty idea. Still - a robin, you know. They're good birds in all the stories I've ever read. I'm sure a robin wouldn't be on the wrong side."

"It if comes to that, which is the right side? How do we know that the Fauns are in the right and the Queen (yes, I know we've been told she's a witch) is in the wrong? We don't really know anything about either."
"The Faun saved Lucy."
"He said he did. But how do we know? And there's another thing too. Has anyone the least idea of the way home from here?"
"Great Scott!" said Peter, "I hadn't thought of that."
"And no chance of dinner either," said Edmund.

“玛卡蕾蒂，快点把这些人带走吧。”不一会儿，苏珊忍不住说，“我抽起筋来了，多难受啊。”
“樟脑的气味太难闻了！”爱德蒙接着说。
“我到希望这些外衣的口袋里多放些樟脑丸，”苏珊说，“这样就不会有蛾子了。”
“有什么东西戳到我背上了。”彼得说。
“你们感到冷吗？”苏珊问。
“你这么一说，我倒真的冷起来了。”彼得说，“真该死，这里还潮呼呼的呢。这到底是怎么啦?我坐的地方一下子变得湿漉漉的了。”他一下子跳了起来。
“我们还是出去吧。”爱德蒙说，“他们已经走啦。”
“哟！”苏珊突然尖叫一声，大家都问她是怎么一回事。
“我靠着一棵树坐在这儿。”苏珊说，“看，那边有亮光了。”
“啊，真的，”彼得说，“瞧那儿，到处都是树。潮呼呼的东西是雪。啊，我现在真的相信我们也到了露茜来过的森林里了。”
彼得的话一点也不错。四个孩子全站在那儿，在冬天阳光的照耀下，他们眨巴着眼睛。在他们后面是挂在衣钩上的外套，在他们面前是覆盖着雪的树木。
彼得转过身朝着露茜说：“我以前不相信你说的话，现在我向你道歉。真对不起，让我们握手，好吗？”
“好。”露茜一边说，一边和他握手。
“那么，”苏珊说，“我们下一步该怎么办？”
“怎么办？”彼得说，“还用说吗，当然到森林里去探险罗。”
“哦，”苏姗跺着脚说，“多冷呀，拿几件外套先穿上，你们说好吗？”
“这怎么行，衣服不是我们的。”彼得犹豫不决地说。
“我相信谁也不会有什么意见，”苏珊说，“我们又不想把它们带到屋外去，我们甚至不会把它们带出衣橱。”
“我倒没考虑到这一点，苏，”彼得说，“经你这么一说，我看当然可以。只要你们在橱里什么地方拿的，还放在什么地方，就不会有谁说你们是小偷了。据我猜测，这整个国家就在衣橱里边。”
于是，他们就立即执行了苏珊的这个合情合理的计划。衣服太大，他们套在身上，一直拖到脚后跟，就像是穿了龙袍似的。但他们都感到暖和多了，相互一打量，也都觉得这样打扮显得更好看了，与冰天雪地的风光也更相配了。
“我们可以装扮成北极探险家。”露茜说。
“就这样，不用什么打扮，也够威风的了。”彼得一边说，一边领着大家朝森林前进。头上乌云密布，似乎在傍晚前还要下一场大雪。
“喂，”走了一会儿以后爱德蒙说，“如果我们要到灯柱那边去的话，我们就应该向左边靠一点儿。”他一时忘记了，他必须装得像是他以前没来过这儿。话刚说出口，他就意识到自己露了马脚。大家停了下来，都盯住他看。彼得吹了一声口哨。
“你原来到过这儿，”他说，“那次露茜说在这儿碰见你，你却一口咬定她说谎。”接着是死一般的沉寂。“唉，各种各样难对付的人都有……”彼得说着，耸了耸肩膀，就没有往下再说什么。看来，也确实没有更多的话可说了，过了一会儿，四个人又重新开始他们的旅程。只有爱德蒙心里暗暗在想：我总有一天要惩罚你们一下，你们这一伙自命不凡的伪君子。
“我们到底往哪里走啊？”苏珊问道，她这样说，主要是为了岔开刚才的话题。
“我看，应当让露茜做向导，”彼得说，“也只有她配做向导。璐，你打算带我们上哪儿去？”
“去看看图姆纳斯先生，好不好？”露茜答道，“他就是我对你们讲过的那个善良的农牧之神。”
大家一致同意这个建议，于是就立即出发。他们一边轻快地跑着，一边跺着脚。事实证明，露茜是个好向导。起初，她担心自己找不到路，但她在一个地方认出了一棵长得古里古怪的树，后来又认出了一个树桩，终于把大家带到了一个崎岖不平的地方，然后进了那个小山谷，没多久就到了图姆纳斯先生的洞口，但他们所看到的却是一幅十分可怕的景象，他们都大吃一惊。
门已被扭脱了下来，断成了好几截，洞内又黑又冷，又潮湿，满是霉味。看来，这个地方已有好些日子没有人住了。雪从洞口吹进来，堆积在门口，里面还混杂着一些黑糊糊的东西，再一看，是烧剩下来的木炭屑和炭灰。很明显，是有人把烧着的柴火扔到了洞内，然后又把它们踩灭了。陶罐打碎在地上，羊怪父亲的画像被人用刀子砍成了碎片。
“这地方糟蹋的简直不成样子。”爱德蒙说，“到这儿来有啥意思呢？”
“这是什么呀？”彼得一边蹲下身子一边说。他发现地毯上钉有一张纸。
“上面写些什么？”苏珊问。
“上面好象有字，”彼得回答，“但在这儿看不清楚，我们还是拿到外面去看吧。”他们都跑到了洞外，围着彼得听他念道：
本处原主农牧神图姆纳斯，因反对那尼亚女王、凯尔·巴拉维尔城堡的女主人、孤岛女皇杰蒂丝陛下，庇护女王陛下的敌人，窝藏奸细，与人类友好，罪行严重，现已被捕，即将受审。
女王陛下万岁！
保安局长封列士·尤尔夫
（签名）
孩子们互相瞪着眼睛。
“我说不上我到底是否喜欢这个地方。”苏珊说。
“这个女王是谁，璐？”彼得问，“你知道她的情况吗？”
“她哪里是什么女王，”露茜回答说，“她是个可怕的女巫，就是那个白女巫。森林里所有的人都恨她。她对全国都施行了一种妖术，所以这里一年到头都是冬天，始终没有圣诞节。”
“我，我怀疑继续走下去是不是有什么意义，”苏珊说，“我是说，这里似乎不十分安全，也没有多少有趣的地方。天气越来越冷，我们又没带吃的东西。不如现在就回家吧。”
“哦，不能，不能，”露茜马上说，“难道你们还不清楚吗？既然清楚了，我们就不能这样回家。都是为了我，可怜的羊怪才闯下了这样大的祸。靠了他的掩护，我才没有遭到女巫的毒手，他告诉了我回去的路。这张纸上说他庇护女王的敌人、与人类友好就是指这些。我们必须赶快想办法救他。”
“我们连吃的东西也没有，还能做旁的事吗？”爱德蒙说。
“你，住嘴！”彼得说，他还在对爱德蒙生气，“你的意见呢，苏珊？”
“露茜说得不错。”苏珊说，“我一步也不想走了，唉，如果我们不到这儿来，多好啊。但我想，我们必须替那个先生——他叫什么名字？我记不清楚了——我说的是那个农牧之神，想想办法。”
“我也这样想，”彼得说，“我也担心我们身上没带吃的东西，我同意回去拿点儿食品再来。但是，我们一出去以后，恐怕就不能再到这个国家来。我看，我们得继续前进。”
“我也这样想。”两个女孩子异口同声地说。
“要是我们知道这个可怜的人被囚禁在什么地方就好了。”彼得说。
大家默不作声，考虑着下一步该怎么办。突然，露茜对大家说：“你们看，那里有一只知更鸟，它的胸脯是多么的红啊。它是我在这儿看到的第一只鸟。哎呀，难道那尼亚的鸟儿会讲话吗？它看来好像有什么话要对我们说似的。”说着，她就转过身对知更鸟说：“请问，你知道图姆纳斯先生被押送到什么地方去了吗？”她说着，又朝着鸟儿走近了一步。那知更鸟立即就跳着飞走了，不过它就落在紧紧相邻的一棵树上。它停在那儿，紧紧地盯着他们，好像它完全懂得他们说的话似的。四个孩子几乎把什么都忘了，一起向它靠近了一两步。看到他们走近了，那鸟儿又飞到了另外一棵树上，仍然紧盯着他们。（你肯定没看到过胸脯比它还要红、眼睛比它还要亮的知更鸟）
“我说呀，”露茜说，“我真的相信它是要我们跟着它走呢。”
“我看也是这样。”苏珊说，“彼得，你看呢？”
“嗯，我们可以试试。”彼得说。
那知更鸟好像完全懂事似的，它不断地从一棵树飞到另一棵树，总是飞落在他们前面仅仅几码远的地方，使他们很容易跟上它。它就这样引着他们慢慢地走下山坡。它每停一处，那儿的树枝上就掉下一阵雪来。没过多久，头上的乌云散开了，太阳出来了，茫茫雪原变得更加耀眼晶莹。他们就这样一直走了大约半个小时，两个女孩子一直走在前面。这时，爱德蒙对彼得说：“如果你们不再这样高傲自大、目中无人，我有话要对你们说，你们最好听听。”
“你要说什么？”彼得问。
“嗬，小声点，”爱德蒙说，“别吓了女孩子。你有没有意识到我们是在干什么吗？”
“什么？”彼得压低了声音问。
“我们跟随的这个向导，它的情况我们一点也不清楚。我们怎么知道那鸟儿站在哪一边呢？难道它就不会把我们带到危险的地方去吗？”
“这是一种荒唐的想法。在我读过的所有的故事中，知更鸟都是善良的鸟儿。我敢肯定，知更鸟不会站在错误的一边。”
“就算是这样吧，哪一边是正确的呢？我们又怎么知道农牧之神是正确的，而女王（是的，我知道人家告诉我们她是女巫）是错误的呢？他们两边的情况我们的确一点也不知道。”
“羊怪救了露茜的命。”
“这是羊怪自己这样说的，我们又哪里知道呢？另外，又有谁知道回家去的路呢？”
“天哪！”彼得说，“这些问题我事先还没有认真考虑过呢！”
“而且，饭也吃不上！”爱德蒙说。

[ 此帖被昭昭木暮在2012-09-11 17:23重新编辑 ]

秋靖寒(内阁元老)

8楼 2012-09-11

Chapter Seven:
A DAY WITH THE BEAVERS
第7章:在海狸家里的一天

WHILE the two boys were whispering behind, both the girls suddenly cried "Oh!" and stopped.

"The robin!" cried Lucy, "the robin. It's flown away." And so it had - right out of sight.

"And now what are we to do?" said Edmund, giving Peter a look which was as much as to say "What did I tell you?"

"Sh! Look!" said Susan.

"What?" said Peter.

"There's something moving among the trees over there to the left."

They all stared as hard as they could, and no one felt very comfortable.

"There it goes again," said Susan presently.

"I saw it that time too," said Peter. "It's still there. It's just gone behind that big tree."

"What is it?" asked Lucy, trying very hard not to sound nervous.

"Whatever it is," said Peter, "it's dodging us. It's something that doesn't want to be seen."

"Let's go home," said Susan. And then, though nobody said it out loud, everyone suddenly realized the same fact that Edmund had whispered to Peter at the end of the last chapter. They were lost.

"What's it like?" said Lucy.

"It's - it's a kind of animal," said Susan; and then, "Look! Look! Quick! There it is."

They all saw it this time, a whiskered furry face which had looked out at them from behind a tree. But this time it didn't immediately draw back. Instead, the animal put its paw against its mouth just as humans put their finger on their lips when they are signalling to you to be quiet. Then it disappeared again. The children, all stood holding their breath.

A moment later the stranger came out from behind the tree, glanced all round as if it were afraid someone was watching, said "Hush", made signs to them to join it in the thicker bit of wood where it was standing, and then once more disappeared.

"I know what it is," said Peter; "it's a beaver. I saw the tail."

"It wants us to go to it," said Susan, "and it is warning us not to make a noise."

"I know," said Peter. "The question is, are we to go to it or not? What do you think, Lu?"

"I think it's a nice beaver," said Lucy.

"Yes, but how do we know?" said Edmund.

"Shan't we have to risk it?" said Susan. "I mean, it's no good just standing here and I feel I want some dinner."

At this moment the Beaver again popped its head out from behind the tree and beckoned earnestly to them.

"Come on," said Peter,"let's give it a try. All keep close together. We ought to be a match for one beaver if it turns out to be an enemy."

So the children all got close together and walked up to the tree and in behind it, and there, sure enough, they found the Beaver; but it still drew back, saying to them in a hoarse throaty whisper, "Further in, come further in. Right in here. We're not safe in the open!"

Only when it had led them into a dark spot where four trees grew so close together that their boughs met and the brown earth and pine needles could be seen underfoot because no snow had been able to fall there, did it begin to talk to them.

"Are you the Sons of Adam and the Daughters of Eve?" it said.

"We're some of them," said Peter.

"S-s-s-sh!" said the Beaver, "not so loud please. We're not safe even here."

"Why, who are you afraid of?" said Peter. "There's no one here but ourselves."

"There are the trees," said the Beaver. "They're always listening. Most of them are on our side, but there are trees that would betray us to her; you know who I mean," and it nodded its head several times.

"If it comes to talking about sides," said Edmund, "how do we know you're a friend?"

"Not meaning to be rude, Mr Beaver," added Peter, "but you see, we're strangers."

"Quite right, quite right," said the Beaver. "Here is my token." With these words it held up to them a little white object. They all looked at it in surprise, till suddenly Lucy said, "Oh, of course. It's my handkerchief - the one I gave to poor Mr Tumnus."

"That's right," said the Beaver. "Poor fellow, he got wind of the arrest before it actually happened and handed this over to me. He said that if anything happened to him I must meet you here and take you on to -" Here the Beaver's voice sank into silence and it gave one or two very mysterious nods. Then signalling to the children to stand as close around it as they possibly could, so that their faces were actually tickled by its whiskers, it added in a low whisper -

"They say Aslan is on the move - perhaps has already landed."

And now a very curious thing happened. None of the children knew who Aslan was any more than you do; but the moment the Beaver had spoken these words everyone felt quite different. Perhaps it has sometimes happened to you in a dream that someone says something which you don't understand but in the dream it feels as if it had some enormous meaning - either a terrifying one which turns the whole dream into a nightmare or else a lovely meaning too lovely to put into words, which makes the dream so beautiful that you remember it all your life and are always wishing you could get into that dream again. It was like that now. At the name of Aslan each one of the children felt something jump in its inside. Edmund felt a sensation of mysterious horror. Peter felt suddenly brave and adventurous. Susan felt as if some delicious smell or some delightful strain of music had just floated by her. And Lucy got the feeling you have when you wake up in the morning and realize that it is the beginning of the holidays or the beginning of summer.

"And what about Mr Tumnus," said Lucy; "where is he?"

"S-s-s-sh," said the Beaver, "not here. I must bring you where we can have a real talk and also dinner."

No one except Edmund felt any difficulty about trusting the beaver now, and everyone, including Edmund, was very glad to hear the word "dinner".

They therefore all hurried along behind their new friend who led them at a surprisingly quick pace, and always in the thickest parts of the forest, for over an hour. Everyone was feeling very tired and very hungry when suddenly the trees began to get thinner in front of them and the ground to fall steeply downhill. A minute later they came out under the open sky (the sun was still shining) and found themselves looking down on a fine sight.

They were standing on the edge of a steep, narrow valley at the bottom of which ran - at least it would have been running if it hadn't been frozen - a fairly large river. Just below them a dam had been built across this river, and when they saw it everyone suddenly remembered that of course beavers are always making dams and felt quite sure that Mr Beaver had made this one. They also noticed that he now had a sort of modest expression on his, face - the sort of look people have when you are visiting a garden they've made or reading a story they've written. So it was only common politeness when Susan said, "What a lovely dam!" And Mr Beaver didn't say "Hush" this time but "Merely a trifle! Merely a trifle! And it isn't really finished!"

Above the dam there was what ought to have been a deep pool but was now, of course, a level floor of dark green ice. And below the dam, much lower down, was more ice, but instead of being smooth this was all frozen into the foamy and wavy shapes in which the water had been rushing along at the very moment when the frost came. And where the water had been trickling over and spurting through the dam there was now a glittering wall of icicles, as if the side of the dam had been covered all over with flowers and wreaths and festoons of the purest sugar. And out in the middle, and partly on top of the dam was a funny little house shaped rather like an enormous beehive and from a hole in the roof smoke was going up, so that when you saw it {especially if you were hungry) you at once thought of cooking and became hungrier than you were before.

That was what the others chiefly noticed, but Edmund noticed something else. A little lower down the river there was another small river which came down another small valley to join it. And looking up that valley, Edmund could see two small hills, and he was almost sure they were the two hills which the White Witch had pointed out to him when he parted from her at the lamp-post that other day. And then between them, he thought, must be her palace, only a mile off or less. And he thought about Turkish Delight and about being a King ("And I wonder how Peter will like that?" he asked himself) and horrible ideas came into his head.

"Here we are," said Mr Beaver, "and it looks as if Mrs Beaver is expecting us. I'll lead the way. But be careful and don't slip."

The top of the dam was wide enough to walk on, though not (for humans) a very nice place to walk because it was covered with ice, and though the frozen pool was level with it on one side, there was a nasty drop to the lower river on the other. Along this route Mr Beaver led them in single file right out to the middle where they could look a long way up the river and a long way down it. And when they had reached the middle they were at the door of the house.

"Here we are, Mrs Beaver," said Mr Beaver, "I've found them. Here are the Sons and Daughters of Adam and Eve'- and they all went in.

The first thing Lucy noticed as she went in was a burring sound, and the first thing she saw was a kindlooking old she-beaver sitting in the corner with a thread in her mouth working busily at her sewing machine, and it was from it that the sound came. She stopped her work and got up as soon as the children came in.

"So you've come at last!" she said, holding out both her wrinkled old paws. "At last! To think that ever I should live to see this day! The potatoes are on boiling and the kettle's singing and I daresay, Mr Beaver, you'll get us some fish."

"That I will," said Mr Beaver, and he went out of the house (Peter went with him), and across the ice of the deep pool to where he had a little hole in the ice which he kept open every day with his hatchet. They took a pail with them. Mr Beaver sat down quietly at the edge of the hole (he didn't seem to mind it being so chilly), looked hard into it, then suddenly shot in his paw, and before you could say Jack Robinson had whisked out a beautiful trout. Then he did it all over again until they had a fine catch of fish.

Meanwhile the girls were helping Mrs Beaver to fill the kettle and lay the table and cut the bread and put the plates in the oven to heat and draw a huge jug of beer for Mr Beaver from a barrel which stood in one corner of the house, and to put on the frying-pan and get the dripping hot. Lucy thought the Beavers had a very snug little home though it was not at all like Mr Tumnus's cave. There were no books or pictures, and instead of beds there were bunks, like on board ship, built into the wall. And there were hams and strings of onions hanging from the roof, and against the walls were gum boots and oilskins and hatchets and pairs of shears and spades and trowels and things for carrying mortar in and fishing-rods and fishing-nets and sacks. And the cloth on the table, though very clean, was very rough.

Just as the frying-pan was nicely hissing Peter and Mr Beaver came in with the fish which Mr Beaver had already opened with his knife and cleaned out in the open air. You can think how good the new-caught fish smelled while they were frying and how the hungry children longed for them to be done and how very much hungrier still they had become before Mr Beaver said, "Now we're nearly ready." Susan drained the potatoes and then put them all back in the empty pot to dry on the side of the range while Lucy was helping Mrs Beaver to dish up the trout, so that in a very few minutes everyone was drawing up their stools (it was all three-legged stools in the Beavers' house except for Mrs Beaver's own special rockingchair beside the fire) and preparing to enjoy themselves. There was a jug of creamy milk for the children (Mr Beaver stuck to beer) and a great big lump of deep yellow butter in the middle of the table from which everyone took as much as he wanted to go with his potatoes, and all the children thought - and I agree with them - that there's nothing to beat good freshwater fish if you eat it when it has been alive half an hour ago and has come out of the pan half a minute ago. And when they had finished the fish Mrs Beaver brought unexpectedly out of the oven a great and gloriously sticky marmalade roll, steaming hot, and at the same time moved the kettle on to the fire, so that when they had finished the marmalade roll the tea was made and ready to be poured out. And when each person had got his (or her) cup of tea, each person shoved back his (or her) stool so as to be able to lean against the wall and gave a long sigh of contentment.

"And now," said Mr Beaver, pushing away his empty beer mug and pulling his cup of tea towards him, "if you'll just wait till I've got my pipe lit up and going nicely - why, now we can get to business. It's snowing again," he added, cocking his eye at the window. "That's all the better, because it means we shan't have any visitors; and if anyone should have been trying to follow you, why he won't find any tracks."

      正当两个男孩在后面低声谈话的时候，两个女孩突然“啊”地一声停住了脚步。“知更鸟，”茜喊道，“知更鸟飞走啦！”它真的飞走了，一点踪影也看不见了。
      “现在我们怎么办？”爱德蒙说，他看了彼得一眼，意思是说：“我是怎么警告你的？我说得不错吧！”
      “嘘，你们看！”苏珊说。
      “什么？”彼得问。
      “那儿靠左边点儿，树林中有什么东西在动。”
      他们拼命睁大眼睛搜索，看得眼睛都感到有点难受。
      过了一会儿，苏珊说：“瞧，它又动起来了。”
     “这次我也看到了，”彼得说，“它还在那儿，这会儿跑到那棵大树后面去了。”
      “那是什么东西呀？”露茜问道，她竭力装出不害怕的样子。
      “谁知道它是什么？”彼得说，“它老是躲着我们，就怕被人看见。”
     “我们回去吧。”苏珊说。这时，虽然谁也没有大声说出来，但每个人都突然意识到刚才爱德蒙低声对彼得讲起的困难，他们迷路了。
      “它像什么样子呀？”露茜问。
      “它是，它是一种动物。”苏珊说。过了一会儿，她又喊道：“你们快来看，快！它又出来啦！”
      这一次他们都看清楚了，一张长满了络腮胡子的毛茸茸的脸，从一棵树后面探出来看着他们。但这一回它并没有立即缩回去，却用它的爪子对着嘴巴，就好像人们把手指头放在嘴唇上，示意别人安静下来的样子。然后它又消失了。孩子们都屏住呼吸，站在那儿。
      过了一会儿，这个奇怪的动物又从那棵树后面出来。它向四周看了一下，好像害怕有人注意似的，向他们“嘘”了一声，并打着手势，招呼他们到它所在的那块密林中去，接着它又消失了。
     “我知道它是什么。”彼得说，“它是海狸，我已看见了它的尾巴。”
      “它要我们到那里去，”苏珊说，“它叫我们别做声。”
     “这我知道。”彼得说，“问题是我们去还是不去？璐，你看怎么样？”
      “我看这只海狸很老实。”露茜说。
      “真的吗，我们是怎么知道的呢？”爱德蒙问。
      “我们得冒一次险。”苏珊说，“我是说，老站在这儿没有用。我肚子饿了。”
      这时，海狸又突然从树后探出头来，向他们诚恳地点头示意。
      “来吧，”彼得说，“让我们试它一试。我们都靠紧点儿，如果海狸是敌人，我们就跟它干一仗。”
      于是，孩子们紧靠在一起，朝着那棵树走过去，一直走到树后面海狸原先站的地方，但海狸却从那里又继续朝后退去了。它压低了嗓门用一种嘶哑的声音对他们说：“往里，再往里，到我这儿来，在外面有危险。”它把他们一直引到一个非常幽暗的地方。那里有四棵树紧挨在一起，树枝与树枝连成一片，雪落不到下面来，因而地上可以看见褐色的泥土和松针。他们到了这儿以后，海狸才开始和他们说话。
     “你们是亚当的儿子和夏娃的女儿吗？”它问。
      “是的。”彼得答道。
      “嘘——”海狸说，“声音不要太大，即使在这儿，我们还是不够安全。”
      “哎呀，你怕谁？”彼得说，“这里除了我们以外，再也没旁的人了。”
      “这里有树。”海狸说，“它们老把耳朵竖着。它们当中绝大多数站在我们一边，但也有背叛我们倒向她那一边的，你们知道我说的是倒向谁吗？”它接连点了好几下头。
      “要是说到两边的话，”爱德蒙说，“我们怎们知道你是朋友而不是敌人？”
      “请你别见怪，海狸先生，”彼得解释说，“你看，我们彼此之间还不熟悉呢。”
      “对，对，”海狸说，“我这里有一样纪念品。”说着，它就拿出一件白色的小东西。孩子们都惊讶地注视着。突然，露茜说道：“哦，这是我的手帕，是我送给可怜的图姆纳斯先生的。”
     “不错，”海狸说，“我可怜的伙伴，他在被捕以前听到了风声，就把这手帕交给我，说如果他有什么意外，我就必须在这个地方与你们会面，并领你们到……”说到这里，海狸的声音低得听不见了。它非常神秘的向孩子们点点头，又向他们做了一下手势，叫他们尽量靠近它站着，以致孩子们的脸都碰到了它的胡子，感到痒痒的。它低声地补充说：
     “据说阿斯兰正在活动，也许已经登陆了。”
      现在，一种非常奇怪的现象发生了。这些孩子们和你一样，一点也不知道阿兰斯是谁。但海狸一提起阿兰斯，他们每个人身上就有一种异样的感觉。也许有时你在梦中碰到过类似的情况。往往你在白天听到一样新鲜事情，到了梦中，它的意义就大得非常出奇——不是导致一场可怕的噩梦，就是美好的无法用语言表达，使你终身难忘，巴不得能不断重温这个美梦。现在的情况就是这样。一听到阿兰斯的名字，每个孩子都感到心里有一样东西在跃动。爱德蒙感到有一种莫名其妙的恐惧，彼得感到突然变得无所畏惧了，苏珊感到有一种芬芳的气息和一首美妙动听的乐曲在她身旁荡漾，露茜呢，感到特别兴奋和喜悦，就像你在某一个早上醒来想到假期或夏季就要从今天开始时的心情一样。
      “你谈谈图姆纳斯先生的情况吧。”露茜说，“他在哪儿？”
      “嘘——”海狸说，“这儿还不是说话的地方，我必须带你们到一个可以交谈和吃饭的去处。”
      现在除了爱德蒙以外，谁也不怀疑海狸了，每个人包括爱德蒙在内都很高兴听到“吃饭”这个词儿。所以，他们全都跟在这位新朋友后面急急忙忙地朝前走去了。海狸的速度快的令人吃惊，领着他们在森林里最浓密的地方走了一个多小时。正当大家感到疲惫不堪、饥饿难忍的时候，前面的树木变得稀疏了，地面的坡度也变陡了。向下没走几步，他们就走出了树林。头顶上是晴朗蔚蓝的天空，太阳依旧照耀着，举目四望，冰清玉洁，风光如画。
      他们现在站在一个又陡又狭的山谷边上，要不是封冻，谷底准会是一条汹涌澎湃的大河。就在他们脚下，有一条水坝穿河而过。他们一看见水坝，就猛地想到海狸很会筑坝，而且他们几乎可以肯定，脚下的这条水坝就是这位海狸先生筑的。他们也注意到，它的脸上露出一种特别谦虚的表情，就像你去参观人家的一个园地或阅读人家写的一本书时，你所看到的园丁或作者本人常有的那种表情一样。苏珊说：“这条水坝筑的多好啊！”海狸先生这一次没有说“别做声”，却连声说：“只不过是个小玩意儿！只不过是个小玩意儿！它还没有全部完成呢！”当然，海狸这样说只是出于惯常的礼貌。
      在坝的上游一侧，原来是个很深的水池，而现在一眼看去却是一片平坦的暗绿色的冰池。坝的下游一侧要低得多，结的冰更多，但不像上游那样平滑，全部冻成了泡沫的形状，现出波浪起伏的样子，原来，在河流结冰以前，河水过坝以后就是这样飞奔而下，溅起无数的浪花。坝的一侧在原先漫水和过水的地方现在成了一堵闪闪发光的冰墙，上面好像挂满了许多晶莹洁白的鲜花、花环和花冠。在大坝的中间，有一间十分有趣的小屋，样子就像一个巨大的蜂箱，这时从屋顶的一个洞中正冒出炊烟。所以你一看到它，特别是在肚子饿得咕咕叫的时候，你就会立刻想到已经有什么东西煮在锅里了，肚子就会饿得更慌。
      这些是其他三个孩子看到的主要情景，而爱德蒙却注意到了别的东西。顺着这条河流往下不远的地方，还有一条小河，它是从另外一个小山谷里流出来和这条大河汇合的。爱德蒙抬头向那个山谷望去，看见有两座小山，他几乎能肯定，它们就是那天白女巫与他在灯柱那儿分别时指给他看的那两座小山。他想，那两座小山之间一定就是她的宫殿，离他大约只有一英里远，甚至还不到。他想起了土耳其软糖，想起了当国王（“我不知道彼得将会怎样喜欢这些东西呢？”他暗暗问自己），一个可怕的念头在他的头脑里产生了。
     “我们马上就要到家啦，”海狸说，“看来我的太太正等着我们呢。好，我来带路，但是请大家小心点儿，不要滑倒。”
      坝顶相当宽，上面完全可以走路，但是对人类来说，终究有些不便，因为上面覆盖着冰雪，另外，朝下看看，虽然结满了冰的水池是平坦的，但在另一侧，落差还很大，有些怕人。海狸先生领着他们成单行走到坝的中间。站在这里他们可以看到。沿着那条河流向上有一条很长的路，沿着河流向下也有一条很长的路。他们一到坝的中间，就到了那间小屋的门口了。
     “我们回来啦，太太，”海狸先生说，“我找到他们了。他们就是亚当和夏娃的儿女。”说着，把他们全让进了屋。
      露茜走进屋，立刻听到一种“咔嚓”“咔嚓”的声音，看到一个面容慈祥的海狸老妈妈。她嘴里咬着一根线，坐在角落里，正忙着踏缝纫机，那种“咔嚓”“咔嚓”的声音就是从缝纫机上发出来的。孩子们一进屋，她随即就把手中的活儿停了下来，起身迎接。
     “终于把你们盼来啦！”她伸出两只满是皱纹的苍老的爪子说，“你们终于来啦！我做梦也没有想到我还能看到这一天！土豆煮在锅里，水壶已经响了，哎，海狸先生，你替我搞些鲜鱼回来才好哩！”
     “行，我就去。”海狸先生说着，提了一个桶，就走出了屋子，彼得也跟着一起走了。他们越过结满冰的深池，来到一个地方，这里冰上有一个小窟窿，这是海狸每天用斧子凿开的。
      海狸先生静悄悄地往洞边一坐（天这么冷，他似乎也不在乎），目不转睛地注视着洞里的河水，突然，他把爪子伸进水中，说时迟，那时快，它一下子就逮住了一条漂亮的鳟鱼①。就这样，他一连逮到了许多好鱼。
      在海狸和彼得出去捕鱼的时候，两个女孩子帮助海狸太太把水壶灌满，收拾吃饭桌子，切面包，热菜，又从屋角的一个桶中替海狸先生舀出一大杯啤酒。最后，他们把煎鱼的锅子放到炉子上，倒进油烧热。露茜认为，海狸夫妇的家虽然完全不像图姆纳斯先生的窑洞，却也非常小巧舒适。室内没有书，没有画，两个墙洞便是他们的床，看上去就像轮船上倚壁而设的地铺一样。屋顶下面挂着火腿和一串串的洋葱，靠墙放着胶靴、油布、斧子、羊毛剪、铲、泥刀、和其他运灰泥的工具，还有钓鱼竿、鱼网和鱼篓。桌上的台布虽然粗糙，却很干净。
      正当油锅嘶嘶响的时候，彼得和海狸先生拎着鱼回来了，这些鱼海狸先生已经在外面用刀剖开洗净。你们一定能想象到现捕的鱼放在锅中煎的时候味道有多美，肚子饿得咕噜咕噜叫的孩子们又是多么希望它们早点煎好，而在海狸太太说“我们马上就开饭”以前，他们已是饿得十分厉害了。苏珊把土豆滤干后又把它们放回炉口的空锅里去烤，露茜帮海狸太太把鳟鱼盛进盘中。这样，不到几分钟，大家就把凳子摆好，准备吃饭了（海狸家里除了放在灶边供海狸太太坐的特制的摇椅以外，都是三条腿的凳子）。有一罐子牛奶专门给孩子们喝（海狸先生只喝啤酒），桌子中间放着一大块深黄色的奶油，吃土豆的时候，奶油由各人随意自取。孩子们都认为——我也同意他们的看法——当你吃着半小时以前还活着，半分钟以前从锅里盛出来的鱼时，是没有任何食品能够和它比美的。鱼吃完以后，海狸太太出乎大家意外地从炉子里拿出热气腾腾的黏糊糊的果酱卷儿。同时，把水壶移到炉子上。所以孩子们吃好果酱卷以后，茶就已经准备好了。孩子们喝了茶，又把凳子往后移动了一下，靠墙倚着，心满意足地舒了一口气。
      “现在，”海狸先生把空啤酒杯往旁边一推，把茶杯拿到面前说：“请你们等我抽袋烟，好吗？不用说，我们现在可以着手干我们的事了。天又下起雪来啦，”他抬头望了望窗外继续说道，”这就更好了，雪一下，就不会有人来找我们了；另外，如果有人想跟踪你们的话，他也发现不了你们的任何足迹。”
      ①鳟鱼：背部淡青略带褐色，侧线下部银白色，全身有黑点。

秋靖寒(内阁元老)

9楼 2012-09-21

Chapter Eight
WHAT HAPPENED AFTER DINNER

"AND now," said Lucy, "do please tell us what's happened to Mr Tumnus."

"Ah, that's bad," said Mr Beaver, shaking his head. "That's a very, very bad business. There's no doubt he was taken off by the police. I got that from a bird who saw it done."

"But where's he been taken to?" asked Lucy.

"Well, they were heading northwards when they were last seen and we all know what that means."

"No, we don't," said Susan. Mr Beaver shook his head in a very gloomy fashion.

"I'm afraid it means they were taking him to her House," he said.

"But what'll they do to him, Mr Beaver?" gasped Lucy.

"Well," said Mr Beaver, "you can't exactly say for sure. But there's not many taken in there that ever comes out again. Statues. All full of statues they say it is - in the courtyard and up the stairs and in the hall. People she's turned" - (he paused and shuddered) "turned into stone."

"But, Mr Beaver," said Lucy, "can't we - I mean we must do something to save him. It's too dreadful and it's all on my account."

"I don't doubt you'd save him if you could, dearie," said Mrs Beaver, "but you've no chance of getting into that House against her will and ever coming out alive."

"Couldn't we have some stratagem?" said Peter. "I mean couldn't we dress up as something, or pretend to be - oh, pedlars or anything - or watch till she was gone out - or- oh, hang it all, there must be some way. This Faun saved my sister at his own risk, Mr Beaver. We can't just leave him to be - to be - to have that done to him."

"It's no good, Son of Adam," said Mr Beaver, "no good your trying, of all people. But now that Aslan is on the move-"

"Oh, yes! Tell us about Aslan!" said several voices at once; for once again that strange feeling - like the first signs of spring, like good news, had come over them.

"Who is Aslan?" asked Susan.

"Aslan?" said Mr Beaver. "Why, don't you know? He's the King. He's the Lord of the whole wood, but not often here, you understand. Never in my time or my father's time. But the word has reached us that he has come back. He is in Narnia at this moment. He'll settle the White Queen all right. It is he, not you, that will save Mr Tumnus."

"She won't turn him into stone too?" said Edmund.

"Lord love you, Son of Adam, what a simple thing to say!" answered Mr Beaver with a great laugh. "Turn him into stone? If she can stand on her two feet and look him in the face it'll be the most she can do and more than I expect of her. No, no. He'll put all to rights as it says in an old rhyme in these parts:

Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,

At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,

When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death,

And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.

You'll understand when you see him."

"But shall we see him?" asked Susan.

"Why, Daughter of Eve, that's what I brought you here for. I'm to lead you where you shall meet him," said Mr Beaver.

"Is-is he a man?" asked Lucy.

"Aslan a man!" said Mr Beaver sternly. "Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-Sea. Don't you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion - the Lion, the great Lion."

"Ooh!" said Susan, "I'd thought he was a man. Is he - quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."

"That you will, dearie, and no mistake," said Mrs Beaver; "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."

"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.

"Safe?" said Mr Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

"I'm longing to see him," said Peter, "even if I do feel frightened when it comes to the point."

"That's right, Son of Adam," said Mr Beaver, bringing his paw down on the table with a crash that made all the cups and saucers rattle. "And so you shall. Word has been sent that you are to meet him, tomorrow if you can, at the Stone Table.'

"Where's that?" said Lucy.

"I'll show you," said Mr Beaver. "It's down the river, a good step from here. I'll take you to it!"

"But meanwhile what about poor Mr Tumnus?" said Lucy.

"The quickest way you can help him is by going to meet Aslan," said Mr Beaver, "once he's with us, then we can begin doing things. Not that we don't need you too. For that's another of the old rhymes:

When Adam's flesh and Adam's bone

Sits at Cair Paravel in throne,

The evil time will be over and done.

So things must be drawing near their end now he's come and you've come. We've heard of Aslan coming into these parts before - long ago, nobody can say when. But there's never been any of your race here before."

"That's what I don't understand, Mr Beaver," said Peter, "I mean isn't the Witch herself human?"

"She'd like us to believe it," said Mr Beaver, "and it's on that that she bases her claim to be Queen. But she's no Daughter of Eve. She comes of your father Adam's" - (here Mr Beaver bowed) "your father Adam's first wife, her they called Lilith. And she was one of the Jinn. That's what she comes from on one side. And on the other she comes of the giants. No, no, there isn't a drop of real human blood in the Witch."

"That's why she's bad all through, Mr Beaver," said Mrs Beaver.

"True enough, Mrs Beaver," replied he, "there may be two views about humans (meaning no offence to the present company). But there's no two views about things that look like humans and aren't."

"I've known good Dwarfs," said Mrs Beaver.

"So've I, now you come to speak of it," said her husband, "but precious few, and they were the ones least like men. But in general, take my advice, when you meet anything that's going to be human and isn't yet, or used to be human once and isn't now, or ought to be human and isn't, you keep your eyes on it and feel for your hatchet. And that's why the Witch is always on the lookout for any humans in Narnia. She's been watching for you this many a year, and if she knew there were four of you she'd be more dangerous still."

"What's that to do with it?" asked Peter.

"Because of another prophecy," said Mr Beaver. "Down at Cair Paravel - that's the castle on the sea coast down at the mouth of this river which ought to be the capital of the whole country if all was as it should be - down at Cair Paravel there are four thrones and it's a saying in Narnia time out of mind that when two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve sit in those four thrones, then it will be the end not only of the White Witch's reign but of her life, and that is why we had to be so cautious as we came along, for if she knew about you four, your lives wouldn't be worth a shake of my whiskers!"

All the children had been attending so hard to what Mr Beaver was telling them that they had noticed nothing else for a long time. Then during the moment of silence that followed his last remark, Lucy suddenly said:

"I say-where's Edmund?"

There was a dreadful pause, and then everyone began asking "Who saw him last? How long has he been missing? Is he outside? and then all rushed to the door and looked out. The snow was falling thickly and steadily, the green ice of the pool had vanished under a thick white blanket, and from where the little house stood in the centre of the dam you could hardly see either bank. Out they went, plunging well over their ankles into the soft new snow, and went round the house in every direction. "Edmund! Edmund!" they called till they were hoarse. But the silently falling snow seemed to muffle their voices and there was not even an echo in answer.

"How perfectly dreadful!" said Susan as they at last came back in despair. "Oh, how I wish we'd never come."

"What on earth are we to do, Mr Beaver?" said Peter.

"Do?" said Mr Beaver, who was already putting on his snow-boots, "do? We must be off at once. We haven't a moment to spare!"

"We'd better divide into four search parties," said Peter, "and all go in different directions. Whoever finds him must come back here at once and-"

"Search parties, Son of Adam?" said Mr Beaver; "what for?"

"Why, to look for Edmund, of course!"

"There's no point in looking for him," said Mr Beaver.

"What do you mean?" said Susan. "He can't be far away yet. And we've got to find him. What do you mean when you say there's no use looking for him?"

"The reason there's no use looking," said Mr Beaver, "is that we know already where he's gone!" Everyone stared in amazement. "Don't you understand?" said Mr Beaver. "He's gone to her, to the White Witch. He has betrayed us all."

"Oh, surely-oh, really!" said Susan, "he can't have done that."

"Can't he?" said Mr Beaver, looking very hard at the three children, and everything they wanted to say died on their lips, for each felt suddenly quite certain inside that this was exactly what Edmund had done.

"But will he know the way?" said Peter.

"Has he been in this country before?" asked Mr Beaver. "Has he ever been here alone?"

"Yes," said Lucy, almost in a whisper. "I'm afraid he has."

"And did he tell you what he'd done or who he'd met?"

"Well, no, he didn't," said Lucy.

"Then mark my words," said Mr Beaver, "he has already met the White Witch and joined her side, and been told where she lives. I didn't like to mention it before (he being your brother and all) but the moment I set eyes on that brother of yours I said to myself `Treacherous'. He had the look of one who has been with the Witch and eaten her food. You can always tell them if you've lived long in Narnia; something about their eyes."

"All the same," said Peter in a rather choking sort of voice, "we'll still have to go and look for him. He is our brother after all, even if he is rather a little beast. And he's only a kid."

"Go to the Witch's House?" said Mrs Beaver. "Don't you see that the only chance of saving either him or yourselves is to keep away from her?"

"How do you mean?" said Lucy.

"Why, all she wants is to get all four of you (she's thinking all the time of those four thrones at Cair Paravel). Once you were all four inside her House her job would be done - and there'd be four new statues in her collection before you'd had time to speak. But she'll keep him alive as long as he's the only one she's got, because she'll want to use him as a decoy; as bait to catch the rest of you with."

"Oh, can no one help us?" wailed Lucy.

"Only Aslan," said Mr Beaver, "we must go on and meet him. That's our only chance now."

"It seems to me, my dears," said Mrs Beaver, "that it is very important to know just when he slipped away. How much he can tell her depends on how much he heard. For instance, had we started talking of Aslan before he left? If not, then we may do very well, for she won't know that Aslan has come to Narnia, or that we are meeting him, and will be quite off her guard as far as that is concerned."

"I don't remember his being here when we were talking about Aslan -" began Peter, but Lucy interrupted him.

"Oh yes, he was," she said miserably; "don't you remember, it was he who asked whether the Witch couldn't turn Aslan into stone too?"

"So he did, by Jove," said Peter; "just the sort of thing he would say, too!"

"Worse and worse," said Mr Beaver, "and the next thing is this. Was he still here when I told you that the place for meeting Aslan was the Stone Table?"

And of course no one knew the answer to this question.

"Because, if he was," continued Mr Beaver, "then she'll simply sledge down in that direction and get between us and the Stone Table and catch us on our way down. In fact we shall be cut off from Aslan. "

"But that isn't what she'll do first," said Mrs Beaver, "not if I know her. The moment that Edmund tells her that we're all here she'll set out to catch us this very night, and if he's been gone about half an hour, she'll be here in about another twenty minutes."

"You're right, Mrs Beaver," said her husband, "we must all get away from here. There's not a moment to lose."

第八章　饭后发生的情况
      “现在，”露茜说，“请你告诉我们，图姆纳斯先生到底出了什么事？”
      “啊，真糟糕。”海狸先生摇着头说，“那可是非常非常糟糕的事。毫无疑问，他是被警察带走的。这个情况我是从一只鸟儿那里探听到的，它亲眼看见他被他们带走的。”
      “那么他被带到什么地方去了呢？”露茜问道。
      “嗯，最后看到他们的时候，他们是朝北去的。大家都知道那意味着什么。”
      “但是我们不懂啊。”苏珊说。海狸先生非常忧郁地摇了摇头说：“恐怕他们把他带到她的住所去了。”
      “他们要拿他怎么样，海狸先生？”露茜喘着气问。
      “唉，”海狸先生说，“这就难说了，凡是被抓去的能够出来的不多，全变成了石头雕像啦。据说，在她住的院子里，楼上，厅堂里都堆满了石头雕像。她把人们……”他顿了一下，继续颤栗着说，“通通变成石头了。”
      “但是，海狸先生，”露茜说，“难道我们就一点办法也没有了吗？我是说我们应该想一切办法去救他。这是多么可怕啊，而且，不是为了我，他就不会遭这个罪。”
      “孩子们，我并不怀疑，如果你们能有办法的话，你们可以救他的命，”海狸太太说，“但是，你们怎么能强行进入她的住所，再活着出来呢？”
      “我们是不是可以用些计谋呢？”彼得说，“例如，我们打扮成小贩或旁的什么人，或者注意好了，等她不在家时，偷偷地潜入她的宫中，或者……唉，她真是该死。总之，我们得想一切办法救他出来。海狸先生，这位农牧之神不顾他自己的生命危险救了我的妹妹，我们怎能眼巴巴的不顾他的死活，看着他受苦呢？”
      “不行啊，亚当的儿子，”海狸先生说，“你们再想办法也没用。唉，听说阿斯兰回来了……”
      “哦，对啦，给我们讲讲阿斯兰的情况吧！”几个人异口同声地说，说到阿斯兰，那种神奇的感觉，就像春天来临的第一个信号，就像喜讯拨动着他们的心弦。
      “阿斯兰是谁呀？”苏珊问。
      “阿斯兰？”海狸先生说，“这你还不知道吗？他是国王，他是森林之王，但他不经常在这儿。不论在我父亲的一生中，还是在我的一生中，他都没来过。但现在有确实的消息说，他已经回来了。目前他就在那尼亚。他一定要将白女巫彻底消灭。能够救图姆纳斯先生的就是他，而不是你们。”
      “她不会也把他变成石头吗？”爱德蒙说。
      “我的小祖宗啊，亚当的儿子，你问的问题是多么简单幼稚啊！”海狸先生哈哈大笑地回答说，“把他变成石头？如果她敢在他面前站起来，正视他一眼，她就算是有种的了。我能肯定她不敢这样做。阿斯兰要重整河山，如同一首古老的诗歌中所写的那样：
      阿斯兰出现在我们面前，
      是非颠倒的现象就会改变；
      人们一听到他的吼声，
      阿斯兰一露他的牙齿，
      漫漫严冬就会消逝不见；
      他的鬃毛轻轻一抖，
      我们就会重睹春天。
      你们见到以后就会知道了。”
      “我们要去见见他吗？”苏珊问道。
      “当然罗，夏娃的女儿，我就是为了这个才把你们带到这儿来的。我把你们带到跟他相会的地方去。”海狸先生说。
      “他，他是人吗？”露茜问。
      “阿斯兰是人？！”海狸先生严肃地说，“当然不是。我已告诉过你们，他是森林之王，是海外大帝之子。你不知道谁是百兽之王吗？阿斯兰是一头狮子，一头雄狮，是伟大的百兽之王。”
      “哦，哦，哦，”苏珊说，“我原来还以为他是人呢。那么他——会伤人吗？和一头狮子相会，我会感到非常害怕。”
      “你们会感到害怕，亲爱的，这一点也不奇怪，”海狸太太说，“如果有谁在阿斯兰面前两膝不发抖，他不是一个非凡的勇士，就是一个傻瓜。”
      “这样说来不是太吓人了吗？”露茜说。
      “害怕吗？”海狸先生说，“你没有听见我的太太说的话吗？他当然使人望而生畏，但他是善良的。他是王，懂了吗？”
      “即使我见到他会感到害怕，我还是渴望去见他。”彼得说。
      “说得对，亚当的儿子，”海狸先生说，他用脚爪猛地拍了一下桌子，震得满桌的杯子和碟子都叮当直响。“你们应该去见他，我这儿已经得到口信，约你们去与他相会。如果可能的话，就在明天，在石台那儿。”
      “石台在哪儿？”露茜问。
      “我会给你们带路的，”海狸先生说，“它在这条河流的下游，离这儿好远呢，我送你们到那儿。”
      “还要走这么远的路，图姆纳斯先生不知会怎么样？”露茜问。
      “你们能帮助他的最快的办法就是去找阿斯兰，”海狸先生说，“只要他和我们在一起，我们就会有办法，但这并不是说我们就不需要你们，这里还有几行古老的诗句：
       一旦亚当的亲骨肉登上
      凯尔·巴拉维尔的王位，
      罪恶的年代就会一去不复返。
      所以，既然阿斯兰来了，你们又来了，一切都得结束了。我们很久以前——具体什么时候，谁也说不清楚——就听说阿斯兰到这一带来过，但这里从来也不曾有过你们人类的足迹。”
     “这正是我搞不清楚的地方，海狸先生，”彼得问，“我是说，难道女王自己就不是人吗？”
      “她就希望我们相信她是人类，”海狸先生说，“她就是以此自封为女王的，但她根本不是夏娃的女儿，她是你父王亚当的……”说到这里，海狸先生鞠了一个躬，“第一个妻子李丽丝生的，李丽丝是个妖精，所以她身上既有女巫的血统，又有巨人的血缘。在这个女巫身上，没有一滴真正人类的血液。”
      “怪不得她这样坏，海狸先生，”海狸太太说。
      “对极了，太太，”他答道，“关于人类也许有两种看法（我不想冒犯在场的人），但对看起来像人类而又不是人类的东西，就不存在两种看法。”
      “我认识善良的小妖，”海狸太太说。
      “我也认识，”她的丈夫说，“但真正善良的极少，他们最不像人。总之，你们应该听我的劝告，当你们遇见任何要想变做人而还没有变成的，或过去曾经是人而现在已不是的，或应该是人实际上不是人的什么生灵，你们就必须提高警惕，随时准备好你们的斧子。白女巫总是害怕那尼亚会出现人类，她提防你们已有好几年了。如果她知道你们四个人都在这儿，她就会变得更加狠毒。”
      “这是什么原因？”彼得问。
      “这就要说到一个古老的预言，”海狸说，“在凯尔·巴拉维尔，也就是这条河流入海口附近的那个城堡，照理它应该是整个国家的首都，有四个国王的宝座。很久很久以前，谁也记不清是什么年代了，在那尼亚有这样一种传说，一旦亚当的两个儿子和夏娃的两个女儿坐上这四个王位，不仅白女巫的统治，而且连同她的生命都将一起完蛋。这就是刚才我们来的路上为什么要这样小心翼翼的原因，因为假如让她知道了，她要害死你们，就像我抖抖胡子这样容易。”
      孩子们一直这样聚精会神地听着海狸先生讲话，他们好长时间都没有去注意别的情况。他说到最后，大家都寂静无声的时候，露茜突然说道：
      “哎哟，爱德蒙到哪儿去啦？”
      先是一阵可怕的沉默，接着大家都问：“谁最后看见他的？不见他有多少时候啦？他到屋外去了吗？”大家马上冲到门口去看。外面大雪纷飞，水池上面绿色的冰已经不见了，而盖上了一条厚厚的雪毯。站在小屋的门口，你几乎看不见两边的河岸。他们在屋前屋后四下寻找，两脚深陷在刚下的柔软的雪中。“爱德蒙！爱德蒙！”他们拼命地喊着，嗓子都喊哑了。但是，他们的喊声似乎全被寂静的大雪淹没了，甚至连一句回声也听不到。
      最后，他们懊丧地回到屋里。“太可怕了！”苏姗说，“啊，如果我们不到这儿来该有多好啊。”
      “我们究竟怎么办呢？海狸先生？”彼得问。
      “怎么办？”海狸先生说，他已经穿上了雪靴，“怎么办？我们必须立即出发，一刻也不能停留！”
      “我们最好分成四个搜寻小组，”彼得说，“朝各个方向去找，找到他以后立即回到这儿来，还有……”
      “分成搜寻小组，”海狸先生问，“干什么去呀？”
      “当然去找爱德蒙罗！”
      “不必去找他啦，”海狸先生说。
      “你这是什么意思？”彼得说，“他还不可能走远。我们必须把他找回来。你说不用去找他，这是什么意思？”
      “不必找他的理由是，”海狸先生说，“我们已经知道他到哪儿去了！”大家听了，一时摸不着头脑，都惊讶地瞪起了眼睛。“你们难道还不知道吗？”海狸先生接下来说，“他到白女巫哪儿去了，他已经背叛了我们。”
      “哦，不会的，我敢肯定，”苏姗说，“他不会干出这种事来的。”
      “他不会？”海狸先生紧盯着三个孩子问，孩子们的话刚到了嘴边又咽了下去，因为他们每个人的心里都立刻明白过来，爱德蒙肯定已经干了那样的事。
      “但他认得路吗？”彼得说。
      “他以前来过这个国家吗？”海狸先生问，“他有没有一个人单独来过？”
      “他来过，”露茜低声说，声音低得人们几乎都听不见。
      “他有没有告诉你们做了些什么，遇见了谁吗？”
      “嗯，没有，”彼得说。
      “那么，你们就听我说，”海狸先生说，“他见过白女巫，他已经加入她那一边了，他知道她住在哪儿。我起先不高兴讲，因为他是你们的兄弟，但我一见到你们这位兄弟，就知道他不可靠。他脸上有一种特别的表情，只有和女巫在一起、吃过她东西的人脸上才有这种表情。如果你们在那尼亚的时间长了，就可以根据他们的眼神把他们辨别出来。”
      “不管怎样，”彼得几乎用一种哽咽的声音说，“我们还得去找他，他到底是我们的兄弟，即使他是个小畜生，他毕竟还是个小孩子。”
      “到女巫住的地方去找他？”海狸太太说，“你们难道还不明白，救他或者救你们自己的惟一办法，就是避免和她接触，不让她看见吗？”
      “这到底是什么意思？”露茜说。
      “哎哟，她一心想的就是要把你们四人一网打尽，她一直在觊觎着凯尔·巴拉维尔的四个王位。你们四个人一到她的住所里面，她正好下手。你们还来不及开口，就已成了四座新的石头雕像。但是如果抓住他一个人，她就会让他活着，因为她要把他作为钓饵，用来引诱你们其余的人上钩。”
      “啊，难道就没有人帮助我们了吗？”露茜大声哭了起来。
      “只有阿斯兰，”海狸先生说，“我们一定要去见他，这是我们眼下惟一的办法。”
      “亲爱的孩子们，据我看来，”海狸太太说，“要紧的是知道他什么时候溜走的。他能告诉女巫多少取决于他听到了多少。例如说，在他溜走前，我们已经开始谈到阿斯兰了吗？如果还没有，我们就照常可以干得很好，因为女巫还不知道阿斯兰已经来到了那尼亚，也不知道我们将去见阿斯兰，不知道我们将尽可能地避开她。”
      “我记不清我们谈论阿斯兰时他是不是还在这儿……”彼得说，但露茜马上打断了他的话。
      “哦，他在的，”她很难过地说，“你可记得，就是他要打听女巫能不能将阿斯兰也变成石头吗？”
     “天哪，正是他，”彼得说，“他就是喜欢问这一类的问题。”
     “糟了，糟了，”海狸先生说，“还有一个问题，当我告诉你们在石台会见阿斯兰时他还在这儿吗？”
      没有谁能回答这个问题。
      “因为，如果他那时也在的话，”海狸先生继续说道，“那么，女巫知道了这一情况，她就会驾着雪橇直奔石台，插到我们和石台中间，在半路上堵截我们。这样，我们和阿斯兰的联系就会被切断。”
      “但是这还不是她首先要干的事，”海狸太太说，“在我看来，她不会那样干。如果爱德蒙告诉了她我们都在这儿，她今晚就会到这里来抓我们。假如她是半小时以前溜走的，再过二十分钟，她就会赶到我们这儿来。”
      “你说得对，太太，”海狸先生说，“我们必须立刻出发，全部离开这儿！”

秋靖寒(内阁元老)

10楼 2012-09-21

Chapter Nine
IN THE WITCH'S HOUSE

AND now of course you want to know what had happened to Edmund. He had eaten his share of the dinner, but he hadn't really enjoyed it because he was thinking all the time about Turkish Delight - and there's nothing that spoils the taste of good ordinary food half so much as the memory of bad magic food. And he had heard the conversation, and hadn't enjoyed it much either, because he kept on thinking that the others were taking no notice of him and trying to give him the cold shoulder. They weren't, but he imagined it. And then he had listened until Mr Beaver told them about Aslan and until he had heard the whole arrangement for meeting Aslan at the Stone Table. It was then that he began very quietly to edge himself under the curtain which hung over the door. For the mention of Aslan gave him a mysterious and horrible feeling just as it gave the others a mysterious and lovely feeling.

Just as Mr Beaver had been repeating the rhyme about Adam's flesh and Adam's bone Edmund had been very quietly turning the doorhandle; and just before Mr Beaver had begun telling them that the White Witch wasn't really human at all but half a Jinn and half a giantess, Edmund had got outside into the snow and cautiously closed the door behind him.

You mustn't think that even now Edmund was quite so bad that he actually wanted his brother and sisters to be turned into stone. He did want Turkish Delight and to be a Prince (and later a King) and to pay Peter out for calling him a beast. As for what the Witch would do with the others, he didn't want her to be particularly nice to them - certainly not to put them on the same level as himself; but he managed to believe, or to pretend he believed, that she wouldn't do anything very bad to them, "Because," he said to himself, "all these people who say nasty things about her are her enemies and probably half of it isn't true. She was jolly nice to me, anyway, much nicer than they are. I expect she is the rightful Queen really. Anyway, she'll be better than that awful Aslan!" At least, that was the excuse he made in his own mind for what he was doing. It wasn't a very good excuse, however, for deep down inside him he really knew that the White Witch was bad and cruel.

The first thing he realized when he got outside and found the snow falling all round him, was that he had left his coat behind in the Beavers' house. And of course there was no chance of going back to get it now. The next thing he realized was that the daylight was almost gone, for it had been nearly three o'clock when they sat down to dinner and the winter days were short. He hadn't reckoned on this; but he had to make the best of it. So he turned up his collar and shuffled across the top of the dam (luckily it wasn't so slippery since the snow had fallen) to the far side of the river.

It was pretty bad when he reached the far side. It was growing darker every minute and what with that and the snowflakes swirling all round him he could hardly see three feet ahead. And then too there was no road. He kept slipping into deep drifts of snow, and skidding on frozen puddles, and tripping over fallen tree-trunks, and sliding down steep banks, and barking his shins against rocks, till he was wet and cold and bruised all over. The silence and the loneliness were dreadful. In fact I really think he might have given up the whole plan and gone back and owned up and made friends with the others, if he hadn't happened to say to himself, "When I'm King of Narnia the first thing I shall do will be to make some decent roads." And of course that set him off thinking about being a King and all the other things he would do and this cheered him up a good deal. He had just settled in his mind what sort of palace he would have and how many cars and all about his private cinema and where the principal railways would run and what laws he would make against beavers and dams and was putting the finishing touches to some schemes for keeping Peter in his place, when the weather changed. First the snow stopped. Then a wind sprang up and it became freezing cold. Finally, the clouds rolled away and the moon came out. It was a full moon and, shining on all that snow, it made everything almost as bright as day - only the shadows were rather confusing.

He would never have found his way if the moon hadn't come out by the time he got to the other river you remember he had seen (when they first arrived at the Beavers') a smaller river flowing into the great one lower down. He now reached this and turned to follow it up. But the little valley down which it came was much steeper and rockier than the one he had just left and much overgrown with bushes, so that he could not have managed it at all in the dark. Even as it was, he got wet through for he had to stoop under branches and great loads of snow came sliding off on to his back. And every time this happened he thought more and more how he hated Peter - just as if all this had been Peter's fault.

But at last he came to a part where it was more level and the valley opened out. And there, on the other side of the river, quite close to him, in the middle of a little plain between two hills, he saw what must be the White Witch's House. And the moon was shining brighter than ever. The House was really a small castle. It seemed to be all towers; little towers with long pointed spires on them, sharp as needles. They looked like huge dunce's caps or sorcerer's caps. And they shone in the moonlight and their long shadows looked strange on the snow. Edmund began to be afraid of the House.

But it was too late to think of turning back now.

He crossed the river on the ice and walked up to the House. There was nothing stirring; not the slightest sound anywhere. Even his own feet made no noise on the deep newly fallen snow. He walked on and on, past corner after corner of the House, and past turret after turret to find the door. He had to go right round to the far side before he found it. It was a huge arch but the great iron gates stood wide open.

Edmund crept up to the arch and looked inside into the courtyard, and there he saw a sight that nearly made his heart stop beating. Just inside the gate, with the moonlight shining on it, stood an enormous lion crouched as if it was ready to spring. And Edmund stood in the shadow of the arch, afraid to go on and afraid to go back, with his knees knocking together. He stood there so long that his teeth would have been chattering with cold even if they had not been chattering with fear. How long this really lasted I don't know, but it seemed to Edmund to last for hours.

Then at last he began to wonder why the lion was standing so still - for it hadn't moved one inch since he first set eyes on it. Edmund now ventured a little nearer, still keeping in the shadow of the arch as much as he could. He now saw from the way the lion was standing that it couldn't have been looking at him at all. ("But supposing it turns its head?" thought Edmund.) In fact it was staring at something else namely a little: dwarf who stood with his back to it about four feet away. "Aha!" thought Edmund. "When it springs at the dwarf then will be my chance to escape." But still the lion never moved, nor did the dwarf. And now at last Edmund remembered what the others had said about the White Witch turning people into stone. Perhaps this was only a stone lion. And as soon as he had thought of that he noticed that the lion's back and the top of its head were covered with snow. Of course it must be only a statue! No living animal would have let itself get covered with snow. Then very slowly and with his heart beating as if it would burst, Edmund ventured to go up to the lion. Even now he hardly dared to touch it, but at last he put out his hand, very quickly, and did. It was cold stone. He had been frightened of a mere statue!

The relief which Edmund felt was so great that in spite of the cold he suddenly got warm all over right down to his toes, and at the same time there came into his head what seemed a perfectly lovely idea. "Probably," he thought, "this is the great Lion Aslan that they were all talking about. She's caught him already and turned him into stone. So that's the end of all their fine ideas about him! Pooh! Who's afraid of Aslan?"

And he stood there gloating over the stone lion, and presently he did something very silly and childish. He took a stump of lead pencil out of his pocket and scribbled a moustache on the lion's upper lip and then a pair of spectacles on its eyes. Then he said, "Yah! Silly old Aslan! How do you like being a stone? You thought yourself mighty fine, didn't you?" But in spite of the scribbles on it the face of the great stone beast still looked so terrible, and sad, and noble, staring up in the moonlight, that Edmund didn't really get any fun out of jeering at it. He turned away and began to cross the courtyard.

As he got into the middle of it he saw that there were dozens of statues all about - standing here and there rather as the pieces stand on a chess-board when it is half-way through the game. There were stone satyrs, and stone wolves, and bears and foxes and cat-amountains of stone. There were lovely stone shapes that looked like women but who were really the spirits of trees. There was the great shape of a centaur and a winged horse and a long lithe creature that Edmund took to be a dragon. They all looked so strange standing there perfectly life-like and also perfectly still, in the bright cold moonlight, that it was eerie work crossing the courtyard. Right in the very middle stood a huge shape like a man, but as tall as a tree, with a fierce face and a shaggy beard and a great club in its right hand. Even though he knew that it was only a stone giant and not a live one, Edmund did not like going past it.

He now saw that there was a dim light showing from a doorway on the far side of the courtyard. He went to it; there was a flight of stone steps going up to an open door. Edmund went up them. Across the threshold lay a great wolf.

"It's all right, it's all right," he kept saying to himself; "it's only a stone wolf. It can't hurt me", and he raised his leg to step over it. Instantly the huge creature rose, with all the hair bristling along its back, opened a great, red mouth and said in a growling voice:

"Who's there? Who's there? Stand still, stranger, and tell me who you are."

"If you please, sir," said Edmund, trembling so that he could hardly speak, "my name is Edmund, and I'm the Son of Adam that Her Majesty met in the wood the other day and I've come to bring her the news that my brother and sisters are now in Narnia - quite close, in the Beavers' house. She - she wanted to see them."

"I will tell Her Majesty," said the Wolf. "Meanwhile, stand still on the threshold, as you value your life." Then it vanished into the house.

Edmund stood and waited, his fingers aching with cold and his heart pounding in his chest, and presently the grey wolf, Maugrim, the Chief of the Witch's Secret Police, came bounding back and said, "Come in! Come in! Fortunate favourite of the Queen - or else not so fortunate."

And Edmund went in, taking great care not to tread on the Wolf's paws.

He found himself in a long gloomy hall with many pillars, full, as the courtyard had been, of statues. The one nearest the door was a little faun with a very sad expression on its face, and Edmund couldn't help wondering if this might be Lucy's friend. The only light came from a single lamp and close beside this sat the White Witch.

"I'm come, your Majesty," said Edmund, rushing eagerly forward.

"How dare you come alone?" said the Witch in a terrible voice. "Did I not tell you to bring the others with you?"

"Please, your Majesty," said Edmund, "I've done the best I can. I've brought them quite close. They're in the little house on top of the dam just up the riverwith Mr and Mrs Beaver."

A slow cruel smile came over the Witch's face.

"Is this all your news?" she asked.

"No, your Majesty," said Edmund, and proceeded to tell her all he had heard before leaving the Beavers' house.

"What! Aslan?" cried the Queen, "Aslan! Is this true? If I find you have lied to me -"

"Please, I'm only repeating what they said," stammered Edmund.

But the Queen, who was no longer attending to him, clapped her hands. Instantly the same dwarf whom Edmund had seen with her before appeared.

"Make ready our sledge," ordered the Witch, "and use the harness without bells."

第九章妖婆的房子（女巫的房子）"
      说到这里你们当然都想知道爱德蒙出了什么事。他吃完了他那份午餐，不过他并没有吃得津津有味，因为他一直想着土耳其软糖——回味起施过魔法的食品，吃再好的普通食品也倒胃口。而且他听到这番谈话也觉得不是滋味，因为他老是想着别人都不理他、冷落他。其实并非如此，都是他想象出来的。后来他一直听到海狸先生告诉他们有关阿斯兰的事，还听到在石桌跟阿斯兰见面的整个安排。于是他开始悄悄挪到挂在门上的帘子下。因为提到阿斯兰，他就有一种神秘而恐怖的感觉，正如其他人听了这个名字就有一种神秘而可爱的感觉一样。
      就在海狸先生背诵“亚当的骨肉”那首诗时，爱德蒙已经悄悄拧动了门把手；在海狸先生告诉他们白妖婆根本不是真的人，而是一半精灵一半巨人以前，爱德蒙已经走到外面雪地里，还小心地随手把门带上。
      即使到了这会儿，你们也千万别认为爱德蒙坏得真正想让他的兄弟姐妹被妖婆变成石头。他的确想吃土耳其软糖，而且想当王子(日后当个国王)，还想出出彼得骂他坏蛋这口恶气。至于妖婆会怎么对待其他人，他虽不希望她对他们特别好——当然不能给他们和他同等待遇——但他竟然相信，或者是自以为相信，她不会对他们干出什么坏事。“因为，”他暗自说，“凡是说她坏话的人都是她的敌人，也许这些坏话里面有一半都是假的。不管怎么说，她对我挺好的、比他们待我要好多了。我当她真正是合法的女王。无论如何，她总比可恶的阿斯兰要好吧！”至少，这就是他脑子里为自己所干的事找的借口。不过这个借口并不高明，因为在他内心深处，他也真正知道白妖婆又凶狠又残酷。
      他出来后看到外面正在下雪，首先明白过来的是他把自己的大衣扔在海狸夫妇家里了。眼下当然没有机会回去拿大衣。其次明白过来的是天几乎黑了，因为他们坐下来吃午饭时已经快三点了，而且冬天的白昼短。他原先没估计到这一点，但他得充分利用这一点。所以他竖起衣领，拖着脚步，穿过堤坝顶部(幸亏下了雪，上面才没那么滑)，向远处河边走去。
      等他到了远处的河边，情况就不大妙了。天一点点变黑，再加上雪花围着他打转，他连三英尺以外都看不清。再说，那儿没有路。他老是滑到深深的雪堆里，滚到结了冰的水潭里，绊在倒下的树干上，从陡峭的河岸上滑下去，小腿在岩石上擦破了皮，弄得浑身又湿又冷，到处是伤。寂静和孤独是可怕的。其实，要不是他偶尔对自己说，“等我当上纳尼亚国王，我首先要干的事就是修几条像样的路。”我真以为他可能会放弃整个计划，回去认个错，跟其他人和好呢。当然这句话使他想到当国王以及他要干的一切事情，这就大大鼓舞了他。他在脑子里拿定主意要有什么样的王宫，有多少汽车，以及种种有关私人电影院的事，主要的铁路往哪儿开，他要针对海狸和堤坝制定什么法律加以限制，还把不准彼得乱说乱动的计划作了最后修改；这时天变了。先是雪停了，接着突然刮起一阵风，冷得要命；最后，云散了，月亮出来了。一轮明月照在一片白雪上，几乎跟白天一样亮——
      只是那些阴影把他搞得糊里糊涂。
      要不是在他到达另一条河的时候月亮出来了，他根本就找不到路——你们记得，他们刚到海狸夫妇家时，他已经看到了一条小一点的河在下游汇入这条大河。如今他走到这条小河边，就转身沿着这河往上游走。不过小河源头的那个小山谷比他刚刚离开的那个山谷更陡峭，岩石更多，而且满地都是枝叶丛生的灌木，因此他在黑暗中根本没法过去。尽管这样，他也弄得浑身透湿，因为他得弯着腰在树枝下走，大块大块的雪就都滑到他背上了。碰上这种倒霉事，他就格外想自己多么恨彼得——好像这一切都是彼得的错。
      但他终于走到一块比较平坦的地方，山谷也开阔起来。就在离他很近的地方，小河的另一边，两座小山当中一块小平原的中央，他看见了那幢想必属于白妖婆的房子。而且月亮也比任何时候都更明亮。那幢房子其实是一座小城堡，看上去全是塔楼。小小的塔楼上面是又长又尖的顶，像针尖,
      又像笨蛋学生或巫师戴的尖角帽。在月光照耀下，塔楼长长的影子在雪地上显得古里古怪的！爱德蒙对这幢房子开始感到害怕了。
      不过这会儿想转身回去也太晚了。他踏在冰上走过了河，一直走向这幢房子。没有一点动静，连他自己两只脚踩在刚下的深深的雪里也没有声音。他走啊走啊，走过一个又一个墙角、一个又一个塔楼去找门。他绕了一大圈才找到门。原来是座大拱门，不过大铁门是敞开的。
      爱德蒙蹑手蹑脚走进拱门，朝院子里张望，看见的那副情景差点使他的心都停止跳动了。就在大门里面，月光照耀下，有一只大狮子蹲在那儿，好像准备跳起来似的。爱德蒙就站在拱门的阴影里，两膝直打哆嗦，又怕走过去，又怕走回来。他站在那儿好久好久，牙齿即使不是怕得打战也早巳冷得打战了。我不知道他在那儿真正站了多久，不过爱德蒙似乎觉得过了好几个小时。
      后来他终于想知道那狮子干吗蹲着一动也不动——因为自从他看见它以来，它就纹丝儿没动过。这会儿爱德蒙放大胆走近点，一边仍然尽量躲在拱门的阴影里。他现在从狮子站的架势看出，它根本不可能看见他。(“但假如它转过头来呢？”爱德蒙想道。)事实上它正盯着另外什么东西——就是一个小矮人，他背对狮子站在大约四英尺以外的地方。
      “啊哈！”爱德蒙想，“等它扑向那小矮人，那时就是我逃命的机会了。”但狮子仍然一动也不动，小矮人也一样。爱德蒙这时终于想起其他人说过的白妖婆把人变成石头的事。也许这只是一只石狮吧。他一想到这点就注意到狮子背上和头顶上都积满了雪。它当然一定只是个石像！活生生的动物决不会让自己身上积满雪的。于是，爱德蒙慢慢大着胆向狮子走去，一颗心好像要跳出来似的。即使现在他也不大敢摸它，但他终于伸出手来很快地摸了一下。原来是冰冷的石头。只不过是个石像，竟然就把他吓住了！
      爱德蒙感到如释重负，因此尽管天那么冷，他突然从头到脚都暖和了。同时他脑子里有了个似乎十分称心的念头。
      “也许，”他想，“这就是大家都在谈论的伟大的狮王阿斯兰吧。她已经抓住它把它变成石头了。这么一来他们在它身上打的如意算盘也就落空了！呸！谁怕阿斯兰呀？”
      他就这么站在那儿幸灾乐祸地看着石狮子，不一会儿他干了一件孩子气的蠢事。他从口袋里掏出一个铅笔头，在狮子上唇涂上两撇胡子，还给它加上了一副眼镜。涂罢他说，“可笑的老阿斯兰！成了石头你有什么想法啊？你自以为很了不起吧？”不过尽管他在狮子脸上乱涂，大石兽看上去仍然很可怕，又伤心，又高贵，目光仰望着月亮。爱德蒙戏弄石狮，却并没因此真正感到好玩。他掉转身子，穿过院子走进去。
      他刚走到院子当中就看见四周有好多石像——到处都是，倒有点像下到一半时棋盘上的棋子。有石头的森林神(希腊神话中传说的半人半兽的神，人行，有马或山羊般的耳朵和尾巴),
      石头的狼啊、熊啊、狐狸啊、山猫啊。还有些可爱的石头看上去像女人，其实是树精。有一个大石像形状像人头马（希腊神话中传说的半人半马的怪物，人头马身），还有一匹有翅膀的马，还有一条长长的软体动物，爱德蒙当它是龙。这些石像看上去都那么古怪，在明晃晃、冷冰冰的月光下栩栩如生，而且完全静止不动，使人穿过院子时感到非常可怕。在院子正中央站着一个巨大的人体，足有一棵树那么高，面相凶猛，长着一部蓬松的大胡子，右手拿着根大棒。虽然爱德蒙知道这只是一个石头巨人，不是活的，他仍然不愿意走过巨人身边。
      这会儿他瞧见院子那头有个入口透出一点暗淡的光。他走到那儿，那儿有几级石阶通向一扇开着的门。爱德蒙走上石阶，只见门槛上躺着一匹大狼。
      “没关系，没关系，”他不停地自言自语道，“那只是一只石狼而已。它不会伤害我的。”他抬起脚要跨过它。那只巨兽立刻站起来，背上的毛根根竖起，张开血盆大嘴，吼着说：
      “谁在那儿？谁在那儿？站着别动，陌生人，告诉我你是谁。”
      “劳驾通报一下，先生，”爱德蒙哆哆嗦嗦，都快说不出话了，“我名叫爱德蒙，我就是女王陛下前几天在森林里遇见过的亚当的儿子，我到这儿来报信，我们兄弟姐妹现在都在纳尼亚——很近，就在海狸夫妇家。她——她想见见他们。”
     “我会禀报女王陛下的，”那匹狼说，“同时，要是你珍惜你这条命，就站在门槛上别动。”说着它就走进去不见了。
      爱德蒙站在那儿等着，他的手指冻得好疼，心头怦怦直跳。不一会儿那只灰狼，芬瑞斯·乌尔夫，妖婆的秘密警察头子跳着回来了，说道，“进来吧！进来吧！幸运的女王宠儿——否则就没那么幸运了。”
      爱德蒙就此走了进去，一路小心翼翼别踩在狼爪子上。
      他发现自己来到一间有许多柱子的长长的阴暗的大厅，跟院子里一样满是石像。离门最近的石像是一只小羊怪，神情十分伤心，爱德蒙不禁想知道这会不会是露茜的朋友。大厅里只点了一盏灯，白妖婆就紧挨在这盏灯后面坐着。
      “我来了，陛下。”爱德蒙说着，心急慌忙地冲上前去。
      “你竟敢一个人来？”妖婆用可怕的声音说，“我不是吩咐你把其他几个一起带来吗？”
      “请别见怪，陛下，”爱德蒙说，“我已尽了最大努力。我已把他们带到附近。他们就在河上堤坝顶上那座小房子里——跟海狸先生、海狸太太在一起。”
      妖婆脸上慢慢露出一丝冷酷的微笑。
      “你的消息就这么些吗？”她问。 “不，陛下。”爱德蒙说，并开始把离开海狸夫妇家以前他听到的事全部告诉厂她。
      “什么！阿斯兰！”女王叫道，“阿斯兰！这是真的吗？要是我发现你对我说谎——”
      “请别见怪，我只是重复他们说的话而已。”爱德蒙结结巴巴地说。
      不过女王已经不再注意他，她拍了拍手。爱德蒙上回看见跟着女王的那个小矮人立刻出现了。
      “备好雪橇，”妖婆命令说，“用没有铃挡的挽具。”

[Novel] 【连载】The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe《狮子、女巫与魔衣橱》