纳尼亚传奇狮子女巫魔衣橱 《狮子女巫与魔衣橱》第3章:爱德蒙和衣橱

《狮子女巫与魔衣橱》第3章:爱德蒙和衣橱  

Lucy ran out of the empty room into the passage and found the other three.
"It's all right
" she repeated
"I've eback."
"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?"
"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."
"But I've been away for hours and hours
" said Lucy.
The others all stared at one another.
"Batty!" said Edmund
tapping his head. "Quite batty."
"What do you mean
Lu?" asked Peter.
"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."
"Don't be silly
Lucy
" said Susan. "We've only just e out of that room a moment ago
and you were there then."
"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?"
"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; e and see."
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."
"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."
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.
"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."
"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."
"Come
Lu
" said Peter
"that's going a bit far. You've had your joke. Hadn't you better drop it now?"
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.
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 o 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.
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 plicated 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.
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 e 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
fetting 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."
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.
"Thank goodness
" said Edmund
"the door must have swung open of its own accord." He fot 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.
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 beeen 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.
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."
There was no answer.
"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.
"I say
Lu! I'm sorry I didn't believe you. I see now you were right all along. Do e out. Make it Pax."
Still there was no answer.
"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 o reindeer.
The reindeer were about the size of Shetland ponies and their hair was so white that even the snow hardly looked white pared 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.
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.
"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 ing out of their nostrils looked like smoke.
"And what
pray
are you?" said the Lady
looking hard at Edmund.
"I'm-I'm-my name's Edmund
" said Edmund rather awkwardly. He did not like the way she looked at him.
The Lady frowned
"Is that how you address a Queen?" she asked
looking sterner than ever.
"I beg your pardon
your Majesty
I didn't know
" said Edmund:
"Not know the Queen of Narnia?" cried she. "Ha! You shall know us better hereafter. But I repeat-what are you?"
"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."