The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair - Audiobook - Pt 1/5
Complete unabridged, read by Jeremy Northam
(This CD was full of scratches, so there are a few skips in chapter 3)
00:00:00 - Chapter 1
00:19:12 - Chapter 2
00:39:05 - Chapter 3
Complete unabridged, read by Jeremy Northam
(This CD was full of scratches, so there are a few skips in chapter 3)
00:00:00 - Chapter 1
00:19:12 - Chapter 2
00:39:05 - Chapter 3
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00Harper Audio presents The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis, performed by Jeremy Northam.
00:11Chapter One. Behind the Gym.
00:26It was a dull autumn day, and Jill Pohl was crying behind the gym. She was crying because
00:33they had been bullying her. This is not going to be a school story, so I shall say as little
00:39as possible about Jill's school, which is not a pleasant subject. It was co-educational,
00:46a school for both boys and girls, what used to be called a mixed school. Some said it
00:51was not nearly so mixed as the minds of the people who ran it. These people had the idea
00:56that boys and girls should be allowed to do what they liked, and unfortunately what ten
01:01or fifteen of the biggest boys and girls liked best was bullying the others. All sorts of
01:07things, horrid things, went on, which at an ordinary school would have been found out
01:11and stopped in half a term, but at this school they weren't, or even if they were, the people
01:17who did them were not expelled or punished. The head said they were interesting psychological
01:24cases and sent for them and talked to them for hours, and if you knew the right sort
01:29of things to say to the head, the main result was that you became rather a favourite than
01:34otherwise. That was why Jill Pohl was crying on that dull autumn day on the damp little
01:40path which runs between the back of the gym and the shrubbery, and she hadn't nearly finished
01:46her cry when a boy came round the corner of the gym whistling, with his hands in his pockets.
01:52He nearly ran into her.
01:54"'Can't you look where you're going?' said Jill Pohl.
01:57"'All right,' said the boy. "'You needn't start.'
02:01And then he noticed her face.
02:03"'I say, Pohl,' he said, "'what's up?'
02:08Jill only made faces, the sort you make when you're trying to say something, but find that
02:13if you speak you'll start crying again.
02:15"'It's them, I suppose, as usual,' said the boy grimly, digging his hands further into
02:22his pockets.
02:24Jill nodded. There was no need for her to say anything, even if she could have said
02:29it. They both knew.
02:31"'Now look here,' said the boy.
02:34"'There's no good us all,' he meant well, but he did talk rather like someone beginning
02:39a lecture. Jill suddenly flew into a temper, which is quite a likely thing to happen if
02:45you've been interrupted in a cry.
02:46"'Oh, go away and mind your own business,' she said.
02:49"'Nobody asked you to come barging in, did they? And you're a nice person to start telling
02:54us what we all ought to do, aren't you? I suppose you mean we ought to spend all our
02:57time sucking up to them, and currying favour, and dancing attendance on them, like you do.'
03:03"'Oh, law!' said the boy, sitting down on the grassy bank at the edge of the shrubbery,
03:09and very quickly getting up again because the grass was soaking wet. His name, unfortunately,
03:14was Eustace Scrub, but he wasn't a bad sort.
03:18"'Pole,' he said.
03:20"'Is that fair? Have I been doing anything of the sort this term? Didn't I stand up to
03:26Carter about the rabbit? And didn't I keep the secret about Spivins, under torture, too?
03:32And didn't I—'
03:33"'I don't know, and I don't care,' sobbed Jill.
03:39Scrub saw that she wasn't quite herself yet, and very sensibly offered her a peppermint.
03:44He had one, too.
03:47Presently Jill began to see things in a clearer light.
03:51"'I'm sorry, Scrub,' she said presently.
03:54"'I wasn't fair. You have done all that, this term.'
03:59"'Well, then wash out last term if you can,' said Eustace.
04:02"'I was a different chap, then. I was—'
04:05"'Gosh, what a little tick I was!'
04:07"'Well, honestly, you were,' said Jill.
04:10"'You think there's been a change, then?' said Eustace.
04:14"'It's not only me,' said Jill.
04:16"'Everyone's been saying so. They've noticed.
04:19Eleanor Blackstone heard Adela Pennyfather talking about it in our changing room yesterday,
04:23and she said someone's got hold of that Scrub kid. He's quite unmanageable, this term.
04:28We shall have to attend to him next.'
04:31Eustace gave a shudder.
04:33Everyone at Experiment House knew what it was like being attended to by them.
04:39Both children were quiet for a moment.
04:42The drops dripped off the laurel leaves.
04:45"'Why were you so different last term?' said Jill presently.
04:49"'A lot of queer things happened to me in the holes,' said Eustace mysteriously.
04:53"'What sort of things?' asked Jill.
04:57Eustace didn't say anything for quite a long time.
05:00Then he said,
05:01"'Look here, Paul, you and I hate this place about as much as anybody can hate anything, don't we?'
05:06"'I know I do,' said Jill.
05:08"'Then I really think I can trust you.'
05:11"'Damn good of you,' said Jill.
05:13"'Yes, but this is a really terrific secret.
05:17"'Paul,' I said, 'are you good at believing things?
05:19"'I mean, things that everyone here would laugh at?'
05:23"'I've never had the chance,' said Jill,
05:25"'but I think I would be.
05:26"'Could you believe me if I said
05:29"'I've been right out of the world, outside this world, last holes?'
05:35"'I wouldn't know what you meant.'
05:38"'Well, don't let's bother about worlds then.
05:39"'Supposing I told you I'd been in a place where animals can talk,
05:44"'and where there are enchantments and dragons and, uh,
05:50"'well, all the sorts of things you have in fairy tales?'
05:54"'Scrub felt terribly awkward as he said this and got red in the face.
05:58"'How did you get there?' said Jill.
06:01"'She also felt curiously shy.
06:04"'The only way you can, by magic,' said Eustace,
06:08"'almost in a whisper.
06:10"'I was with two cousins of mine and we were just whisked away.
06:15"'Had been there before.'
06:18"'Now that they were talking in whispers,
06:19"'Jill somehow felt it easier to believe.
06:22"'Then suddenly a horrible suspicion came over her and she said,
06:26"'so fiercely that for the moment she looked like a tigress,
06:29"'If I find you've been pulling my leg, I'll never speak to you again.
06:32"'Never, never, never.'
06:35"'I'm not,' said Eustace.
06:36"'I swear I'm not.
06:37"'I swear by, by everything.
06:39"'When I was at school one would have said,
06:41"'I swear by the Bible,
06:43"'but Bibles were not encouraged at Experiment House.'
06:48"'All right,' said Jill.
06:49"'I'll believe you.
06:51"'And tell nobody.
06:52"'What you take me for?'
06:55"'They were very excited as they said this.
06:57"'But when they had said it,
06:59"'and Jill looked round and saw the dull autumn sky
07:02"'and heard the drip off the leaves
07:04"'and thought of all the hopelessness of Experiment House,
07:07"'it was a thirteen-week term
07:08"'and there were still eleven weeks to come,
07:10"'she said,
07:12"'But after all, what's the good?
07:14"'We're not there.
07:16"'We're here.
07:17"'And we jolly well can't get there.
07:20"'Or can we?'
07:23"'That's what I've been wondering,' said Eustace.
07:26"'When we came back from that place,
07:28"'someone said that the two Pevensey kids,
07:30"'that's my two cousins,
07:32"'could never go there again.
07:34"'It was their third time, you see.
07:36"'I suppose they've had their share.
07:38"'But he never said I couldn't.
07:41"'Surely he would have said so
07:42"'unless he meant that I was to get back.
07:44"'And I can't help wondering, can we...
07:46"'Could we...
07:47"'Do you mean do something to make it happen?'
07:50"'Eustace nodded.
07:52"'You mean we might draw a circle on the ground
07:55"'and write things in queer letters in it
07:58"'and stand inside it
07:59"'and recite charms and spells?'
08:02"'Well,' said Eustace, after he had thought hard for a bit,
08:05"'I believe that was the sort of thing I was thinking of,
08:08"'though I never did it.
08:10"'But now that it comes to the point,
08:11"'I have an idea that all those circles and things
08:13"'are rather rot.
08:15"'I don't think he'd like them.
08:17"'It would look as if we thought we could make him do things.
08:20"'But really, we could only ask him.
08:24"'Who is this person you keep on talking about?'
08:27"'Oh, they call him Aslan in that place,' said Eustace.
08:32"'What a curious name!'
08:34"'Not half so curious as himself,' said Eustace solemnly.
08:38"'But let's get on.
08:39"'Can't do any harm just asking.
08:42"'Let's stand side by side like this,
08:45"'and we'll hold out our arms in front of us with the palms down,
08:49"'like they did in Ramandu's island.
08:52"'Whose island?
08:53"'I'll tell you about that another time.
08:56"'And he might like us to face the east.
08:58"'Let's see, where is the east?'
09:00"'I don't know,' said Jill.
09:02"'It's an extraordinary thing about girls
09:04"'that they never know the points of the compass,' said Eustace.
09:07"'You don't know either?' said Jill indignantly.
09:10"'Yes, I do.
09:12"'If only you didn't keep on interrupting.
09:13"'I've got it now.
09:14"'That's the east, facing up into the laurels.
09:18"'Now, will you say the words after me?'
09:20"'What words?' asked Jill.
09:22"'The words I'm going to say, of course,' answered Eustace.
09:25"'Now.'
09:26"'And he began,
09:28"'Aslan, Aslan, Aslan, Aslan, Aslan, Aslan,' repeated Jill.
09:35"'Please let us, too, go into.'
09:38"'At that moment a voice from the other side of the gym
09:40"'was heard shouting out,
09:43"'Po, yes, I know where she is.
09:44"'She's blubbing behind the gym.
09:46"'Shall I fetch her out?'
09:48"'Jill and Eustace gave one glance at each other,
09:51"'dived under the laurels,
09:52"'and began scrambling up the steep, earthy slope
09:55"'of the shrubbery at a speed which did them great credit.
09:58"'Owing to the curious methods of teaching at Experiment House,
10:02"'one did not learn much French or Maths or Latin
10:04"'or things of that sort,
10:06"'but one did learn a lot about getting away quickly
10:08"'and quietly when they were looking for one.
10:12"'After about a minute's scramble they stopped to listen,
10:15"'and knew by the noises they heard
10:17"'that they were being followed.
10:20"'If only the door was open again,' said Scrub as they went on,
10:24"'and Jill nodded,
10:25"'for at the top of the shrubbery was a high stone wall,
10:29"'and in that wall a door
10:31"'by which you could get out into the open more.
10:34"'This door was nearly always locked,
10:37"'but there had been times when people had found it open,
10:40"'or perhaps there had been only one time.
10:44"'But you may imagine how the memory of even one time
10:46"'kept people hoping and trying the door,
10:50"'for if it should happen to be unlocked,
10:52"'it would be a splendid way of getting outside the school grounds
10:55"'without being seen.
10:58"'Jill and Eustace,
10:59"'now both very hot and very grubby from going along
11:02"'bent almost double under the laurels,
11:04"'panted up to the wall,
11:06"'and there was the door, shut as usual.
11:11"'It's sure to be no good,' said Eustace with his hand on the handle,
11:14"'and then, oh, by gum,
11:18"'for the handle turned and the door opened.
11:22"'A moment before, both of them had meant to get through that doorway
11:25"'in double-quick time if by any chance the door was not locked,
11:29"'but when the door actually opened,
11:31"'they both stood stock-still,
11:34"'for what they saw was quite different from what they had expected.
11:39"'They had expected to see the grey, heathery slope of the moor
11:42"'going up and up to join the dull autumn sky.
11:46"'Instead, a blaze of sunshine met them.
11:50"'It poured through the doorway as the light of a June day
11:52"'pours into a garage when you open the door.
11:55"'It made the drops of water on the grass glitter like beads,
11:59"'and showed up the dirtiness of Jill's tear-stained face.
12:03"'And the sunlight was coming from what certainly did look like
12:06"'a different world, what they could see of it.
12:10"'They saw smooth turf,
12:13"'smoother and brighter than Jill had ever seen before,
12:17"'and blue sky, and darting to and fro things so bright
12:21"'that they might have been jewels or huge butterflies.
12:26"'Although she had been longing for something like this,
12:30"'Jill felt frightened.
12:32"'She looked at Scrub's face and saw that he was frightened, too.
12:37"'Come on, Poe,' he said in a breathless voice.
12:41"'Can we get back? Is it safe?' asked Jill.
12:47"'At that moment a voice shouted from behind,
12:50"'a mean, spiteful little voice.
12:53"'Now then, Poe,' it squeaked.
12:55"'Everyone knows you're there. Down you come.'
12:58"'It was the voice of Edith Jackal, not one of them herself,
13:02"'but one of their hangers-on and tail-bearers.
13:06"'Quick,' said Scrub.
13:07"'Here, hold hands. We mustn't get separated.'
13:10"'And before she quite knew what was happening,
13:12"'he grabbed her hand and pulled her through the door,
13:15"'out of the school grounds, out of England,
13:17"'out of our whole world, into that place.
13:22"'The sound of Edith Jackal's voice
13:24"'stopped as suddenly as the voice on the radio
13:26"'when it is switched off.
13:28"'Instantly there was quite a different sound all about them.
13:32"'It came from those bright things overhead,
13:35"'which now turned out to be birds.
13:37"'They were making a riotous noise,
13:40"'but it was much more like music,
13:41"'rather advanced music which you don't quite take in
13:44"'at the first hearing than bird-songs ever are in our world.
13:48"'Yet in spite of the singing,
13:50"'there was a sort of background of immense silence.
13:55"'That silence, combined with the freshness of the air,
13:58"'made Jill think that they must be
13:59"'on top of a very high mountain.
14:02"'Scrub still had her by the hand,
14:04"'and they were walking forward,
14:06"'staring about them on every side.
14:08"'Jill saw that huge trees, rather like cedars but bigger,
14:12"'grew in every direction.
14:14"'But as they did not grow close together,
14:17"'and as there was no undergrowth,
14:19"'this did not prevent one from seeing
14:20"'a long way into the forest to left and right.
14:23"'And as far as Jill's eye could reach,
14:26"'it was all the same, level turf,
14:28"'darting birds with yellow or dragonfly blue
14:31"'or rainbow plumage, blue shadows, and emptiness.
14:36"'There was not a breath of wind in that cool, bright air.
14:40"'It was a very lonely forest.
14:44"'Right ahead, there were no trees, only blue sky.
14:49"'They went straight on without speaking,
14:51"'till suddenly Jill heard Scrub say,
14:54"'Look out!' and felt herself jerked back.
14:57"'They were at the very edge of a cliff.
15:01"'Jill was one of those lucky people
15:02"'who have a good head for heights.
15:04"'She didn't mind in the least
15:05"'standing on the edge of a precipice.
15:08"'She was rather annoyed with Scrub for pulling her back.
15:11"'Just as if I was a kid,' she said,
15:14"'and she wrenched her hand out of his.
15:16"'When she saw how very white he had turned,
15:19"'she despised him.
15:21"'What's the matter?' she said.
15:24"'And to show that she was not afraid,
15:25"'she stood very near the edge indeed,
15:27"'in fact, a good deal nearer than even she liked.
15:31"'Then she looked down.
15:34"'She now realized that Scrub had some excuse for looking white,
15:37"'for no cliff in our world is to be compared with this.
15:41"'Imagine yourself at the top of the very highest cliff you know,
15:46"'and imagine yourself looking down to the very bottom,
15:49"'and then imagine that the precipice goes on below that
15:52"'as far again, ten times as far, twenty times as far.
15:58"'And when you've looked down all that distance,
16:00"'imagine little white things that might at first glance be mistaken for sheep,
16:06"'but presently you realize that they are clouds,
16:09"'not little wreaths of mist,
16:11"'but the enormous white puffy clouds
16:14"'which are themselves as big as most mountains.
16:17"'And at last, in between those clouds,
16:20"'you get your first glimpse of the real bottom,
16:23"'so far away that you can't make out
16:25"'whether it's field or wood or land or water,
16:30"'but further below those clouds than you are above them.'
16:34"'Jill stared at it.
16:37"'Then she thought that perhaps, after all,
16:40"'she would step back a foot or so from the edge,
16:43"'but she didn't like to for fear of what Scrub would think.
16:48"'Then she suddenly decided that she didn't care what he thought,
16:50"'and that she would jolly well get away from that horrible edge
16:53"'and never laugh at anyone for not liking heights again.
16:56"'But when she tried to move, she found she couldn't.
17:00"'Her legs seemed to have turned into putty.
17:03"'Everything was swimming before her eyes.
17:07"'What are you doing, Pole?
17:09"'Come back, blithering little idiot!' shouted Scrub.
17:14"'But his voice seemed to be coming from a long way off.
17:18"'She felt him grabbing at her,
17:20"'but by now she had no control over her own arms and legs.
17:25"'There was a moment struggling on the cliff edge.
17:27"'Jill was too frightened and dizzy to know quite what she was doing,
17:31"'but two things she remembered as long as she lived.
17:34"'They often came back to her in her dreams.
17:37"'One was that she had wrenched herself free of Scrub's clutches.
17:41"'The other was that, at the same moment,
17:43"'Eustace himself, with a terrified scream,
17:46"'had lost his balance and gone hurtling to the depths.
17:52"'Fortunately, she was given no time to think over what she had done.
17:55"'Some huge, brightly-coloured animal had rushed to the edge of the cliff.
18:02"'It was lying down, leaning over—and this was the odd thing—blowing.
18:09"'Not roaring or snorting, but just blowing from its wide-opened mouth,
18:14"'blowing out as steadily as a vacuum cleaner sucks in.
18:19"'Jill was lying so close to the creature
18:21"'that she could feel the breath vibrating steadily through its body.
18:26"'She was lying still because she couldn't get up.
18:30"'She was nearly fainting.
18:31"'Indeed, she wished she could really faint,
18:34"'but faints don't come for the asking.
18:37"'At last she saw, far away below her,
18:40"'a tiny black speck floating away from the cliff and slightly upwards.
18:46"'As it rose, it also got further away.
18:50"'By the time it was nearly on a level with the cliff-top,
18:52"'it was so far off that she lost sight of it.
18:56"'It was obviously moving away from them at a great speed.
19:00"'Jill couldn't help thinking that the creature at her side was blowing it away,
19:04"'so she turned and looked at the creature.
19:08"'It was a lion.'
19:15Chapter 2 Jill is Given a Task
19:19Without a glance at Jill, the lion rose to its feet and gave one last blow.
19:24Then, as if satisfied with its work,
19:26it turned and stalked slowly away back into the forest.
19:31"'Must be a dream.
19:32"'It must, it must,' said Jill to herself.
19:35"'I'll wake up in a moment.'
19:37"'But it wasn't.
19:39"'And she didn't.
19:41"'I do wish we'd never come to this dreadful place,' said Jill.
19:43"'I don't believe Scrub knew any more about it than I do.
19:46"'Or if he did, he had no business to bring me here without warning me what it was like.
19:53"'It's not my fault he fell over that cliff.
19:56"'If he'd left me alone, we should both be all right.'
19:59Then she remembered again the scream that Scrub had given when he fell and burst into tears.
20:05"'Crying is all right in its way while it lasts,
20:08"'but you have to stop sooner or later,
20:11"'and then you still have to decide what to do.'
20:14When Jill stopped, she found she was dreadfully thirsty.
20:19She'd been lying face downward, and now she sat up.
20:23The birds had ceased singing, and there was perfect silence except for one small,
20:29persistent sound which seemed to come from a good distance away.
20:33She listened carefully and felt almost sure it was the sound of running water.
20:40Jill got up and looked round her very carefully.
20:44There was no sign of the lion, but there were so many trees about that it might easily be
20:48quite close without her seeing it. For all she knew, there might be several lions.
20:54But her thirst was very bad now, and she plucked up her courage to go and look for that running water.
21:00She went on tiptoes, stealing cautiously from tree to tree,
21:04and stopping to peer round her at every step.
21:09The wood was so still that it was not difficult to decide where the sound was coming from.
21:14It grew clearer every moment, and sooner than she expected, she came to an open glade
21:20and saw the stream, bright as glass, running across the turf as stones throw away from her.
21:27But although the sight of the water made her feel ten times thirstier than before,
21:31she didn't rush forward and drink. She stood as still as if she'd been turned into stone,
21:37with her mouth wide open. And she had a very good reason.
21:41Just on this side of the stream lay the lion.
21:45It lay with its head raised and its two forepaws out in front of it,
21:49like the lions in Trafalgar Square. She knew at once that it had seen her,
21:55for its eyes looked straight into hers for a moment and then turned away,
21:59as if it knew her quite well and didn't think much of her.
22:04If I run away, it'll be after me in a moment, thought Jill,
22:08and if I go on, I shall run straight into its mouth.
22:12Anyway, she couldn't have moved if she'd tried, and she couldn't take her eyes off it.
22:18How long this lasted, she could not be sure. It seemed like hours,
22:22and the thirst became so bad that she almost felt she would not mind being eaten by the lion,
22:26if only she could be sure of getting a mouthful of water first.
22:31If you're thirsty, you may drink.
22:34They were the first words she had heard since Scrub had spoken to her on the edge of the cliff.
22:40For a second she stared here and there, wondering who had spoken.
22:45Then the voice said again,
22:47If you are thirsty, come and drink.
22:51And of course she remembered what Scrub had said about animals talking in that other world,
22:56and realized that it was the lion speaking.
22:59Anyway, she'd seen its lips move this time, and the voice was not like a man's.
23:03It was deeper, wilder, and stronger, a sort of heavy, golden voice.
23:11It did not make her any less frightened than she'd been before,
23:13but it made her frightened in rather a different way.
23:17Are you not thirsty? said the lion.
23:21I'm dying of thirst, said Jill.
23:23Then drink, said the lion.
23:25May I? Could I? Would you mind going away while I do? said Jill.
23:33The lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl.
23:38And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk,
23:42she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.
23:47The delicious, rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.
23:52Would you promise not to do anything to me if I do come? said Jill.
23:59I make no promise, said the lion.
24:03Jill was so thirsty now that without noticing it, she had come a step nearer.
24:09Do you eat girls? she said.
24:12I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men,
24:16kings and emperors, cities and realms, said the lion.
24:20It didn't say this as if it were boasting,
24:23nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry.
24:28It just said it.
24:31I daren't come and drink, said Jill.
24:34Then you will die of thirst, said the lion.
24:38Oh dear, said Jill, coming another step nearer.
24:41I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.
24:44There is no other stream, said the lion.
24:50It never occurred to Jill to disbelieve, the lion.
24:53No one who had seen his stern face could do that.
24:56And her mind suddenly made itself up.
24:59It was the worst thing that she had ever had to do.
25:03But she went forward to the stream, knelt down, and began scooping up water in her hand.
25:10It was the coldest, most refreshing water she had ever tasted.
25:15You didn't need to drink much of it, for it quenched your thirst at once.
25:20Before she tasted it, she'd been intending to make a dash away from the lion the moment
25:24she had finished.
25:25Now she realized that this would be on the whole the most dangerous thing of all.
25:30She got up and stood there with her lips still wet from drinking.
25:36Come here, said the lion.
25:39And she had to.
25:42She was almost between its front paws now, looking straight into its face.
25:47But she couldn't stand that for long.
25:49She dropped her eyes.
25:52Human child, said the lion.
25:55Where is the boy?
25:58He fell over the cliff, said Jill, and added,
26:01Sir, she didn't know what else to call him, and it sounded cheek to call him nothing.
26:07How did he come to do that, human child?
26:10He was trying to stop me from falling, sir.
26:13Why were you so near the edge, human child?
26:17I was showing off, sir.
26:20That is a very good answer, human child.
26:23Do so no more.
26:26And now, here for the first time, the lion's face became a little less stern.
26:31The boy is safe.
26:34I have blown him to Narnia.
26:37But your task will be the harder because of what you have done.
26:42Please, what task, sir? said Jill.
26:45The task for which I called you and him here out of your own world.
26:50This puzzled Jill very much.
26:53It's mistaking me for someone else, she thought.
26:56She didn't dare to tell the lion this,
26:57though she felt things would get into a dreadful muddle unless she did.
27:01Speak your thought, human child, said the lion.
27:05I was wondering, I mean, could there be some mistake?
27:09Because nobody called me and Scrub, you know.
27:11It was we who asked to come here.
27:13Scrub said we were to call to somebody.
27:17It was a name I wouldn't know and perhaps the somebody would let us in.
27:20And we did.
27:21And then we found the door open.
27:25You would not have called to me unless I had been calling to you, said the lion.
27:30Then you are somebody, sir? said Jill.
27:35I am.
27:37And now, here your task.
27:39Far from here in the land of Narnia there lives an aged king
27:43who is sad because he has no prince of his blood to be king after him.
27:49He has no heir because his only son was stolen from him many years ago,
27:54and no one in Narnia knows where that prince went or whether he is still alive.
28:00But he is.
28:03I lay on you this command that you seek this lost prince
28:08until either you have found him and brought him to his father's house,
28:11or else died in the attempt, or else gone back into your own world.
28:17How, please, said Jill.
28:21I will tell you, child, said the lion.
28:24These are the signs by which I will guide you in your quest.
28:28First, as soon as the boy Eustace sets foot in Narnia,
28:33he will meet an old and dear friend.
28:36He must greet that friend at once.
28:38If he does, you will both have good help.
28:42Second, you must journey out of Narnia to the north
28:46till you come to the ruined city of the ancient giants.
28:50Third, you shall find a writing on a stone in that ruined city,
28:55and you must do what the writing tells you.
28:59Fourth, you will know the lost prince if you find him by this,
29:05that he will be the first person you have met in your travels
29:08who will ask you to do something in my name, in the name of Aslan.
29:16As the lion seemed to have finished, Jill thought she should say something, so she said,
29:21Thank you very much, I see.
29:23Child, said Aslan, in a gentler voice than he had yet used.
29:28Perhaps you do not see quite as well as you think, but the first step is to remember.
29:36Repeat to me, in order, the four signs.
29:41Jill tried, and didn't get them quite right, so the lion corrected her and made her repeat
29:45them again and again till she could say them perfectly.
29:50He was very patient over this, so that when it was done, Jill plucked up courage to ask,
29:57Please, how am I to get to Narnia?
30:00On my breath, said the lion.
30:03I will blow you into the west of the world, as I blew Eustace.
30:08Shall I catch him in time to tell him the first sign?
30:12Oh, but I suppose it won't matter.
30:13If he sees an old friend, he's sure to go and speak to him, isn't he?
30:17You will have no time to spare, said the lion.
30:21That is why I must send you at once.
30:22Come, walk before me to the edge of the cliff.
30:27Jill remembered very well that if there was no time to spare, that was her own fault.
30:33If I hadn't made such a fool of myself, Scrub and I would have been going together,
30:37and he'd have heard all the instructions as well as me, she thought.
30:41So she did as she was told.
30:44It was very alarming walking back to the edge of the cliff,
30:47especially as the lion did not walk with her, but behind her, making no noise on his soft paws.
30:56But long before she'd got anywhere near the edge, the voice behind her said,
31:00Stand still.
31:02In a moment I will blow, but first remember, remember, remember the signs.
31:10Say them to yourself when you wake in the morning, and when you lie down at night,
31:15and when you wake in the middle of the night.
31:18And whatever strange things may happen to you, let nothing turn your mind from following the signs.
31:26Secondly, I give you a warning.
31:30Here on the mountain I have spoken to you clearly.
31:33I will not often do so down in Narnia.
31:37Here on the mountain the air is clear, and your mind is clear.
31:42As you drop down into Narnia, the air will thicken.
31:47Take great care that it does not confuse your mind.
31:51And the signs which you have learnt here will not look at all as you expect them to look
31:55when you meet them there.
31:56That is why it is so important to know them by heart, and pay no attention to appearances.
32:03Remember the signs, and believe the signs.
32:08Nothing else matters.
32:10And now, Daughter of Eve, farewell.
32:17The voice had been growing softer towards the end of this speech,
32:21and now it faded away altogether.
32:22Jill looked behind her.
32:24To her astonishment, she saw the cliff already more than a hundred yards behind her,
32:30and the lion himself a speck of bright gold on the edge of it.
32:34She had been setting her teeth and clenching her fists for a terrible blast of lion's breath,
32:39but the breath had really been so gentle that she had not even noticed the moment at which
32:44she left the earth.
32:46And now there was nothing but air for thousands upon thousands of miles.
32:50Nothing but air for thousands upon thousands of feet below her.
32:56She felt frightened only for a second.
32:58For one thing, the world beneath her was so very far away that it seemed to have nothing
33:02to do with her.
33:02For another, floating on the breath of the lion was so extremely comfortable.
33:07She found she could lie on her back or on her face and twist any way she pleased,
33:12just as you can in water if you learn to float really well.
33:16And because she was moving at the same pace as the breath, there was no wind, and the
33:21air seemed beautifully warm.
33:24It was not in the least like being in an aeroplane, because there was no noise and no
33:28vibration.
33:30If Jill had ever been in a balloon, she might have thought it more like that, only better.
33:37When she looked back now, she could take in for the first time the real size of the mountain
33:41she was leaving.
33:42She wondered why a mountain so huge as that was not covered with snow and ice.
33:46But I suppose all that sort of thing is different in this world, thought Jill.
33:51Then she looked below her.
33:54But she was so high that she couldn't make out whether she was floating over land or
33:57sea, nor what speed she was going at.
34:01I choked.
34:01The signs, said Jill suddenly.
34:03I'd better repeat them.
34:06She was in a panic for a second or two, but she found she could still say them all correctly.
34:10So that's all right, she said, and lay back on the air as if it was a sofa, with a sigh
34:15of contentment.
34:18Well, I do declare, said Jill to herself some hours later, I've been asleep.
34:24Fancy sleeping on air.
34:26I wonder if anyone's done it before.
34:28I don't suppose they have.
34:30Oh, Bother Scrub probably has, on this same journey a little bit before me.
34:36Let's see what it looks like down below.
34:41What it looked like was an enormous, very dark blue plain.
34:46There were no hills to be seen, but there were biggish white things moving slowly across it.
34:52Those must be clouds, she thought, but far bigger than the ones we saw from the cliff.
34:57I suppose they're bigger because they're nearer.
34:59I must be getting lower.
35:01Bother this sun.
35:03The sun, which had been high overhead when she began her journey, was now getting in
35:07her eyes, and this meant that it was getting lower, ahead of her.
35:12Scrub was quite right in saying that Jill, I don't know about girls in general, didn't
35:17think much about points of the compass.
35:19Otherwise she would have known, when the sun began getting in her eyes, that she was travelling
35:24pretty nearly due west.
35:28Staring at the blue plain below her, she presently noticed that there were little dots of brighter,
35:33paler colour in it here and there.
35:36It's the sea, thought Jill.
35:38I do believe those are islands.
35:40And so they were.
35:43She might have felt rather jealous if she had known that some of them were islands which
35:47Scrub had seen from a ship's deck, and even landed on, but she didn't know this.
35:53Then, later on, she began to see that there were little wrinkles on the blue flatness,
35:58little wrinkles which must be quite big ocean waves if you were down among them, and now,
36:04all along the horizon, there was a thick, dark line which grew thicker and darker so
36:09quickly that you could see it growing.
36:13That was the first sign that she had had of the great speed at which she was travelling,
36:17and she knew that the thickening line must be land.
36:22Suddenly from her left, for the wind was in the south, a great white cloud came rushing
36:27towards her, this time on the same level as herself.
36:31And before she knew where she was, she had shot right into the middle of its cold, wet
36:36fogginess.
36:37That took her breath away, but she was in it only for a moment.
36:42She came out, blinking in the sunlight, and found her clothes wet.
36:46She had on a blazer and sweater, and shorts and stockings and pretty thick shoes.
36:51It had been a muddy sort of day in England.
36:54She came out lower than she had gone in, and as soon as she did so, she noticed something
37:00which I suppose she ought to have been expecting, but which came as a surprise and a shock.
37:05It was noises.
37:07Up till then she had travelled in total silence.
37:11Now, for the first time, she heard the noise of waves and the crying of seagulls, and now,
37:17too, she smelled the smell of the sea.
37:20There's no mistake about her speed now.
37:22She saw two waves meet with a smack and a spout of foam go up between them, but she
37:29had hardly seen it before it was a hundred yards behind her.
37:33The land was getting nearer at a great pace.
37:36She could see mountains far inland and other nearer mountains on her left.
37:40She could see bays and headlands, woods and fields, stretches of sandy beach.
37:45The sound of waves breaking on the shore was growing louder every second and drowning
37:49the other sea noises.
37:52Suddenly the land opened right ahead of her.
37:56She was coming to the mouth of a river.
37:58She was very low now, only a few feet above the water.
38:02A wavetop came against her toe and a great splash of foam spurted up, drenching her nearly
38:08to the waist.
38:10Now she was losing speed.
38:12Instead of being carried up the river, she was gliding into the riverbank on her left.
38:18There were so many things to notice that she could hardly take them all in.
38:21A smooth green lawn, a ship so brightly coloured that it looked like an enormous piece of jewellery,
38:29towers and battlements, banners fluttering in the air, a crowd, gay clothes, armour,
38:36gold, swords, a sound of music, but this was all jumbled.
38:41The first thing that she knew clearly was that she had alighted and was standing under
38:46a thicket of trees close by the riverside and there, only a few feet away from her,
38:52was Scrub.
38:54The first thing she thought was how very grubby and untidy and generally unimpressive he
39:00looked, and the second was, how wet I am.
39:05CHAPTER 3 The Sailing of the King
39:13What made Scrub look so dingy, and Jill too, if she could only have seen herself,
39:18was the splendour of their surroundings.
39:22I'd better describe them at once.
39:24Through a cleft in those mountains which Jill had seen far inland as she approached the
39:29land, the sunset light was pouring over a level lawn.
39:34On the far side of the lawn, its weather vanes glittering in the light, rose a many-towered
39:40and many-tarroted castle, the most beautiful castle Jill had ever seen.
39:46On the near side was a quay of white marble, and moored to this, the ship.
39:52A tall ship, with high forksail and high poop, gilded and crimson, with a great flag at the
39:59masthead, and many banners waving from the decks, and a row of shields, bright as silver,
40:05along the bulwarks.
40:07The gangplank was laid to her, and at the foot of it, just ready to go on board, stood
40:12an old, old man.
40:15He wore a rich mantle of scarlet, which opened in front to show his silver mail shirt.
40:22There was a thin circlet of gold on his head, his beard, white as wool, fell nearly to his
40:28waist.
40:30He stood straight enough, leaning one hand on the shoulder of a richly-dressed lord who
40:35seemed younger than himself, but you could see he was very old and frail.
40:40He looked as if a puff of wind could blow him away, and his eyes were watery.
40:46Immediately in front of the king, who had turned round to speak to his people before
40:50going on board the ship, there was a little chair on wheels, and harnessed to it, a little
40:57donkey, not much bigger than a big retriever.
41:01In this chair sat a fat little dwarf.
41:05He was as richly-dressed as the king, but because of his fatness, and because he was
41:09sitting hunched up among cushions, the effect was quite different.
41:12It made him look like a shapeless little bundle of fur and silk and velvet.
41:18He was as old as the king, but more hale and hearty, with very keen eyes.
41:24His bare head, which was bald and extremely large, shone like a gigantic billiard-ball
41:30in the sunset light.
41:32Further back, in a half-circle, stood what Jill at once knew to be the courtiers.
41:38They were well worth looking at for their clothes and armour alone.
41:42As far as that went, they looked more like a flower-bed than a crowd, but what really
41:47made Jill open her eyes and mouth as wide as they would go was the people themselves,
41:52if people was the right word, for only about one in every five was human.
41:58The rest were things you never see in our world—fawns, satyrs, centaurs.
42:05Jill could give a name to these, for she had seen pictures of them.
42:08Dwarfs, too, and there were a lot of animals she knew as well—bears,
42:13badgers, moles, leopards, mice, and various birds.
42:17But then they were so very different from the animals which one called by the same
42:21names in England.
42:22Some of them were much bigger—the mice, for instance, stood on their hind-legs and
42:27were over two feet high.
42:29But quite apart from that, they all looked different.
42:33You could see by the expression in their faces that they could talk and think just as well
42:38as you could.
42:41Golly, thought Jill, so it's true after all.
42:45But next moment she added,
42:47I wonder, are they friendly?
42:50For she had just noticed, on the outskirts of the crowd,
42:53one or two giants, and some people whom she couldn't give a name to at all.
42:59At that moment Aslan and the signs rushed back into her mind.
43:03She'd forgotten all about them for the last half hour.
43:07Scrub, she whispered, grabbing his arm.
43:10Scrub, quick!
43:11Do you see anyone you know?
43:13Hm!
43:14So you've turned up again, have you?
43:15said Scrub, disagreeably, for which he had some reason.
43:18Well, keep quiet, can't you?
43:20I want to listen.
43:21Don't be a fool, said Jill.
43:23There isn't a moment to lose.
43:25Don't you see some old friend here?
43:27Because you've got to go and speak to him at once.
43:29What are you talking about?
43:30said Scrub.
43:32It's Aslan.
43:33The lion says you've got to, said Jill despairingly.
43:36I've seen him.
43:38Oh, you have, have you?
43:39What did he say?
43:41He said the very first person you saw in Narnia would be an old friend,
43:44and you've got to speak to him at once.
43:47Well, there's nobody here I've ever seen in my life before.
43:50Anyway, I don't know whether this is Narnia.
43:53I thought you said you'd been here before, said Jill.
43:55Well, you thought wrong, then.
43:58I like that.
43:59You told me.
44:00Oh, for heaven's sake, dry up, and let's hear what they're saying.
44:04The king was speaking to the dwarf, but Jill couldn't hear what he said,
44:08and as far as she could make out, the dwarf made no answer,
44:12though he nodded and wagged his head a great deal.
44:15Then the king raised his voice and addressed the whole court,
44:19but his voice was so old and cracked that she could understand very little of his speech,
44:25especially since it was all about people and places she had never heard of.
44:29When the speech was over, the king stooped down and kissed the dwarf on both cheeks,
44:35straightened himself, raised his right hand as if in blessing,
44:39and went slowly and with feeble steps up the gangway and on board the ship.
44:45The courtiers appeared to be greatly moved by his departure.
44:49Handkerchiefs were got out, sounds of sobbing were heard in every direction.
44:54The gangway was cast off, trumpets sounded from the poop,
44:58and the ship moved away from the quay.
45:01It was being towed by a rowing boat, but Jill didn't see that.
45:06Now, said Scrub, but he didn't get any further, because at that moment a large white object—Jill
45:11thought for a second that it was a kite—came gliding through the air and alighted at his feet.
45:17It was a white owl, but so big that it stood as high as a good-sized dwarf.
45:23It blinked and peered as if it were short-sighted,
45:27and put its head a little on one side, and said in a soft, hooting kind of voice,
45:32To-woo, to-woo, who are you two?
45:36My name's Scrub, and this is Pole, said Eustace.
45:39Would you mind telling us where we are?
45:42In the land of Narnia, at the king's castle of Caer Paravell.
45:47Is that the king who's just taken ship?
45:48Too true, too true, said the owl, sadly, shaking its big head.
45:53But who are you?
45:55There's something magic about you two.
45:57I saw you arrive, you flew.
46:00Everyone else was so busy seeing the king off that nobody knew,
46:03except me.
46:05I happened to notice you.
46:07You flew.
46:08We were sent here by Aslan, said Eustace, in a low voice.
46:13To-woo, to-woo, said the owl, ruffling out its feathers.
46:17This is almost too much for me, so early in the evening.
46:20I'm not quite myself till the sun's down.
46:23And we've been sent to find the lost prince, said Jill,
46:26who'd been anxiously waiting to get into the conversation.
46:29It's the first I've heard about it, said Eustace.
46:31What prince?
46:33You had better come and speak to the Lord Regent at once,
46:36it said.
46:36That's him, over there in the donkey carriage.
46:39Trumpkin the Dwarf.
46:41The bird turned and began leading the way, muttering to itself.
46:45To-woo, to-woo, what did you do?
46:47I can't think clearly yet.
46:48It's too early.
46:50What is the king's name?
46:52asked Eustace.
46:54Caspian the Tenth, said the owl.
46:57And Jill wondered why Scrub had suddenly pulled up short in his walk
47:01and turned an extraordinary colour.
47:04She thought she had never seen him look so sick about anything,
47:08but before she had time to ask any questions they had reached the dwarf,
47:11who was just gathering up the reins of his donkey
47:14and preparing to drive back to the castle.
47:16The crowd of courtiers had broken up
47:19and were going in the same direction by ones and twos and little knots,
47:22like people coming away from watching a game or a race.
47:27To-woo, Lord Regent, said the owl,
47:31stooping down a little and holding its beak near the dwarf's ear.
47:34Huh? What's that? said the dwarf.
47:37Two strangers, my lord, said the owl.
47:41Rangers? What do you mean? said the dwarf.
47:43I see two uncommonly grubby man-cubs. What do they want?
47:47My name's Jill, said Jill the Preston Ford.
47:50She was very eager to explain the business on which they had come.
47:54The girls called Jill, said the owl, as loud as it could.
47:58What's that? said the dwarf.
48:01The girls are all killed. I don't believe a word of it.
48:03What girls? Who killed them?
48:05Only one girl, my lord, said the owl. Her name is Jill.
48:10Speak up, speak up, said the dwarf.
48:12Don't stand there buzzing and twittering in my ear. Who's been killed?
48:16Nobody's been killed, hooted the owl.
48:20Who?
48:21Nobody.
48:22All right, all right, you needn't shout. I'm not so deaf as all that.
48:25What do you mean by coming here to tell me that nobody's been killed?
48:27Why should anyone have been killed?
48:29Better tell him I'm Eustace, said Scrub.
48:33The boys? Eustace, my lord, hooted the owl as loud as it could.
48:38Useless? said the dwarf irritably.
48:40I dare say he is. Is there any reason for bringing him to court, hey?
48:44Not useless, said the owl. Eustace.
48:48Used to it, is he? I don't know what you're talking about, I'm sure.
48:53I'll tell you what it is, Master Glim Feather.
48:56When I was a young dwarf there used to be talking beasts and birds in this country who really could
49:02talk. There wasn't all this mumbling and muttering and whispering.
49:07It wouldn't have been tolerated for a moment.
49:09Not for a moment, sir.
49:11Ernest, my trumpet, please.
49:14A little faun, who had been standing quietly beside the dwarf's elbow all this time,
49:19now handed him a silver ear-trumpet.
49:22It was made like the musical instrument called a serpent,
49:25so that the tube curled right round the dwarf's neck.
49:30While he was getting it settled, the owl, Glim Feather,
49:34suddenly said to the children in a whisper,
49:36My brain's a bit clearer now. Don't say anything about the lost prince.
49:41I'll explain later. It wouldn't do, wouldn't do to. Oh, what it'd do.
49:48Now, said the dwarf, if you have anything sensible to say, Master Glim Feather,
49:54try and say it. Take a deep breath, and don't attempt to speak too quickly.
50:00With help from the children, and in spite of a fit of coughing on the part of the dwarf,
50:05Glim Feather explained that the strangers had been sent by Aslan
50:09to visit the court of Narnia.
50:11The dwarf glanced quickly up at them, with a new expression in his eyes.
50:17Sent by the lion himself, eh? he said.
50:21And from, from that other place beyond the world's end, eh?
50:28Yes, my lord, bawled Eustace into the trumpet.
50:32Son of Adam and daughter of Eve, eh? said the dwarf.
50:37But people at Experiment House haven't heard of Adam and Eve,
50:40so Jill and Eustace couldn't answer this.
50:43But the dwarf didn't seem to notice.
50:46Well, my dears, he said, taking first one and then the other by the hand,
50:51and bowing his head a little, you are very heartily welcome.
50:56If the good king, my poor master, had not this very hour set sail for Seven Isles,
51:01he would have been glad of your coming.
51:04It would have brought back his youth to him for a moment.
51:08For a moment.
51:10And now it is high time for supper.
51:13You shall tell me your business in full counsel tomorrow morning.
51:16Master Glim Feather, see that bedchambers and suitable clothes and all else
51:21are provided for these guests in the most honourable fashion.
51:24And, Glim Feather, in your ear.
51:27Here the dwarf put his mouth close to the owl's head,
51:30and no doubt intended to whisper.
51:32But like other deaf people, he wasn't a very good judge of his own voice,
51:36and both children heard him say,
51:38See that they're properly washed.
51:41After that, the dwarf touched up his donkey,
51:44and it set off towards the castle at something between a trot and a waddle.
51:48It was a very fat little beast.
51:51While the fawn, the owl, and the children followed at a rather slower pace.
51:56The sun had set, and the air was growing cool.
52:02They went across the lawn, and then through an orchard,
52:05and so to the north gate of Caer Paravell, which stood wide open.
52:10Inside they found a grassy courtyard.
52:14Lights were already showing from the windows of the great hall on their right,
52:17and from a more complicated mass of buildings straight ahead.
52:21Into these the owl led them,
52:24and there a most delightful person was called to look after Jill.
52:29She's not much taller than Jill herself,
52:31and a good deal slenderer, but obviously full-grown,
52:35graceful as a willow, and her hair was willowy too,
52:38and there seemed to be moss in it.
52:41She brought Jill to a round room in one of the turrets,
52:45where there was a little bath sunk in the floor,
52:47and a fire of sweet-smelling woods burning on the flat hearth,
52:51and a lamp hanging by a silver chain from the vaulted roof.
52:56The window looked west into the strange land of Narnia,
52:59and Jill saw the red remains of the sunset still glowing behind distant mountains.
53:05It made her long for more adventures,
53:07and feel sure that this was only the beginning.
53:11When she'd had her bath, and brushed her hair,
53:13and put on the clothes that had been laid out for her
53:16they were the kind that not only felt nice,
53:18but looked nice, and smelt nice,
53:19and made nice sounds when you moved as well.
53:22She would have gone back to gaze out of that exciting window,
53:25but she was interrupted by a bang on the door.
53:28"'Come in,' said Jill, and in came Scrub,
53:32also bathed and splendidly dressed in Narnian clothes.
53:36But his face didn't look as if he were enjoying it.
53:40"'Ah, here you are at last,' he said,
53:42crossly flinging himself into a chair,
53:44and trying to find you for ever so long.
53:47"'Well, now you have,' said Jill.
53:49"'I say, Scrub, isn't it all simply too exciting and scrumptious for words?'
53:54She'd forgotten all about the signs and the lost prints for the moment.
53:59"'Oh, that's what you think, is it?' said Scrub,
54:02and then after a pause,
54:04"'I wish to goodness we'd never come.'
54:07"'Why on earth? I can't bear it,' said Scrub.
54:10"'Seeing the King, Caspian, a doddering old man like that, it's frightful.
54:17"'Why, what harm does it do you?'
54:20"'Oh, you don't understand.
54:22"'Now that I come to think of it, you couldn't.
54:25"'I didn't tell you that this world has a different time from ours.'
54:30"'How do you mean?'
54:31"'The time you spend here doesn't take up any of our time, do you see?
54:35"'I mean, however long we spend here,
54:37"'we shall still get back to Experiment House at the moment we left it.'
54:41"'Oh, that won't be much fun.
54:42"'Oh, dry up, don't keep interrupting.
54:45"'And when you're back in England, in our world,
54:47"'you can't tell how time is going here.
54:49"'It might be any number of years in Narnia while we're having one year at home.'
54:54"'The Pevensies explained it all to me, but like a fool I forgot about it.
54:57"'And now, apparently, it's been about seventy years—Narnian years—since I was here last.
55:04"'You see now? And I come back and find Caspian an old, old man.'
55:11"'Then the King was an old friend of yours,' said Jill, a horrid thought had struck her.
55:16"'I should jolly well think he was,' said Scrub miserably.
55:20"'About as good a friend as a chap could have.
55:23"'At last time he was only a few years older than me.
55:26"'And to see that old man with a white beard,
55:29"'and to remember Caspian as he was the morning we captured the Lone Islands,
55:33"'or in the fight with the Sea Serpent—oh, it's rightful!
55:37"'It's worse than coming back and finding him dead.'
55:41"'Oh, shut up,' said Jill impatiently.
55:42"'It's far worse than you think.
55:44"'We've muffed the first sign.'
55:47"'Of course Scrub did not understand this.
55:51"'Then Jill told him about her conversation with Aslan,
55:54"'and the four signs, and the task of finding the lost prints which had been laid upon them.
56:01"'So you see,' she wound up,
56:03"'you did see an old friend, just as Aslan said.
56:06"'And you ought to have gone and spoken to him at once.
56:09"'And now you haven't.
56:11"'And everything is going wrong from the very beginning.'
56:14"'But how was I to know?' said Scrub.
56:17"'You'd only listen to me when I tried to tell you.
56:19"'We'd be all right,' said Jill.
56:22"'Yes, and if you hadn't played the fool on the edge of that cliff,
56:25"'and jolly nearly murdered me—all right, I said murder,
56:28"'and I'll say it again as often as I like, so keep your hair on—
56:30"'we'd have come together, and both known what to do.'
56:35"'I suppose he was the very first person you saw,' said Jill.
56:38"'You must have been here hours before me.
56:40"'You sure you didn't see anyone else first?'
56:43"'I was only here about a minute before you,' said Scrub.
56:46"'He must have blown you quicker than me,
56:47"'making up for lost time—the time you lost.'
56:51"'Don't be a perfect beast, Scrub,' said Jill.
56:54"'Hello, what's that?'
56:56"'It was the castle bell ringing for supper,
56:59"'and thus what looked like turning into a first-rate quarrel
57:02"'was happily cut short.
57:04"'Both had a good appetite by this time.'
57:08"'Supper in the great hall of the castle was the most splendid thing
57:11"'either of them had ever seen,
57:13"'for though Eustace had been in that world before,
57:16"'he'd spent his whole visit at sea,
57:19"'and knew nothing of the glory and courtesy of the Narnians at home
57:22"'in their own land.
57:25"'The banners hung from the roof,
57:27"'and each course came in with trumpeters and kettledrums.
57:30"'There were soups that would make your mouth water to think of,
57:34"'and the lovely fishes called pavenders,
57:36"'and venison, and peacock and pies,
57:39"'and ices and jellies and fruit and nuts,
57:42"'and all manner of wines and fruit-drinks.
57:45"'Even Eustace cheered up and admitted that it was something like.
57:50"'And when all the serious eating and drinking was over,
57:53"'a blind poet came forward,
57:54"'and struck up the grand old tale of Prince Cor and Aravis
57:58"'and the Horse Bree,
58:00"'which is called The Horse and His Boy,
58:03"'and tells of an adventure that happened in Narnia and Calormen,
58:06"'and the lands between in the Golden Age
58:09"'when Peter was High King in Caer Paravell.
58:12"'I haven't time to tell it now,
58:14"'though it is well worth hearing.'
58:16"'When they were dragging themselves upstairs to bed,
58:19"'yawning their heads off,
58:20"'Jill said,
58:21"'I bet we sleep well tonight.'
58:24"'For it had been a full day,
58:26"'which just shows how little anyone knows
58:28"'what is going to happen to them next.'
58:42"'