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纳尼亚传奇狮子女巫魔衣橱 《狮子女巫与魔衣橱》第9章:妖婆的房子
《狮子女巫与魔衣橱》第9章:妖婆的房子 AND ow of cour e you wa t to k ow what had ha e ed to Edmu d. He had eate hi har

《狮子女巫与魔衣橱》第9章:妖婆的房子
AND now of course you want to know what had happened to Edmund. He had eaten his share of the dinnerbut 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 e 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 beeen o 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 e 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 e
your Majesty
" said Edmund
rushing eagerly forward.
"How dare you e 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."
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