The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - Audiobook - Pt 3/5
Complete unabridged, read by Derek Jacobi
00:00:00 - Chapter 7
00:22:03 - Chapter 8
00:47:13 - Chapter 9
Complete unabridged, read by Derek Jacobi
00:00:00 - Chapter 7
00:22:03 - Chapter 8
00:47:13 - Chapter 9
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FunTranscript
00:00:00CHAPTER VII HOW THE ADVENTURE ENDED
00:00:08Look at what? said Edmund.
00:00:13Look at the device on the gold, said Caspian.
00:00:17A little hammer with a diamond above it, like a star, said Drinian.
00:00:23Why, I've seen that before.
00:00:27Seen it? said Caspian.
00:00:29Why, of course you have.
00:00:32It is the sign of a great Narnian house.
00:00:35This is the Lord Octisian's arm-ring.
00:00:37Felon! said Weepycheep to the dragon.
00:00:41Have you devoured a Narnian lord?
00:00:44But the dragon shook his head violently.
00:00:47Or, perhaps, said Lucy, this is the Lord Octisian, turned into a dragon, under an enchantment,
00:00:55to know.
00:00:56It needn't be either, said Edmund.
00:00:59All dragons collect gold.
00:01:01But I think it's a safe guess that Octisian got no further than this island.
00:01:08Are you the Lord Octisian? said Lucy to the dragon.
00:01:13And then, when it sadly shook its head, are you someone enchanted, someone human, I mean?
00:01:22It nodded violently.
00:01:25And then someone said—people disputed afterwards whether Lucy or Edmund said it first—
00:01:31You're not—not Eustace, by any chance?
00:01:38And Eustace nodded his terrible dragon head, and thumped his tail in the sea, and everyone
00:01:43skipped back.
00:01:44Some of the sailors, with ejaculations I will not put down in writing, to avoid the enormous
00:01:50and boiling tears which flowed from his eyes.
00:01:56Lucy tried hard to console him, and even screwed up her courage to kiss the scaly face.
00:02:02And nearly everyone said, Hard luck!
00:02:06And several assured Eustace that they would all stand by him.
00:02:10And many said that there was sure to be some way of disenchanting him, and they'd have
00:02:15him as right as rain in a day or two.
00:02:18And of course they were all very anxious to hear his story, but he couldn't speak.
00:02:25More than once, in the days that followed, he attempted to write it for them on the sand,
00:02:31but this never succeeded.
00:02:33In the first place, Eustace, never having read the right books, had no idea how to tell
00:02:38a story straight.
00:02:40And for another thing, the muscles and nerves of the dragon-claws that he had to use had
00:02:45never learned to write, and were not built for writing, anyway.
00:02:49As a result, he never got nearly to the end before the tide came in and washed away all
00:02:53the writing, except the bits he had already trodden on, or accidentally swished out with
00:02:59his tail.
00:03:00And all that any one had seen would be something like this.
00:03:04The dots are for the bits he had smudged out.
00:03:07I wenet to slee, agos agrons, I mean drangons cave, cos it was dead, and aening so ha, woke
00:03:24up and coo, get off my arm, oh bother.
00:03:35It was, however, clear to every one that Eustace's character had been rather improved
00:03:42by becoming a dragon.
00:03:44He was anxious to help.
00:03:46He flew over the whole island, and found it was all mountainous, and inhabited only by
00:03:50wild goats and droves of wild swine.
00:03:53Of these he brought back many carcasses as provisions for this ship.
00:03:58He was a very humane killer, too, for he could dispatch a beast with one blow of his tail,
00:04:03so that it didn't know, and presumably still doesn't know, it had been killed.
00:04:09He ate a few himself, of course, but always alone, for now that he was a dragon he liked
00:04:15his food raw, but he could never bear to let others see him at his messy meals.
00:04:21And one day, flying slowly and wearily, but in great triumph, he bore back to camp a great
00:04:28tall pine-tree, which he had torn up by the roots in a distant valley, and which could
00:04:33be made into a capital mast.
00:04:36And in the evening, if it turned chilly, as it sometimes did after the heavy rains, he
00:04:41was a comfort to every one, for the whole party would come and sit with their backs
00:04:46against his hot sides, and get well warmed and dried.
00:04:51And one puff of his fiery breath would light the most obstinate fire.
00:04:57Sometimes he would take a select party, if at a fly on his back, so that they could see,
00:05:02wheeling below them the green slopes, the rocky heights, the narrow pit-like valleys,
00:05:08and far out over the sea to the eastward, a spot of darker blue on the blue horizon,
00:05:14which might be land.
00:05:16The pleasure, quite new to him, of being liked, and, still more, of liking other people, was
00:05:25what kept Eustace from despair, for it was very dreary, being a dragon.
00:05:30He shuddered whenever he caught sight of his own reflection, as he flew over a mountain
00:05:35lake.
00:05:36He hated the huge, bat-like wings, the sore-edged ridge on his back, and the cruel curved claws.
00:05:45He was almost afraid to be alone with himself, and yet he was ashamed to be with the others.
00:05:51On the evenings, when he was not being used as a hot-water bottle, he would slink away
00:05:55from the camp, and lie curled up like a snake between the wood and the water.
00:06:01On such occasions, greatly to his surprise, Reepycheep was his most constant comforter.
00:06:08The noble mouse would creep away from the merry circle at the camp-fire, and sit down
00:06:13by the dragon's head, wail to the windward, to be out of the way of his smoky breath.
00:06:18There he would explain that what had happened to Eustace was a striking illustration of
00:06:24the turn of fortune's wheel, and that, if he had Eustace at his own house in Narnia
00:06:30—it was really a home, not a house, and the dragon's head, let alone his body, would
00:06:36not have fitted in—he could show him more than a hundred examples of emperors, kings,
00:06:42dukes, knights, poets, lovers, astronomers, philosophers, and magicians, who had fallen
00:06:48from prosperity into the most distressing circumstances, and of whom many had recovered,
00:06:55and lived happily ever afterwards.
00:06:58It did not, perhaps, seem so very comforting at the time, but it was kindly meant, and
00:07:05Eustace never forgot it.
00:07:07But, of course, what hung over everyone like a cloud was the problem of what to do with
00:07:14their dragon when they were ready to sail.
00:07:17They tried not to talk of it when he was there, but he couldn't help overhearing things
00:07:22like would he fit all along one side of the deck, and we'd have to shift all the stores
00:07:29to the other side down below so as to balance, or would towing him be any good, or would
00:07:38he be able to keep up by flying?
00:07:42And most often of all, but how are we to feed him?
00:07:48And poor Eustace realized more and more that since the first day he came on board he had
00:07:53been an unmitigated nuisance, and that he was now a greater nuisance still.
00:08:01And this ate into his mind, just as that bracelet ate into his foreleg.
00:08:06He knew that it only made it worse to tear at it with his great teeth, but he couldn't
00:08:11help tearing now and then, especially on hot nights.
00:08:17About six days after they had landed on Dragon Island, Edmund happened to wake up very early
00:08:22one morning.
00:08:23It was just getting grey, so that you could see the tree-trunks, if they were between
00:08:27you and the bay, but not in the other direction.
00:08:31As he woke, he thought he heard something moving, so he raised himself on one elbow
00:08:36and looked about him, and presently he thought he saw a dark figure moving on the seaward
00:08:42side of the wood.
00:08:44The idea that once occurred to his mind was, are we so sure there are no natives on this
00:08:49island after all?
00:08:52Then he thought, it was Caspian.
00:08:54It was about the right size.
00:08:57He knew that Caspian had been sleeping next to him, and could see that he hadn't moved.
00:09:03Edmund made sure that his sword was in its place, and then rose to investigate.
00:09:08He came down softly to the edge of the wood, and the dark figure was still there.
00:09:14He saw now that it was too small for Caspian, and too big for Lucy.
00:09:19It did not run away.
00:09:21Edmund drew his sword, and was about to challenge the stranger, when the stranger said in a
00:09:25low voice,
00:09:26"'Is that you, Edmund?'
00:09:27"'Yes.'
00:09:28"'Who are you?'
00:09:29said he.
00:09:30"'Don't you know me?' said the other.
00:09:31"'It's me, Eustace.'
00:09:32"'By Jove!' said Edmund.
00:09:33"'So it is!'
00:09:34"'My dear chap!
00:09:35Hush!' said Eustace, and lurched as if he were going to fall.
00:09:40"'Hullo!' said Edmund, steadying him.
00:09:46"'What's up?
00:09:47Are you ill?'
00:09:48Eustace was silent for so long that Edmund thought he was fainting, but at last he said,
00:10:04"'It's been ghastly.
00:10:06You don't know.
00:10:07But it's all right now.
00:10:09Can we go and talk somewhere?
00:10:12I don't want to meet the others just yet.'
00:10:15"'Yes, rather.
00:10:16Anywhere you like,' said Edmund.
00:10:18"'We can go and sit on the rocks over there.
00:10:20I say, I am glad to see you—um—looking yourself again.
00:10:27You must have had a pretty beastly time.'
00:10:30They went to the rocks, and sat down, looking out across the bay, while the sky got paler
00:10:36and paler, and the stars disappeared, except for one very bright one, low down and near
00:10:42the horizon.
00:10:44"'I won't tell you how I became a—a dragon till I can tell the others and get it all
00:10:49over,' said Eustace.
00:10:50"'By the way, I didn't even know it was a dragon till I heard you all using the word
00:10:56when I turned up here the other morning.
00:10:59I want to tell you how I stopped being one.'
00:11:02"'Fire ahead!' said Edmund.
00:11:05"'Well, last night I was more miserable than ever, and that beastly arm-ring was hurting
00:11:11like anything.
00:11:13Is that all right now?'
00:11:15Eustace laughed, a different laugh from any Edmund had heard him give before, and slipped
00:11:22the bracelet easily off his arm.
00:11:24"'There it is,' he said.
00:11:26"'And anyone who likes it can have it, as far as I am concerned.
00:11:29Well, as I say, I was lying awake and wondering what on earth would become of me, and then—'
00:11:35"'But, mind you, it may have been all a dream.
00:11:39I don't know.'
00:11:41"'Go on,' said Edmund, with considerable patience.
00:11:46"'Well, anyway, I looked up, and I saw the very last thing I expected—a huge lion,
00:11:55coming slowly towards me.
00:11:57And one queer thing was that there was no moon last night, but there was moonlight where
00:12:03the lion was.
00:12:05So it came nearer and nearer.
00:12:07I was terribly afraid of it.
00:12:10You may think that, being a dragon, I could have knocked any lion out easily enough, but
00:12:14it wasn't that kind of fear.
00:12:16I wasn't afraid of it eating me.
00:12:18I was just afraid of it, if you can understand.
00:12:22Well, it came close up to me and looked straight into my eyes, and I shut my eyes tight.
00:12:30But that wasn't any good, because it told me to follow it.'
00:12:34"'You mean it spoke?'
00:12:38"'I don't know.
00:12:40Now that you mention it, I don't think it did, but it told me all the same, and I knew
00:12:46I'd have to do what it told me.
00:12:48So I got up and followed it, and it led me a long way into the mountains, and there was
00:12:55always this moonlight over and round the lion wherever we went.
00:13:00So at last we came to the top of a mountain I'd never seen before, and on the top of
00:13:04a mountain there was a garden, trees and fruit and everything.
00:13:07In the middle of it there was a well.
00:13:10I knew it was a well, because you could see the water bubbling up from the bottom of it,
00:13:14but it was a lot bigger than most wells, like a very big round bath, with marble steps going
00:13:22down into it.
00:13:23The water was as clear as anything, and I thought if I could get in there and bathe
00:13:30in it, it would ease the pain in my leg.
00:13:32But the lion told me I must undress first.
00:13:35Mind you, I don't know if he said any words out loud or not.
00:13:39I was just going to say that I couldn't undress, because I hadn't any clothes on, when I suddenly
00:13:45thought that dragons are snaky sort of things, and snakes can cast their skins.
00:13:52Oh, of course, thought I, that's what the lion means.
00:13:58So I started scratching myself, and my scales began coming off all over the place, and then
00:14:03I scratched a little deeper, and instead of just scales coming off here and there, my
00:14:08whole skin started peeling off beautifully, like it does after an illness, or as if I
00:14:14was a banana.
00:14:16In a minute or two I just stepped out of it.
00:14:20I could see it lying there beside me, looking rather nasty.
00:14:25It was a most lovely feeling.
00:14:28So I started to go down into the well for my bathe.
00:14:33But just as I was going to put my feet into the water, I looked down, and saw that they
00:14:40were all hard and rough and wrinkled and scaly, just as they had been before.
00:14:46Oh, that's all right, said I.
00:14:49It only means I had another smaller suit on underneath the first one, and I'll have to
00:14:54get out of that too.
00:14:55So I scratched and tore again, and this underskin peeled off beautifully, and out I stepped,
00:15:02and left it lying beside the other one, and went down to the well for my bathe.
00:15:07Well, exactly the same thing happened again, and I thought to myself, oh dear, how ever
00:15:13many skins have I got to take off!
00:15:15But I was longing to bathe my leg, so I scratched away for the third time, and got of a third
00:15:22skin, just like the two others, and stepped out of it.
00:15:25But as soon as I looked at myself in the water, I knew it had been no good.
00:15:30Then the lion said, but I don't know if it spoke,
00:15:35You will have to let me undress you.
00:15:40I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty near desperate now, so I
00:15:45just lay flat down on my back to let him do it.
00:15:50The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart.
00:15:56And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt.
00:16:01The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff
00:16:05peel off.
00:16:06You know, if you've ever picked the scab off a sore place, it hurts like bilio, but
00:16:12it is fun to see it coming away.
00:16:16I know exactly what you mean, said Edmund.
00:16:20Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off, just as I thought I'd done it myself the other
00:16:25three times, only they hadn't hurt.
00:16:28And there it was, lying on the grass, only ever so much thicker and darker and more knobbly
00:16:34looking than the others had been.
00:16:36And there was I, as smooth and soft as a peeled switch, and smaller than I had been.
00:16:44Then he caught hold of me—I didn't like that much, for I was very tender underneath
00:16:49now that I'd no skin on—and threw me into the water.
00:16:53It smartied like anything, but only for a moment.
00:16:57After that, it became perfectly delicious, and as soon as I started swimming and splashing,
00:17:04I found that all the pain had gone from my arm.
00:17:07And then I saw why.
00:17:09I'd turned into a boy again.
00:17:13You'd think me simply phony if I told you how I felt about my own arms.
00:17:16I know they've no muscle and are pretty mouldy compared with Caspian's, but I was so glad
00:17:21to see them.
00:17:23After a bit, the lion took me out and dressed me.
00:17:27Dressed you?
00:17:29With his paws?
00:17:32Well, I don't exactly remember that bit.
00:17:36But he did, some way or other, in new clothes—the same I've got on now, as a matter of fact.
00:17:43And then suddenly I was back here, which is what makes me think it must have been a dream.
00:17:52No, it wasn't a dream, said Edmund.
00:17:57Why not?
00:17:59Well, there are the clothes, for one thing, and you have been, well, undragoned, for another.
00:18:08What do you think it was, then?
00:18:10asked Eustace.
00:18:12I think you've seen Aslan, said Edmund.
00:18:17Aslan? said Eustace.
00:18:20I've heard that name mentioned several times since we joined the Dawn Treader, and I felt,
00:18:25I don't know what, I hated it.
00:18:29But I was hating everything then.
00:18:32And, by the way, I'd like to apologise.
00:18:36I'm afraid I've been pretty beastly.
00:18:39That's all right, said Edmund.
00:18:42Between ourselves, you haven't been as bad as I was, on my first trip to Narnia.
00:18:47You were only an ass, but I was a traitor.
00:18:51Well, don't tell me about it then, said Eustace.
00:18:55But who is Aslan?
00:18:56Do you know him?
00:18:58Well, he knows me, said Edmund.
00:19:03He is the great lion, the son of the Emperor-over-Sea, who saved me and saved Narnia.
00:19:09We've all seen him.
00:19:11Lucy sees him most often.
00:19:13And it may be Aslan's country we are sailing to.
00:19:18Neither said anything for a while.
00:19:20The last bright star had vanished, and though they could not see the sunrise because of
00:19:26the mountains on their right, they knew it was going on, because the sky above them and
00:19:31the sky before them turned the colour of roses.
00:19:34Then some bird of the parrot kind screamed in the wood behind them, and they heard movements
00:19:40among the trees, and finally a blast on Caspian's horn.
00:19:44The camp was astir.
00:19:47Great was the rejoicing when Edmund and the restored Eustace walked into the breakfast
00:19:52circle round the campfire.
00:19:54And now, of course, everyone heard the earlier part of his story.
00:19:59People wondered whether the other dragon had killed the Lord Octesian several years ago,
00:20:03or whether Octesian himself had been the old dragon.
00:20:07The jewels with which Eustace had crammed his pockets in the cave had disappeared, along
00:20:12with the clothes he had then been wearing.
00:20:15But no one, least of all Eustace himself, felt any desire to go back to that valley
00:20:20for more treasure.
00:20:22In a few days now the dawn-treader, remasted, repainted, and well-stored, was ready to sail.
00:20:29Before they embarked, Caspian caused to be cut on a smooth cliff facing the bay the words
00:20:36DRAGON ISLAND, discovered by Caspian X, king of Narnia, etc., in the fourth year of his reign.
00:20:45Here, as we suppose, the Lord Octesian had his death.
00:20:52It would be nice, and fairly true, to say that from that time forth Eustace was a different
00:20:59boy.
00:21:01To be strictly accurate, he began to be a different boy.
00:21:05He had relapses.
00:21:07There were still many days when he could be very tiresome.
00:21:11But most of those I shall not notice.
00:21:14The cure had begun.
00:21:17The Lord Octesian's arm-ring had a curious fate.
00:21:21Eustace did not want it, and offered it to Caspian, and Caspian offered it to Lucy.
00:21:26She did not care about having it.
00:21:29Very well, then.
00:21:30Catch as catch can, said Caspian, and flung it up into the air.
00:21:34This was when they were all standing, looking at the inscription.
00:21:38Up went the ring, flashing in the sunlight, and caught, and hung, as neatly as a well-thrown
00:21:45coit, on a little projection on the rock.
00:21:48No one could climb up to get it from below, and no one could climb down to get it from
00:21:52above.
00:21:53And there, for all I know, it is hanging still, and may hang till that world ends.
00:22:03CHAPTER VIII
00:22:05TWO NARROW ESCAPES
00:22:09Every one was cheerful as the dawn-treader sailed from Dragon Island.
00:22:14They had fair winds as soon as they were out of the bay, and came early the next morning
00:22:18to the unknown land which some of them had seen when flying over the mountains, while
00:22:23Eustace was still a dragon.
00:22:25It was a low, green island, inhabited by nothing but rabbits and a few goats.
00:22:31But from the ruins of stone huts, and from blackened places where fires had been, they
00:22:37judged that it had been peopled not long before.
00:22:41There were also some bones and broken weapons.
00:22:44"'Pirates' work,' said Caspian.
00:22:47"'Or the dragons,' said Edmund.
00:22:50The only other thing they found there was a little skin boat, or coracle, on the sands.
00:22:56It was made of hide, stretched over a wicker framework.
00:23:00It was a tiny boat, barely four feet long, and the paddle which still lay in it was in
00:23:05proportion.
00:23:06They thought that either it had been made for a child, or else that the people of that
00:23:10country had been dwarfs.
00:23:12Reepicheep decided to keep it, as it was just the right size for him.
00:23:16So it was taken on board.
00:23:18They called that land Burnt Island, and sailed away before the noon.
00:23:24For some five days they ran before a south-southeast wind, out of sight of all lands, and seeing
00:23:30neither fish nor gull.
00:23:33Then they had a day when it rained hard till the afternoon.
00:23:36Eustace lost two games of chess to Reepicheep, and began to get like his old and disagreeable
00:23:42self again.
00:23:43And Edmund said he wished they could have gone to America with Susan.
00:23:48Then Lucy looked out of the stern windows and said,
00:23:51"'Hello!
00:23:52How do you believe it's stopping?'
00:23:54"'And what's that?'
00:23:57They all tumbled up to the poop at this, and found that the rain had stopped, and the Drinian
00:24:03who was on watch was also staring hard at something astern.
00:24:07Or, rather, at several things.
00:24:11They looked a little like smooth, rounded rocks, a whole line of them, with intervals
00:24:16of about forty feet in between.
00:24:19"'But they can't be rocks,' Drinian was saying.
00:24:23"'Because they weren't there five minutes ago.'
00:24:26"'And one's just disappeared,' said Lucy.
00:24:30"'Yes, and there's another one coming up,' said Edmund.
00:24:34"'And nearer,' said Eustace.
00:24:37"'Hang it,' said Caspian.
00:24:39"'The whole thing is moving this way.'
00:24:42"'And moving a great deal quicker than we can sail, sire,' said Drinian.
00:24:47"'It'll be up with us in a minute.'
00:24:50They all held their breath.
00:24:53For it is not at all nice to be pursued by an unknown something, either on land or sea.
00:25:00But what it turned out to be was far worse than anyone had suspected.
00:25:06Suddenly, only about the length of a cricket-pitch from their port-side, an appalling head reared
00:25:13itself out of the sea.
00:25:15It was all greens and vermilions with purple blotches, except where shell-fish clung to
00:25:21it, and shaped rather like a horse's, though without ears.
00:25:25It had enormous eyes, eyes made for staring through the dark depths of the ocean, and
00:25:32a gaping mouth filled with double rows of sharp fish-like teeth.
00:25:37It came up on what they first took to be a huge neck, but as more and more of it emerged
00:25:43everyone knew that this was not its neck but its body, and that at last they were seeing
00:25:48what so many people have foolishly wanted to see, the Great Sea Serpent.
00:25:54The folds of its gigantic tail could be seen far away, rising at intervals from the surface,
00:26:01and now its head was towering up higher than the mast.
00:26:06Every man rushed to his weapon, but there was nothing to be done, the monster was out
00:26:10of reach.
00:26:11''Shoot!
00:26:12Shoot!''
00:26:13cried the Master Bowman, and several obeyed, but the arrows glanced off the Sea Serpent's
00:26:18hide as if it were iron-plated.
00:26:20Then, for a dreadful minute, everyone was still, staring up at its eyes and mouth, and
00:26:27wondering where it would pounce.
00:26:29But it didn't pounce.
00:26:32It shot its head forward, across the ship, on a level with the yard of the mast.
00:26:38And now its head was just beside the fighting-top.
00:26:40Still, it stretched and stretched till its head was over the starboard bulwark.
00:26:46Then down it began to come, not onto the crowded deck but into the water, so that the whole
00:26:53ship was under an arch of serpent.
00:26:56And almost at once that arch began to get smaller.
00:27:01Indeed, on the starboard, the Sea Serpent was now almost touching the Dawn Treader's
00:27:07side.
00:27:08Eustace, who had really been trying very hard to behave well till the rain and the chest
00:27:14put him back, now did the first brave thing he had ever done.
00:27:20He was wearing a sword that Caspian had lent him.
00:27:23As soon as the Serpent's body was near enough on the starboard side, he jumped onto the
00:27:27bulwark and began hacking at it with all his might.
00:27:30It is true that he accomplished nothing beyond breaking Caspian's second-best sword into
00:27:35bits, but it was a fine thing for a beginner to have done.
00:27:40Others would have joined him if, at that moment, Reefy Cheep had not called out,
00:27:45Don't fight!
00:27:47Push!
00:27:48It was so unusual for the Mouse to advise anyone not to fight, that even in that terrible
00:27:54moment every eye turned to him.
00:27:57And when he jumped up onto the bulwark, forward at the Snake, and set his little furry back
00:28:02against its huge, scaly, slimy back, and began pushing as hard as he could, quite a number
00:28:08of people saw what he meant, and rushed to both sides of the ship to do the same.
00:28:14And when, a moment later, the Sea Serpent's head appeared again, this time on the port
00:28:19side and this time with its back to them, then everyone understood.
00:28:25The Brute had made a loop of itself round the Dawn Treader, and was beginning to draw
00:28:31the loop tight.
00:28:33When it got quite tight, snap!
00:28:37There would be floating much-wood where the ship had been, and it could pick them out
00:28:41of the water, one by one.
00:28:43Their only chance was to push the loop backward till it slid over the stern, or else, to put
00:28:50the same thing another way, to push the ship forward out of the loop.
00:28:55Reepicheep alone had, of course, no more chance of doing this than of lifting up a cathedral,
00:29:00but he had nearly killed himself with trying before others shoved him aside.
00:29:05Very soon the whole ship's company, except Lucy and the Mouse, who was fainting, was
00:29:11in two long lines along the two bulwarks, each man's chest to the back of the man in
00:29:17front, so that the weight of the whole line was in the last man, pushing for their lives.
00:29:23For a few sickening seconds, which seemed like hours, nothing appeared to happen.
00:29:29Joints cracked, sweat dropped, breath came in grunts and gasps.
00:29:34Then they felt that the ship was moving.
00:29:37They saw that the snake-loop was further from the mast than it had been.
00:29:42But they also saw that it was smaller.
00:29:46And now the real danger was at hand.
00:29:49Could they get it over the poop, or was it already too tight?
00:29:54Yes, it would just fit.
00:29:57It was resting on the poop rails.
00:29:59A dozen or more sprang up on the poop.
00:30:02This was far better.
00:30:04The sea-serpent's body was so low now that they could make a line across the poop and
00:30:10push side by side.
00:30:13The poop rose high till everyone remembered the high-carved stern, the dragon-tail of
00:30:18the dawn-treader.
00:30:19It would be quite impossible to get the brute over that.
00:30:23"'An axe!' cried Caspian hoarsely.
00:30:26"'And still shove!'
00:30:28Lucy, who knew where everything was, heard him, where she was standing on the main deck,
00:30:34staring up at the poop.
00:30:35In a few seconds she had been below, got the axe, and was rushing up the ladder to the
00:30:40poop.
00:30:41But just as she reached the top there came a great crashing sound, like a tree coming
00:30:45down, and the ship rocked and darted forward.
00:30:48For at that very moment, whether because the sea-serpent was being pushed so hard or because
00:30:54it foolishly decided to draw the noose tight, the whole of the carved stern broke off, and
00:31:00the ship was free.
00:31:03The others were too exhausted to see what Lucy saw.
00:31:06There, a few yards behind them, the loop of sea-serpent's body got rapidly smaller and
00:31:12disappeared into a splash.
00:31:15Lucy always said—but of course she was very excited at the moment, and it may have been
00:31:20only imagination—that she saw the look of idiotic satisfaction on the creature's face.
00:31:27What is certain is that it was a very stupid animal, for instead of pursuing the ship it
00:31:33turned its head round and began nosing all along its own body, as if it expected to find
00:31:38the wreckage of the dawn-treader there.
00:31:41But the dawn-treader was already well away, running before a fresh breeze, and the men
00:31:47lay and sat panting and groaning all about the deck, till presently they were able to
00:31:53talk about it, and then to laugh about it.
00:31:57And when some rum had been served out they even raised a cheer, and everyone praised
00:32:03the valour of Eustace, though it hadn't done any good, and of Reepycheep.
00:32:10After this they sailed for three days more, and saw nothing but sea and sky.
00:32:16On the fourth day the wind changed to the north, and the seas began to rise.
00:32:21By the afternoon it had nearly become a gale, but at the same time they sighted land on
00:32:27their port bow.
00:32:29"'By your leave, sire,' said Drinian, "'we will try to get under the lee of that
00:32:34country by rowing, and lie in harbour, maybe till this is over.'
00:32:40Caspian agreed, but a long row against the gale did not bring them to the land before
00:32:46evening.
00:32:47By the last light of that day they steered into a natural harbour and anchored, but no
00:32:53one went ashore that night.
00:32:55In the morning they found themselves in the green bay of a rugged, lonely-looking
00:33:00country, which sloped up to a rocky summit.
00:33:03From the windy north beyond that summit clouds came streaming rapidly.
00:33:08They lowered the boat, and loaded her with any of the water-casks, which were now empty.
00:33:14"'Which stream shall we water at, Drinian?' said Caspian, as he took his seat in the stern
00:33:20sheets of the boat.
00:33:21"'There seem to be two coming down into the bay.'
00:33:25"'It makes little odds, sire,' said Drinian, "'but I think it's the shorter pool to that
00:33:31on the starboard, the eastern one.'
00:33:33"'Here comes the rain,' said Lucy.
00:33:37"'I should think it does,' said Edmund, but it was already pelting hard.
00:33:43"'I say, let's go to the other stream.
00:33:45There are trees there, and we'll have some shelter.'
00:33:48"'Yes, let's,' said Eustace.
00:33:51"'No point in getting wetter than we need.'
00:33:54But all the time Drinian was steadily steering to the starboard, like tiresome people in
00:34:00cars, who continue at forty miles an hour while you are explaining to them that they
00:34:05are on the wrong road.
00:34:07"'They're right, Drinian,' said Caspian.
00:34:09"'Why don't you bring her head round and make for the western stream?'
00:34:13"'As your Majesty pleases,' said Drinian, a little shortly.
00:34:18He had had an anxious day with the weather yesterday, and he didn't like advice from
00:34:23landsmen.
00:34:24But he ought, of course, and it turned out afterwards that it was a good thing he did.
00:34:31By the time they had finished watering, the rain was over, and Caspian, with Eustace,
00:34:36the Pevensies, and Reepicheep, decided to walk up to the top of the hill and see what
00:34:41could be seen.
00:34:42It was a stiffish climb, through coarse grass and heather, and they saw neither man nor
00:34:48beast except seagulls.
00:34:50When they reached the top, they saw that it was a very small island, not more than twenty
00:34:55acres, and from this height the sea looked larger and more desolate than it did from
00:35:00the deck, or even the fighting-top of the dawn-treader.
00:35:03"'Crazy, you know,' said Eustace to Lucy, in a low voice, looking at the eastern horizon,
00:35:10"'sailing on and on into that, with no idea what we may get into.'
00:35:15But he only said it out of habit, not really nastily, as he would have done at one time.
00:35:22It was too cold to stay long on the ridge, for the wind still blew freshly from the north.
00:35:28"'Don't let's go back the same way,' said Lucy, as they turned.
00:35:32"'Let's go along a bit and come down by the other stream, the one Drinian wanted to go
00:35:37to.'
00:35:38Everyone agreed to this, and after about fifteen minutes they were at the source of the second
00:35:43river.
00:35:44It was a more interesting place than they had expected.
00:35:47A deep little mountain lake, surrounded by cliffs, except for a narrow channel on the
00:35:53seaward side, out of which the water flowed.
00:35:56Here, at last, they were out of the wind, and all sat down in the heather, above the
00:36:01cliffs, for a rest.
00:36:03All sat down.
00:36:04But one, it was Edmund, jumped up again very quickly.
00:36:09"'They going for sharp stones on this island,' he said, groping about in the heather.
00:36:14"'Where is the wretched thing?
00:36:17Ah!
00:36:18Now I've got it.
00:36:20Hello!
00:36:21It wasn't a stone at all.
00:36:23It's a sword-hilt.
00:36:24No!
00:36:25By Jove, it's a whole sword!
00:36:28What the rust has left of it!
00:36:30It must have lain here for ages!'
00:36:32"'Narnian, too, by the look of it,' said Caspian, as they all crowded round.
00:36:38"'I'm sitting on something, too,' said Lucy.
00:36:41"'Something hard.'
00:36:43It turned out to be the remains of a male shirt.
00:36:47By this time everyone was on hands and knees, feeling the thick heather in every direction.
00:36:53Their search revealed, one by one, a helmet, a dagger, and a few coins.
00:36:59Not calamine crescents, but genuine Narnian lions and trees, such as you might see any
00:37:06day in the market-place of Beaver's Dam or Beruna.
00:37:10"'Looks as if this might be all that's left of one of our seven lords,' said Edmund.
00:37:16"'Just what I was thinking,' said Caspian.
00:37:19"'I wonder which it was.
00:37:22There's nothing on the dagger to show.
00:37:24And I wonder how he died!'
00:37:27"'And how we are to avenge him!'
00:37:30added Reepicheep.
00:37:32Edmund, the only one of the party who had read several detective stories, had meanwhile
00:37:36been thinking.
00:37:38"'Look here,' he said, "'there's something very fishy about this.
00:37:42He can't have been killed in a fight.'
00:37:45"'Why not?'
00:37:47asked Caspian.
00:37:48"'No bones,' said Edmund.
00:37:51"'An enemy might take the armour and leave the body.
00:37:54But you ever heard of a chap who'd won a fight carrying away the body and leaving the armour?'
00:37:59"'Perhaps he was killed by a wild animal,' Lucy suggested.
00:38:04"'It'd be a clever animal,' said Edmund, "'that would take a man's male shirt off.'
00:38:09"'Perhaps a dragon?' said Caspian.
00:38:13"'Nothing doing,' said Eustace.
00:38:16"'A dragon couldn't do it.
00:38:18I ought to know.'
00:38:21"'Well, let's get away from the place anyway,' said Lucy.
00:38:26She had not felt like sitting down again since Edmund had raised the question of bones.
00:38:31"'If you like,' said Caspian, getting up.
00:38:34"'I don't think any of this stuff is worth taking away.'
00:38:37They came down and round to the little opening where the stream came out of the lake, and
00:38:43stood looking at the deep water within the circle of cliffs.
00:38:47It had been a hot day.
00:38:49No doubt some would have been tempted to bathe, and everyone would have had a drink.
00:38:54Indeed, even as it was, Eustace was on the very point of stooping down and scooping up
00:38:59some water in his hands when Reepicheep and Lucy, both at the same moment, cried,
00:39:04"'Look!'
00:39:06So he forgot about his drink and looked.
00:39:09The bottom of the pool was made of large greyish-blue stones, and the water was perfectly clear,
00:39:17and on the bottom lay a life-size figure of a man, made apparently of gold.
00:39:24It lay face downwards, with its arms stretched out above its head.
00:39:29And it so happened that as they looked at it the clouds parted and the sun shone out.
00:39:35The golden shape was lit up from end to end.
00:39:39Lucy thought it was the most beautiful statue she had ever seen.'
00:39:44"'Well,' whistled Caspian, "'that was worth coming to see.
00:39:50I wonder, can we get it out?'
00:39:53"'We can dive for it, sire,' said Reepicheep.
00:39:57"'Oh, no good at all,' said Edmund.
00:40:00"'At least if it's really gold, solid gold, it'll be far too heavy to bring up,
00:40:05and that pool's twelve or fifteen feet deep if it's an inch.
00:40:09"'Half a minute, though.
00:40:11It's a good thing I brought a hunting spear with me.
00:40:15Let's see what the depth is like.
00:40:17Hold on to my hand, Caspian, while I lean out over the water a bit.'
00:40:21Caspian took his hand, and Edmund, leaning forward, began to lower his spear into the water.
00:40:27Before he was halfway in, Lucy said,
00:40:30"'I don't believe the statue is gold at all.
00:40:33It's only the light.
00:40:35Your spear looks just the same colour.'
00:40:38"'What's wrong?' asked several voices at once,
00:40:42for Edmund had suddenly let go of the spear.
00:40:45"'I couldn't hold it,' gasped Edmund.
00:40:48"'It seemed so heavy.'
00:40:51"'And there it is on the bottom now,' said Caspian.
00:40:55"'And Lucy's right.
00:40:57It looks just the same colour as the statue.'
00:41:01But Edmund, who appeared to be having some trouble with his boots—
00:41:05at least he was bending down and looking at them—
00:41:08straightened himself all at once,
00:41:10and shouted out in the sharp voice which people hardly ever disobeyed,
00:41:15"'Get back!
00:41:16Back from the water, all of you, at once!'
00:41:19They all did, and stared at him.
00:41:22"'Look,' said Edmund,
00:41:24"'at the toes of my boots!'
00:41:27"'They look a bit yellow,' began Eustace.
00:41:31"'They're gold!'
00:41:33"'Solid gold!' interrupted Edmund.
00:41:35"'Look at them.
00:41:36Feel them.
00:41:37The leather's pulled away from it already,
00:41:40and they're as heavy as lead.'
00:41:43"'By Aslan!' said Caspian.
00:41:46"'You don't mean to say—'
00:41:49"'Yes, I do,' said Edmund.
00:41:52"'That water turns things into gold.
00:41:55It turned the spear into gold, that's why it got so heavy.
00:41:58"'And it was just leaping against my feet.
00:42:01"'It's a good thing I wasn't barefoot.
00:42:04"'And it turned the toe-caps into gold.
00:42:07"'And that poor fellow on the bottom!
00:42:10"'Well, you see!'
00:42:12"'So it isn't a statue at all,' said Lucy in a low voice.
00:42:19"'No.
00:42:20"'The whole thing is plain now.
00:42:23"'He was here on a hot day.
00:42:25"'He undressed on top of the cliff where we were sitting.
00:42:28"'The clothes have rotted away.
00:42:30"'I've been taken by the birds to lie nests with.
00:42:33"'The armour's still there.'
00:42:35"'Then he dived and—'
00:42:37"'Don't!' said Lucy.
00:42:39"'What a horrible thing!'
00:42:42"'And what a narrow shave we've had!' said Edmund.
00:42:47"'Narrow indeed!' said Weepy Cheep.
00:42:50"'Anyone's finger, anyone's foot,
00:42:53"'anyone's whisker, or anyone's tail
00:42:56"'might have slipped into the water at any moment.'
00:42:59"'All the same,' said Caspian.
00:43:02"'We may as well test it.'
00:43:04"'He stooped down and wrenched up a spray of heather.
00:43:08"'Then, very cautiously, he knelt beside the pool and dipped it in.
00:43:13"'It was heather that he dipped.
00:43:16"'What he drew out was a perfect model of heather,
00:43:20"'made of the purest gold.
00:43:22"'Heavy and soft as lead.'
00:43:25"'The king who owned this island,' said Caspian slowly,
00:43:30"'and his face flushed as he spoke,
00:43:33"'would soon be the richest of all the kings of the world.
00:43:38"'I claim this land for ever as a Narnian possession.
00:43:43"'It shall be called Goldwater Island.
00:43:46"'And I bind all of you to secrecy.
00:43:49"'No one must know of this, not even Drinian.
00:43:53"'On pain of death, do you hear?'
00:43:56"'Who are you talking to?' said Edmund.
00:43:59"'I'm no subject of yours.
00:44:01"'If anything, it's the other way round.
00:44:04"'I am one of the four ancient sovereigns of Narnia,
00:44:07"'and you are under allegiance to the High King, my brother.'
00:44:11"'So it has come to that King Edmund has it,' said Caspian,
00:44:16"'laying his hand on his sword-hilt.'
00:44:19"'Oh, stop it, both of you,' said Lucy.
00:44:22"'That's the worst of doing anything with boys.
00:44:26"'You're all such swaggering, bullying idiots!'
00:44:29"'Ooooh!' her voice died away into a gasp.
00:44:34"'And everyone else saw what she had seen.
00:44:38"'Across the grey hillside above them.
00:44:41"'Grey, for the heather was not yet in bloom.
00:44:45"'Without noise, and without looking at them.
00:44:49"'And shining, as if he were in bright sunlight,
00:44:53"'though the sun had in fact gone in.
00:44:55"'Passed with slow pace,
00:44:58"'the hugest lion that human eyes have ever seen.'
00:45:03"'In describing the scene, Lucy said afterwards,
00:45:07"'He was the size of an elephant.
00:45:10"'Though, at another time, she only said,
00:45:13"'The size of a cart-horse.
00:45:17"'But it was not only the size that mattered.
00:45:20"'Nobody dared to ask what it was.
00:45:24"'They knew it was Aslan.
00:45:28"'And nobody ever saw how or where he went.
00:45:33"'They looked at one another like people waking from sleep.
00:45:38"'What were we talking about?' said Caspian.
00:45:41"'Have I been making rather an ass of myself?'
00:45:45"'Sire,' said Reepy Cheep,
00:45:48"'this is a place with a curse on it.
00:45:52"'Let us get back on board at once.
00:45:55"'And if I might have the honour of naming this island,
00:45:58"'I should call it Death-Water.'
00:46:01"'That strikes me as a very good name, Reep,' said Caspian.
00:46:06"'Though now I come to think of it, I don't know why.
00:46:09"'But the weather seems to be settling,
00:46:11"'and I dare say Drinian would like to be off.
00:46:14"'What a lot we shall have to tell him!'
00:46:17"'But, in fact, they had not much to tell,
00:46:20"'for the memory of the last hour had all become confused.
00:46:25"'Her Majesties all seemed a bit bewitched when they came aboard,'
00:46:30"'said Drinian, to rinse, some hours later,
00:46:33"'when the dawn-treader was once more under sail,
00:46:36"'and Death-Water Island already below the horizon.
00:46:39"'Something happened to them in that place.
00:46:42"'The only thing I could get clear was that they think
00:46:46"'they've found the body of one of those lords they're looking for.'
00:46:50"'You don't say so, Captain,' answered Rince.
00:46:54"'Well, that's three, only four more.
00:46:58"'At this rate we might be home soon after the new year.
00:47:02"'And a good thing, too.
00:47:04"'My back is running a bit low.
00:47:07"'Good-night, sir.'
00:47:12CHAPTER IX THE ISLAND OF THE VOICES
00:47:18And now the winds which had so long been from the north-west
00:47:22began to blow from the west itself.
00:47:25And every morning, when the sun rose out of the sea,
00:47:28the curved prow of the dawn-treader stood up
00:47:31right across the middle of the sun.
00:47:33Some thought that the sun looked larger than it looked from Narnia,
00:47:36but others disagreed.
00:47:38And they sailed and sailed before a gentle yet steady breeze,
00:47:42and saw neither fish nor gull nor ship nor shore.
00:47:46And stores began to get low again,
00:47:49and it crept into their hearts that perhaps they might have come
00:47:52to a sea which went on for ever.
00:47:55But when the very last day on which they thought they could risk
00:47:58continuing their eastward voyage dawned,
00:48:00it showed, right ahead, between them and the sunrise,
00:48:04a low land lying like a cloud.
00:48:08They made harbour in a wide bay about the middle of the afternoon,
00:48:11and landed.
00:48:13It was a very different country from any they had yet seen,
00:48:16for when they had crossed the sandy beach,
00:48:19they found all silent and empty,
00:48:22as if it were an uninhabited land.
00:48:24But before them there were level lawns,
00:48:27on which the grass was as smooth and short
00:48:29as it used to be in the grounds of a great English house,
00:48:32where ten gardeners were kept.
00:48:34The trees, of which there were many,
00:48:37all stood well apart from one another,
00:48:39and there were no broken branches,
00:48:41and no leaves lying on the ground.
00:48:44Pigeons sometimes cooed,
00:48:46but there was no other noise.
00:48:49Presently they came to a long, straight, sanded path,
00:48:53with not a weed growing on it,
00:48:55and trees on either hand.
00:48:57Far off, at the other end of this avenue,
00:48:59they now caught sight of a house,
00:49:01very long, and grey,
00:49:03and quiet-looking in the afternoon sun.
00:49:06Almost as soon as they entered this path,
00:49:08Lucy noticed that she had a little stone in her shoe.
00:49:12In that unknown place,
00:49:14it might have been wiser for her
00:49:16to ask the others to wait while she took it out.
00:49:19But she didn't.
00:49:21She dropped quietly behind,
00:49:23and sat down to take off her shoe.
00:49:25Her lace had got into a knot.
00:49:27Before she had undone the knot,
00:49:29the others were a fair distance ahead.
00:49:31By the time she had got the stone out
00:49:33and was putting the shoe on again,
00:49:35she could no longer hear them.
00:49:37But almost at once she heard something else.
00:49:41It was not coming from the direction of the house.
00:49:44What she heard was a thumping.
00:49:48It sounded as if dozens of strong workmen
00:49:52were hitting the ground as hard as they could
00:49:55with great wooden mallets.
00:49:57And it was very quickly coming nearer.
00:50:00She was already sitting with her back to a tree,
00:50:03and as the tree was not one she could climb,
00:50:05there was really nothing to do
00:50:07but to sit, dead still,
00:50:09and press herself against the tree,
00:50:11and hope she wouldn't be seen.
00:50:14Thump! Thump! Thump!
00:50:17And whatever it was must be very close now,
00:50:19for she could feel the ground shaking.
00:50:22But she could see nothing.
00:50:24She thought the thing, or things,
00:50:27must be just behind her.
00:50:29But then there came a thump
00:50:31on the path right in front of her.
00:50:33She knew it was on the path,
00:50:35not only by the sound,
00:50:37but because she saw the sand scatter
00:50:39as if it had been struck a heavy blow.
00:50:41But she could see nothing that had struck it.
00:50:44Then all the thumping noises
00:50:46drew together about twenty feet away from her,
00:50:49and suddenly ceased.
00:50:51Then came a voice.
00:50:53It was really very dreadful,
00:50:56because she could still see nobody at all.
00:50:59The whole of that park-like country
00:51:02still looked as quiet and empty
00:51:04as it had looked when they first landed.
00:51:07Nevertheless, only a few feet away from her,
00:51:10a voice spoke,
00:51:12and what it said was,
00:51:14Mates, now's our chance.
00:51:18Instantly, a whole chorus of other voices replied.
00:51:21Hear him, hear him, now's our chance, he said.
00:51:24Well done, chief, you never said a truer word.
00:51:27What I say, continued the first voice,
00:51:30is, get down to the shore,
00:51:32between them and their boat,
00:51:34and let every mother's son look to his weapons.
00:51:36Catch them when they try to put out to sea.
00:51:39Eh, that's the way, shouted all the other voices.
00:51:42You never made a better plan, chief.
00:51:44Keep it up, chief, you couldn't have a better plan than that.
00:51:47Lively then, mates, lively, said the first voice.
00:51:50Off we go.
00:51:52Right again, chief, said the others.
00:51:54Couldn't have a better order.
00:51:56Just what were we going to say ourselves?
00:51:58Off we go.
00:52:00Immediately the thumping began again,
00:52:02very loud at first, but soon fainter and fainter,
00:52:05till it died out in the direction of the sea.
00:52:08Lucy knew there was no time to sit puzzling
00:52:11as to what these invisible creatures might be.
00:52:13As soon as the thumping noise had died away,
00:52:16she got up and ran along the path after the others
00:52:18as quickly as her legs would carry her.
00:52:20They must at all costs be warned.
00:52:23While this had been happening,
00:52:25the others had reached the house.
00:52:27It was a low building, only two storeys high,
00:52:30made of a beautiful mellow stone,
00:52:33many-windowed, and partially covered with ivy.
00:52:36Everything was so still
00:52:39that Eustace said,
00:52:41I think it's empty.
00:52:43But Caspian silently pointed
00:52:45to the column of smoke which rose from one chimney.
00:52:49They found a wide gateway open
00:52:51and passed through it into a paved courtyard.
00:52:53And it was here that they had their first indication
00:52:57that there was something odd about this island.
00:53:00In the middle of the courtyard stood a pump,
00:53:03and beneath the pump a bucket.
00:53:05There was nothing odd about that,
00:53:07but the pump handle was moving up and down,
00:53:11though there seemed to be no one moving it.
00:53:14There's some magic at work here,
00:53:16said Caspian.
00:53:18Machinery, said Eustace.
00:53:21I do believe we've come to a civilised country at last.
00:53:25At that moment Lucy, hot and breathless,
00:53:29rushed into the courtyard behind them.
00:53:31In a low voice she tried to make them understand
00:53:34what she had overheard,
00:53:36and when they had partly understood it
00:53:38even the bravest of them did not look very happy.
00:53:42Invisible enemies,
00:53:44muttered Caspian,
00:53:46and cutting us off from the boat.
00:53:48This is an ugly furrow to plough.
00:53:51You've no idea what sort of creatures they are, Lou,
00:53:54asked Edmund.
00:53:55How can I, Ed, when I couldn't see them?
00:53:58Did they sound like humans from their footsteps?
00:54:01I didn't hear any noise of feet,
00:54:04only voices,
00:54:05and this frightful thudding and thumping,
00:54:08like a mallet.
00:54:10I wonder, said Reepycheep,
00:54:12do they become visible
00:54:14when you drive a sword into them?
00:54:17It looks as if we shall find out,
00:54:19said Caspian,
00:54:20but let's get out of this gateway.
00:54:23There's one of these gentry at that pump
00:54:25listening to all we say.
00:54:27They came out,
00:54:28and went back on to the path
00:54:30where the trees might possibly make them less conspicuous.
00:54:33Not that it's any good, really,
00:54:35said Eustace.
00:54:37Trying to hide from people you can't see?
00:54:39They may be all around us.
00:54:41Now, Drinian,
00:54:43said Caspian,
00:54:44how would it be
00:54:45if we gave up the boat for lost,
00:54:47went down to another part of the bay,
00:54:49and signalled to the dawn-treader
00:54:51to stand in and take us aboard?
00:54:53Not depth enough for us, higher,
00:54:56said Drinian.
00:54:57We could swim,
00:54:59said Lucy.
00:55:00Your Majesty's all,
00:55:02said Reepycheep.
00:55:03Hear me.
00:55:04It is folly
00:55:05to think of avoiding an invisible enemy
00:55:07by any amount of creeping and skulking.
00:55:10If these creatures
00:55:11mean to bring us to battle,
00:55:13be sure they will succeed.
00:55:16And whatever comes of it,
00:55:17I'd sooner meet them face to face
00:55:19than be caught by the tail.
00:55:21I really think Reep is in the right this time,
00:55:24said Edmund.
00:55:25Surely,
00:55:26said Lucy,
00:55:27if Rince and the others on the dawn-treader
00:55:29see us fighting on the shore,
00:55:31they'll be able to do something.
00:55:34But they won't see us fighting
00:55:36if they can't see any enemy,
00:55:39said Eustace, miserably.
00:55:41They'll think we're just swinging our swords
00:55:43in the air for fun.
00:55:46There was an uncomfortable pause.
00:55:49Well,
00:55:50said Caspian at last,
00:55:51let's get on with it.
00:55:53We must go and face them.
00:55:55Shake hands all round.
00:55:56Arrow on the string, Lucy.
00:55:58Swords out, everyone else.
00:56:00And now fight.
00:56:01Perhaps they'll parley.
00:56:03It was strange
00:56:04to see the lawns and the great trees
00:56:07looking so peaceful
00:56:09as they marched back to the beach.
00:56:11And when they arrived there
00:56:12and saw the boat lying where they had left her,
00:56:15and the smooth sand
00:56:16with no one to be seen on it,
00:56:18more than one doubted
00:56:20whether Lucy had not merely imagined
00:56:22all she had told them.
00:56:24But before they reached the sand,
00:56:26a voice spoke out of the air.
00:56:29No further, masters, no further now,
00:56:32it said.
00:56:33We've got to talk with you first.
00:56:35There's fifty of us and more here
00:56:37with weapons in our fists.
00:56:39Hear him, hear him,
00:56:41came the callers.
00:56:42That's our chief.
00:56:43You can depend on what he says.
00:56:44He's telling you the truth, he is.
00:56:46I do not see these fifty warriors,
00:56:49observed Reepy Cheep.
00:56:51That's right, that's right,
00:56:53said the chief voice.
00:56:54You don't see us, and why not?
00:56:56Because we're invisible.
00:56:58Keep it up, chief, keep it up,
00:57:00said the other voices.
00:57:01You're talking like a book.
00:57:02They couldn't ask for a better answer than that.
00:57:05Be quiet, Reep, said Caspian,
00:57:08and then added in a louder voice.
00:57:10You invisible people,
00:57:12what do you want with us?
00:57:13What have we done to earn your enmity?
00:57:16We want something that little girl
00:57:19can do for us,
00:57:20said the chief voice.
00:57:21The others explained
00:57:22that this was just
00:57:23what they would have said themselves.
00:57:25Little girl, said Reepy Cheep,
00:57:28the lady is a queen.
00:57:30We don't know about queens,
00:57:33said the chief voice.
00:57:34No more we do, no more we do,
00:57:36chimed in the others,
00:57:37but we want something she can do.
00:57:40What is it?
00:57:42said Lucy.
00:57:43And if it is anything
00:57:44against Her Majesty's honour or safety,
00:57:47added Reepy Cheep,
00:57:48you will wonder
00:57:49to see how many we can kill
00:57:51before we die.
00:57:53Well, said the chief voice,
00:57:56it's a long story.
00:57:58Suppose we all sit down.
00:58:01The proposal was warmly approved
00:58:03by the other voices,
00:58:04but the Narnians remained standing.
00:58:08Well, said the chief voice,
00:58:11it's like this.
00:58:12This island has been the property
00:58:14of a great magician
00:58:15time out of mind,
00:58:16and we all are,
00:58:18or perhaps in a manner of speaking
00:58:20I might say,
00:58:21we were his servants.
00:58:23Well, to cut a long story short,
00:58:25this magician that I was speaking about,
00:58:27he told us to do something
00:58:28we didn't like.
00:58:29And why not?
00:58:30Because we didn't want to.
00:58:32Well, then this same magician,
00:58:34he fell into a great rage,
00:58:35but I ought to tell you
00:58:36he owned the island,
00:58:38and he wasn't used to being crossed.
00:58:40He was terribly downright,
00:58:41you know.
00:58:42Let me see.
00:58:43Where am I?
00:58:44Oh, yes.
00:58:45This magician then,
00:58:46he goes upstairs,
00:58:47for you must know
00:58:48he kept all his magic things up there,
00:58:50and we all lived down below.
00:58:52I say, he goes upstairs,
00:58:54and he puts a spell on us,
00:58:55an uglifying spell.
00:58:57If you saw us now,
00:58:59which in my opinion
00:59:00you may thank your stars you can't,
00:59:02you wouldn't believe
00:59:03what we looked like
00:59:04before we were uglified,
00:59:05you wouldn't really.
00:59:07So there we all were,
00:59:08so ugly
00:59:09we couldn't bear
00:59:10to look at one another.
00:59:11So, then what did we do?
00:59:13Well,
00:59:14I'll tell you what we did.
00:59:16We waited
00:59:17till we thought
00:59:18this same magician
00:59:19would be asleep
00:59:20in the afternoon,
00:59:21and we creep upstairs
00:59:22and go to his magic book
00:59:23as bold as brass
00:59:25to see if we can do anything
00:59:26about this uglification.
00:59:28But we were all
00:59:29of a sweat and a tremble,
00:59:30so I won't deceive you,
00:59:32but believe me
00:59:33or believe me not
00:59:34I do assure you
00:59:35that we couldn't find anything
00:59:36in the way of a spell
00:59:37for taking off the ugliness.
00:59:39And what with time
00:59:40getting on
00:59:41and being afraid
00:59:42that the old gentleman
00:59:43might wake up any minute,
00:59:44I was all of a muck sweat,
00:59:45so I won't deceive you.
00:59:47Well,
00:59:48to cut a long story short,
00:59:49whether we did right
00:59:50or whether we did wrong,
00:59:51in the end
00:59:52we see a spell
00:59:53for making people invisible.
00:59:55And we thought
00:59:56we'd rather be invisible
00:59:57than go on
00:59:58being as ugly as all that.
01:00:00And why?
01:00:01Because we like it better.
01:00:02So,
01:00:03my little girl,
01:00:04who was just about
01:00:05your little girl's age
01:00:06and a sweet child
01:00:07she was
01:00:08before she was uglified,
01:00:09though now
01:00:10but Lee said
01:00:11soon as mended
01:00:12I say,
01:00:13my little girl
01:00:14she says the spell
01:00:15but it's got to be
01:00:16a little girl
01:00:17or else the magician himself
01:00:18if you see my meaning
01:00:19for otherwise
01:00:20it won't work.
01:00:21And why not?
01:00:22Because nothing happens.
01:00:23So,
01:00:24my Clipsy
01:00:25says the spell
01:00:26but I ought to have told you
01:00:28she reads beautifully
01:00:30and there we all were
01:00:31as invisible
01:00:32as you could wish to see.
01:00:34And I do assure you
01:00:35it was a relief
01:00:36not to see
01:00:37one another's faces.
01:00:38At first,
01:00:39anyway.
01:00:40But the longer
01:00:41and the shorter
01:00:42it is
01:00:43we are mortal
01:00:44tired
01:00:45of being invisible.
01:00:46And there's another thing.
01:00:47We never reckoned
01:00:48on this magician
01:00:49the one I was
01:00:50telling you about
01:00:51before
01:00:52going invisible too.
01:00:54But we haven't
01:00:55ever seen him since.
01:00:57So we don't know
01:00:58if he's dead
01:00:59or gone away
01:01:00or whether he's
01:01:01just sitting upstairs
01:01:02being invisible
01:01:04and perhaps
01:01:05coming down
01:01:06and being invisible
01:01:07there.
01:01:08And believe me
01:01:09it's no manner
01:01:10of use
01:01:11listening
01:01:12because he always
01:01:13did go about
01:01:14with his bare feet
01:01:15on,
01:01:16making no more
01:01:17noise
01:01:18than a great
01:01:19big cat.
01:01:20And I'll tell
01:01:21all you gentlemen
01:01:22straight
01:01:23it's getting
01:01:24more
01:01:25than what
01:01:26our nerves
01:01:27can stand."
01:01:28Such was
01:01:29the Chief Voice's
01:01:30story,
01:01:31but very much
01:01:32shortened
01:01:33because I've
01:01:34left out
01:01:35what the other
01:01:37men said,
01:01:38being interrupted
01:01:39by their
01:01:40agreements
01:01:41and encouragements
01:01:42which drove
01:01:43the Narnians
01:01:44nearly out
01:01:45of their
01:01:46minds
01:01:47with impatience.
01:01:48When it was
01:01:49over
01:01:50there was
01:01:51a very
01:01:52long silence.
01:01:53"'But,'
01:01:54said Lucy
01:01:55at last,
01:01:56"'what's
01:01:57all this
01:01:58got to do
01:01:59with us?
01:02:00I don't
01:02:01understand.'
01:02:02"'Why,
01:02:03bless me,
01:02:04if I haven't
01:02:05gone and
01:02:06done
01:02:07what you have,'
01:02:08roared the other
01:02:09voices,
01:02:10with great
01:02:11enthusiasm,
01:02:12"'no one
01:02:13couldn't
01:02:14have let
01:02:15it out
01:02:16cleaner and
01:02:17better.
01:02:18Keep it
01:02:19up,
01:02:20Chief,
01:02:21keep it
01:02:22up!'
01:02:23"'Well,
01:02:24I needn't
01:02:25go over
01:02:26the whole
01:02:27story again,'
01:02:28began the
01:02:29Chief Voice.
01:02:30"'No,
01:02:31certainly
01:02:32not,'
01:02:33said Caspian
01:02:34and Edmund.
01:02:35"'You
01:02:36may
01:02:37go
01:02:38upstairs
01:02:39and
01:02:40go
01:02:41to
01:02:42the
01:02:43magic
01:02:44book
01:02:45and
01:02:46find
01:02:47the
01:02:48spell
01:02:49that
01:02:50takes
01:02:51off
01:02:52the
01:02:53invisibleness
01:02:54and
01:02:55say
01:02:56it.
01:02:57And
01:02:58we
01:02:59all
01:03:00swore
01:03:01that
01:03:02the
01:03:03first
01:03:04spell
01:03:05would
01:03:06take
01:03:07away
01:03:08a
01:03:09business,
01:03:10as you
01:03:11might
01:03:12say,
01:03:13and no
01:03:14offence,
01:03:15I
01:03:16hope.'
01:03:17"'I
01:03:18don't
01:03:19see all
01:03:20your
01:03:21weapons,'
01:03:22said
01:03:23Reepy
01:03:24Chief.
01:03:25"'Are
01:03:26they
01:03:27invisible
01:03:28too?'
01:03:29The
01:03:30words
01:03:31were
01:03:32scarcely
01:03:33heard.
01:03:34"'They
01:03:35came from
01:03:36my hand,'
01:03:37the Chief
01:03:38Voice
01:03:39continued.
01:03:40"'They
01:03:41get
01:03:42visible
01:03:43when they
01:03:44leave us.'
01:03:45"'But
01:03:46why do
01:03:47you want
01:03:48me to
01:03:49do this?'
01:03:50asked
01:03:51Lucy.
01:03:52"'Why
01:03:53can't
01:03:54one of
01:03:55your own
01:03:56people?
01:03:57Haven't
01:03:58you got
01:03:59any
01:04:00girls?'
01:04:01"'We
01:04:02have our own
01:04:03sisters and
01:04:04daughters to
01:04:05face.'
01:04:06"'That's
01:04:07right,
01:04:08that's
01:04:09right,'
01:04:10said
01:04:11all the
01:04:12voices
01:04:13cheerfully.
01:04:14"'You
01:04:15couldn't
01:04:16have said
01:04:17it better,
01:04:18eh?
01:04:19You've
01:04:20had some
01:04:21education.
01:04:22You
01:04:23have.
01:04:24Anyone
01:04:25can see
01:04:26that.'
01:04:27"'Well,
01:04:28of all
01:04:29the outrageous
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