第一胎男孩女孩好 《能言马与男孩》第42期:在蒂斯罗克的密室里(2)

《能言马与男孩》第42期:在蒂斯罗克的密室里(2)  

"Understand
O my son
" said the Tisroc
"that no words you can speak will move me to open war against Narnia."
"If you were not my father
O ever-living Tisroc
" said the Prince
grinding his teeth
"I should say that was the word of a coward."
"And if you were not my son
O most inflammable Rabadash
" replied his father
"your life would be short and your death slow when you had said it." (The cool
placid voice in which he spoke these words made Aravis's blood run cold.)
"But why
O my father
" said the Prince - this time in a much more respectful voice
"why should we think ice about punishing Narnia any more than about hanging an idle slave or sending a worn-out horse to be made into dog'smeat? It is not the fourth size of one of your least provinces. A thousand spears could conquer it in five weeks. It is an unseemly blot on the skirts of your empire."
"Most undoubtedly
" said the Tisroc. "These little barbarian countries that call themselves free (which is as much as to say
idle
disordered
and unprofitable) are hateful to the gods and to all persons of discernment."
"Then why have we suffered such a land as Narnia to remain thus long unsubdued?"
"Know
O enlightened Prince
" said the Grand Vizier
"that until the year in which your exalted father began his salutary and unending reign
the land of Narnia was covered with ice and snow and was moreover ruled by a most powerful enchantress."
"This I know very well
O loquacious Vizier
" answered the Prince. "But I know also that the enchantress is dead. And the ice and snow have vanished
so that Narnia is now wholesome
fruitful
and delicious."
"And this change
O most learned Prince
has doubtless been brought to pass by the powerful incantations of those wicked persons who now call themselves kings and queens of Narnia."
"I am rather of the opinion
" said Rabadash
"that it has e about by the alteration of the stars and the operation of natural causes."