纳尼亚传奇狮子女巫魔衣橱 《狮子女巫与魔衣橱》第7章:在海狸家里的一天

《狮子女巫与魔衣橱》第7章:在海狸家里的一天  

WHILE the o 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 fortable.
"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
e 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 es 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 o 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 nigare 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 mon 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 o small hills
and he was almost sure they were the o hills which the White Witch had pointed out to him when he parted from her at the lamp-post that other day. And then beeen 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 e 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-s 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 bee 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 e 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."