纳尼亚传奇:凯斯宾王子评价 《凯斯宾王子》第5章:凯斯宾深山探险

《凯斯宾王子》第5章:凯斯宾深山探险  

AFTER this
Caspian and his Tutor had many more secret conversations on the top of the Great Tower
and at each conversation Caspian learned more about Old Narnia
so that thinking and dreaming about the old days
and longing that they might e back
filled nearly all his spare hours. But of course he had not many hours to spare
for now his education was beginning in earnest. He learned sword-fighting and riding
swimming and diving
how to shoot with the bow and play on the recorder and the theorbo
how to hunt the stag and cut him up when he was dead
besides Cosmography
Rhetoric
Heraldry
Versification
and of course History
with a little Law
Physic
Alchemy
and Astronomy. Of Magic he learned only the theory
for Doctor Cornelius said the practical part was not proper study for princes. "And I myself
" he added
"am only a very imperfect magician and can do only the smallest experiments." Of Navigation ("Which is a noble and heroical art
" said the Doctor) he was taught nothing
because King Miraz disapproved of ships and the sea.
He also learned a great deal by using his own eyes and ears. As a little boy he had often wondered why he disliked his aunt
Queen Prunaprismia; he now saw that it was because she disliked him. He also began to see that Narnia was an unhappy country. The taxes were high and the laws were stern and Miraz was a cruel man.
After some years there came a time when the Queen seemed to be ill and there was a great deal of bustle and pother about her in the castle and doctors came and the courtiers whispered. This was in early summertime. And one night
while all this fuss was going on
Caspian was unexpectedly wakened by Doctor Cornelius after he had been only a few hours in bed.
"Are we going to do a little Astronomy
Doctor?" said Caspian.
"Hush!" said the Doctor. "Trust me and do exactly as I tell you. Put on all your clothes; you have a long journey before you."
Caspian was very surprised
but he had learned to have confidence in his Tutor and he began doing what he was told at once. When he was dressed the Doctor said
"I have a wallet for you. We must go into the next room and fill it with victuals from your Highness's supper table."
"My gentlemen-in-waiting will be there
" said Caspian.
"They are fast asleep and will not wake
" said the Doctor. "I am a very minor magician but I can at least contrive a charmed sleep."
They went into the antechamber and there
sure enough
the o gentlemen-in-waiting were
sprawling on chairs and snoring hard. Doctor Cornelius quickly cut up the remains of a cold chicken and some slices of venison and put them
with bread and an apple or so and a little flask of good wine
into the wallet which he then gave to Caspian. It fitted on by a strap over Caspian's shoulder
like a satchel you would use for taking books to school.
"Have you your sword?" asked the Doctor.
"Yes
" said Caspian.
"Then put this mantle over all to hide the sword and the wallet. That's right. And now we must go to the Great Tower and talk."
When they had reached the top of the Tower (it was a cloudy night
not at all like the night when they had seen the conjunction of Tarva and Alambil) Doctor Cornelius said

"Dear Prince
you must leave this castle at once and go to seek your fortune in the wide world. Your life is in danger here."
"Why?" asked Caspian.
"Because you are the true King of Narnia: Caspian the Tenth
the true son and heir of Caspian the Ninth. Long life to your Majesty' - and suddenly
to Caspian's great surprise
the little man dropped down on one knee and kissed his hand.
"What does it all mean? I don't understand
" said Caspian.
"I wonder you have never asked me before
" said the Doctor
"why
being the son of King Caspian
you are not King Caspian yourself. Everyone except your Majesty knows that Miraz is a usurper. When he first began to rule he did not even pretend to be the King: he called himself Lord Protector. But then your royal mother died
the good Queen and the only Telmarine who was ever kind to me. And then
one by one
all the great lords
who had known your father
died or disappeared. Not by accident
either. Miraz weeded them out. Belisar and Uvilas were shot with arrows on a hunting party: by chance
it was pretended. All the great house of the Passarids he sent to fight giants on the northern frontier till one by one they fell. Arlian and Erimon and a dozen more he executed for treason on a false charge. The o brothers of Beaversdam he shut up as madmen. And finally he persuaded the seven noble lords
who alone among all the Telmarines did not fear the sea
to sail away and look for new lands beyond the Eastern Ocean
and
as he intended
they never came back. And when there was no one left who could speak a word for you
then his flatterers (as he had instructed them) begged him to bee King. And of course he did."
"Do you mean he now wants to kill me too?" said Caspian.
"That is almost certain
" said Doctor Cornelius.
"But why now?" said Caspian. "I mean
why didn't he do it long ago if he wanted to? And what harm have I done him?"
"He has changed his mind about you because of something that happened only o hours ago. The Queen has had a son."
"I don't see what that's got to do with it
" said Caspian.
"Don't see!" exclaimed the Doctor. "Have all my lessons in History and Politics taught you no more than that? Listen. As long as he had no children of his own
he was willing enough that you should be King after he died. He may not have cared much about you
but he would rather you should have the throne than a stranger. Now that he has a son of his own he will want his own son to be the next King. You are in the way. He'll clear you out of the way."
"Is he really as bad as that?" said Caspian. "Would he really murder me?"
"He murdered your Father
" said Doctor Cornelius.
Caspian felt very queer and said nothing.
"I can tell you the whole story
" said the Doctor. "But not now. There is no time. You must fly at once."
"You'll e with me?" said Caspian.
"I dare not
" said the Doctor. "It would make your danger greater. Two are more easily tracked than one. Dear Prince
dear King Caspian
you must be very brave. You must go alone and at once. Try to get across the southern border to the court of King Nain of Archenland. He will be good to you."
"Shall I never see you again?" said Caspian in a quavering voice.
"I hope so
dear King
" said the Doctor. "What friend have I in the wide world except your Majesty? And I have a little magic. But in the meantime
speed is everything. Here are o gifts before you go. This is a little purse of gold alas
all the treasure in this castle should be your own by rights. And here is something far better."
He put in Caspian's hands something which he could hardly see but which he knew by the feel to be a horn.
"That
" said Doctor Cornelius
"is the greatest and most sacred treasure of Narnia. Many terrors I endured
many spells did I utter
to find it
when I was still young. It is the magic horn of Queen Susan herself which she left behind her when she vanished from Narnia at the end of the Golden Age. It is said that whoever blows it shall have strange help - no one can say how strange. It may have the power to call Queen Lucy and King Edmund and Queen Susan and High King Peter back from the past
and they will set all to rights. It may be that it will call up Asian himself. Take it
King Caspian: but do not use it except at your greatest need. And now
haste
haste
haste. The little door at the very bottom of the Tower
the door into the garden
is unlocked. There we must part."
"Can I get my horse Destrier?" said Caspian.
"He is already saddled and waiting for you just at the corner of the orchard."
During the long climb down the winding staircase Cornelius whispered many more words of direction and advice. Caspian's heart was sinking
but he tried to take it all in. Then came the fresh air in the garden
a fervent handclasp with the Doctor
a run across the lawn
a weling whinny from Destrier
and so King Caspian the Tenth left the castle of his fathers. Looking back
he saw fireworks going up to celebrate the birth of the new prince.
All night he rode southward
choosing by-ways and bridle paths through woods as long as he was in country that he knew; but afterwards he kept to the high road. Destrier was as excited as his master at this unusual journey
and Caspian
though tears had e into his eyes at saying good-bye to Doctor Cornelius
felt brave and
in a way
happy
to think that he was King Caspian riding to seek adventures
with his sword on his left hip and Queen Susan's magic horn on his right. But when day came
with a sprinkle of rain
and he looked about him and saw on every side unknown woods
wild heaths
and blue mountains
he thought how large and strange the world was and felt frightened and small.
As soon as it was full dayLight he left the road and found an open grassy place amid a wood where he could rest. He took off Destrier's bridle and let him graze
ate some cold chicken and drank a little wine
and presently fell asleep. It was late afternoon when he awoke. He ate a morsel and continued his journey
still southward
by many unfrequented lanes. He was now in a land of hills
going up and down
but always more up than down. From every ridge he could see the mountains growing bigger and blacker ahead. As the evening closed in
he was riding their lower slopes. The wind rose. Soon rain fell in torrents.
Destrier became uneasy; there was thunder in the air. And now they entered a dark and seemingly endless pine forest
and all the stories Caspian had ever heard of trees being unfriendly to Man crowded into his mind. He remembered that he was
after all
a Telmarine
one of the race who cut down trees wherever they could and were at war with all wild things; and though he himself might be unlike other Telmarines
the trees could not be expected to know this.
Nor did they. The wind became a tempest
the woods roared and creaked all round them. There came a crash. A tree fell right across the road just behind him. "Quiet
Destrier
quiet!" said Caspian
patting his horse's neck; but he was trembling himself and knew that he had escaped death by an inch. Lightning flashed and a great crack of thunder seemed to break the sky in o just overhead.
Destrier bolted in good earnest. Caspian was a good rider
but he had not the strength to hold him back. He kept his seat
but he knew that his life hung by a thread during the wild career that followed. Tree after tree rose up before them in the dusk and was only just avoided. Then
almost too suddenly to hurt (and yet it did hurt him too) something struck Caspian on the forehead and he knew no more.
When he came to himself he was lying in a firelit place with bruised limbs and a bad headache. Low voices were speaking close at hand.
"And now
" said one
"before it wakes up we must decide what to do with it."
"Kill it
" said another. "We can't let it live. It would betray us."
"We ought to have killed it at once
or else let it alone
" said a third voice. "We can't kill it now. Not after we've taken it in and bandaged its head and all. It would be murdering a guest."
"Gentlemen
" said Caspian in a feeble voice
"whatever you do to me
I hope you will be kind to my poor horse."
"Your horse had taken flight long before we found you
" said the first voice - a curiously husky
earthy voice
as Caspian now noticed.
"Now don't let it talk you round with its pretty words
" said the second voice. "I still say-"
"Horns and halibuts!" exclaimed the third voice. "Of course we're not going to murder it. For shame
Nikabrik. What do you say
Trufflehunter? What shall we do with it?"
"I shall give it a drink
" said the first voice
presumably Trufflehunter's. A dark shape approached the bed. Caspian felt an arm slipped gently under his shoulders - if it was exactly an arm. The shape somehow seemed wrong. The face that bent towards him seemed wrong too. He got the impression that it was very hairy and very long nosed
and there were odd white patches on each side of it. "It's a mask of some sort
" thought Caspian. "Or perhaps I'm in a fever and imagining it all." A cupful of something sweet and hot was set to his lips and he drank. At that moment one of the others poked the fire. A blaze sprang up and Caspian almost screamed with the shock as the sudden light revealed the face that was looking into his own. It was not a man's face but a badger's
though larger and friendlier and more intelligent than the face of any badger he had seen before. And it had certainly been talking. He saw
too
that he was on a bed of heather
in a cave. By the fire sat o little bearded men
so much wilder and shorter and hairier and thicker than Doctor Cornelius that he knew them at once for real Dwarfs
ancient Dwarfs with not a drop of human blood in their veins. And Caspian knew that he had found the Old Narnians at last. Then his head began to swim again.
In the next few days he learned to know them by names. The Badger was called Trufflehunter; he was the oldest and kindest of the three. The Dwarf who had wanted to kill Caspian was a sour Black Dwarf (that is
his hair and beard were black
and thick and hard like horsehair). His name was Nikabrik. The other Dwarf was a Red Dwarf with hair rather like a Fox's and he was called Trumpkin.
"And now
" said Nikabrik on the first evening when Caspian was well enough to sit up and talk
"we still have to decide what to do with this Human. You o think you've done it a great kindess by not letting me kill it. But I suppose the upshot is that we have to keep it a prisoner for life. I'm certainly not going to let it go alive - to go back to its own kind and betray us all."
"Bulbs and bolsters! Nikabrik
" said Trumpkin. "Why need you talk so unhandsomely? It isn't the creature's fault that it bashed its head against a tree outside our hole. And I don't think it looks like a traitor."
"I say
" said Caspian
"you haven't yet found out whether I want to go back. I don't. I want to stay with you - if you'll let me. I've been looking for people like you all my life."
"That's a likely story
" growled Nikabrik. "You're a Telmarine and a Human
aren't you? Of course you want to go back to your own kind."
"Well
even if I did
I couldn't
" said Caspian. "I was flying for my life when I had my accident. The King wants to kill me. If you'd killed me
you'd have done the very thing to please him."
"Well now
" said Trufflehunter
"you don't say so!"
"Eh?" said Trumpkin. "What's that? What have you been doing
Human
to fall foul of Miraz at your age?"
"He's my uncle
" began Caspian
when Nikabrik jumped up with his hand on his dagger.
"There you are!" he cried. "Not only a Telmarine but close kin and heir to our greatest enemy. Are you still mad enough to let this creature live?" He would have stabbed Caspian then and there
if the Badger and Trumpkin had not got in the way and forced him back to his seat and held him down.
"Now
once and for all
Nikabrik
" said Trumpkin. "Will you contain yourself
or must Trufflehunter and I sit on your head?"
Nikabrik sulkily promised to behave
and the other o asked Caspian to tell his whole story. When he had done so there was a moment's silence.
"This is the queerest thing I ever heard
" said Trumpkin.
"I don't like it
" said Nikabrik. "I didn't know there were stories about us still told among the Humans. The less they know about us the better. That old nurse
now. She'd better have held her tongue. And it's all mixed up with that Tutor: a renegade Dwarf. I hate 'em. I hate 'em worse than the Humans. You mark my words - no good will e of it.
"Don't you go talking about things you don't understand
Nikabrik
" said Trufflehunter. "You Dwarfs are as fetful and changeable as the Humans themselves. I'm a beast
I am
and a Badger what's more. We don't change. We hold on. I say great good will e of it. This is the true King of Narnia we've got here: a true King
ing back to true Narnia. And we beasts remember
even if Dwarfs fet
that Narnia was never right except when a son of Adam was King."
"Whistles and whirligigs! Trufflehunter
" said Trumpkin. "You don't mean you want to give the country to Humans?"
"I said nothing about that
" answered the Badger. "It's not Men's country (who should know that better than me?) but it's a country for a man to be King of. We badgers have long enough memories to know that. Why
bless us all
wasn't the High King Peter a Man?"
"Do you believe all those old stories?" asked Trumpkin.
"I tell you
we don't change
we beasts
" said Trufflehunter. "We don't fet. I believe in the High King Peter and the rest that reigned at Cair Paravel
as firmly as I believe in Aslan himself."
"As firmly as that
I dare say
" said Trumpkin. "But who believes in Aslan nowadays?"
"I do
" said Caspian. "And if I hadn't believed in him before
I would now. Back there among the Humans the people who laughed at Aslan would have laughed at stories about Talking Beasts and Dwarfs. Sometimes I did wonder if there really was such a person as Aslan: but then sometimes I wondered if there were really people like you. Yet there you are."
"That's right
" said Trufflehunter. "You're right
King Caspian. And as long as you will be true to Old Narnia you shall be my King
whatever they say. Long life to your Majesty."
"You make me sick
Badger
" growled Nikabrik. "The High King Peter and the rest may have been Men
but they were a different sort of Men. This is one of the cursed Telmarines. He has hunted beasts for sport. Haven't you
now?" he added
rounding suddenly on Caspian.
"Well
to tell you the truth
I have
" said Caspian. "But they weren't Talking Beasts."
"It's all the same thing
" said Nikabrik.
"No
no
no
" said Trufflehunter. "You know it isn't. You know very well that the beasts in Narnia nowadays are different and are no more than the poor dumb
witless creatures you'd find in Calormen or Telmar. They're smaller too. They're far more different from us than the half-Dwarfs are from you."
There was a great deal more talk
but it all ended with the agreement that Caspian should stay and even the promise that
as soon as he was able to go out
he should be taken to see what Trumpkin called "the Others"; for apparently in these wild parts all sorts of creatures from the Old Days of Narnia still lived on in hiding.