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第6部分

prince caspian_c·s·刘易斯-第6部分

小说: prince caspian_c·s·刘易斯 字数: 每页4000字

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。 on his left was the gleam of the great  river; and everything was so quiet that he could hear the sound of the waterfall at  beaversdam; a mile away。 there was no difficulty in picking out the two stars they had  e to see。

they hung rather low in the southern sky; almost as bright as two little  moons and very close together。

〃are they going to have a collision?〃 he asked in an awestruck voice。

〃nay; dear prince;〃 said the doctor (and he too spoke in a whisper)。 〃the  great lords of the upper sky know the steps of their dance too well for that。 look well  upon them。 their meeting is fortunate and means some great good for the sad realm of narnia。  tarva; the lord of victory; salutes alambil; the lady of peace。 they are just ing  to their nearest。鈥

〃its a pity that tree gets in the way;〃 said caspian。 〃wed really see  better from the west tower; though it is not so high。鈥

doctor cornelius said nothing for about two minutes; but stood still with  his eyes fixed on tarva and alambil。 then he drew a deep breath and turned to caspian。

〃there;〃 he said。 〃you have seen what no man now alive has seen; nor will  see again。

and you are right。 we should have seen it even better from the smaller  tower。 i brought you here for another reason。鈥

caspian looked up at him; but the doctors hood concealed most of his face。

〃the virtue of this tower;〃 said doctor cornelius; 〃is that we have six  empty rooms beneath us; and a long stair; and the door at the bottom of the stair is  locked。 we cannot be overheard。鈥

〃are you going to tell me what you wouldnt tell me the other day?〃 said  caspian。

〃i am;〃 said the doctor。 〃but remember。 you and i must never talk about  these things except here … on the very top of the great tower。鈥

〃no。 thats a promise;〃 said caspian。 〃but do go on; please。鈥

〃listen;〃 said the doctor。 〃all you have heard about old narnia is true。 it  is not the land of men。 it is the country of aslan; the country of the waking trees and  visible naiads; of fauns and satyrs; of dwarfs and giants; of the gods and the centaurs; of  talking beasts。 it was against these that the first caspian fought。 it is you  telmarines who silenced the beasts and the trees and the fountains; and who killed and  drove away the dwarfs and fauns; and are now trying to cover up even the memory of them。  the king does not allow them to be spoken of。鈥

〃oh; i do wish we hadnt;〃 said caspian。 〃and i am glad it was all true;  even if it is all over。鈥

〃many of your race wish that in secret;〃 said doctor cornelius。

〃but; doctor;〃 said caspian; 〃why do you say my race? after all; i suppose  youre a telmarine too。鈥

〃am i?〃 said the doctor。

〃well; youre a man anyway;〃 said caspian。

〃am i?〃 repeated the doctor in a deeper voice; at the same moment throwing  back his hood so that caspian could see his face clearly in the moonlight。

all at once caspian realized the truth and felt that he ought to have  realized it long before。 doctor cornelius was so small; and so fat; and had such a very long  beard。 two thoughts came into his head at the same moment。 one was a thought of terror  … 〃hes not a real man; not a man at all; hes a dwarf; and hes brought me up here to  kill me。〃 the other was sheer delight … 〃there are real dwarfs still; and ive seen one  at last。鈥

〃so youve guessed it in the end;〃 said doctor cornelius。 〃or guessed it  nearly right。 im not a pure dwarf。 i have human blood in me too。 many dwarfs escaped in the  great battles and lived on; shaving their beards and wearing highheeled shoes and  pretending to be men。 they have mixed with your telmarines。 i am one of those; only a  halfdwarf; and if any of my kindred; the true dwarfs; are still alive anywhere in the  world; doubtless they would despise me and call me a traitor。 but never in all these years  have we forgotten our own people and all the other happy creatures of narnia; and  the long…lost days of freedom。鈥

〃im … im sorry; doctor;〃 said caspian。 〃it wasnt my fault; you know。鈥

〃i am not saying these things in blame of you; dear prince;〃 answered the  doctor。 〃you may well ask why i say them at all。 but i have two reasons。 firstly;  because my old heart has carried these secret memories so long that it aches with them and would  burst if i did not whisper them to you。 but secondly; for this: that when you bee king  you may help us; for i know that you also; telmarine though you are; love the old  things。鈥

〃i do; i do;〃 said caspian。 〃but how can i help?鈥

〃you can be kind to the poor remnants of the dwarf people; like myself。 you  can gather learned magicians and try to find a way of awaking the trees once more。 you  can search through all the nooks and wild places of the land to see if any fauns or  talking beasts or dwarfs are perhaps still alive in hiding。鈥

〃do you think there are any?〃 asked caspian eagerly。

〃i dont know … i dont know;〃 said the doctor with a deep sigh。 〃sometimes  i am afraid there cant be。 i have been looking for traces of them all my life。  sometimes i have thought i heard a dwarf…drum in the mountains。 sometimes at night; in the  woods; i thought i had caught a glimpse of fauns and satyrs dancing a long way off;  but when i came to the place; there was never anything there。 i have often despaired;  but something always happens to start me hoping again。 i dont know。 but at least you can  try to be a king like the high king peter of old; and not like your uncle。鈥

〃then its true about the kings and queens too; and about the white witch?〃  said caspian。

〃certainly it is true;〃 said cornelius。 〃their reign was the golden age in  narnia and the land has never forgotten them。鈥

〃did they live in this castle; doctor?鈥

〃nay; my dear;〃 said the old man。 〃this castle is a thing of yesterday。  your great…great…grandfather built it。 but when the two sons of adam and the two daughters  of eve were made kings and queens of narnia by aslan himself; they lived in the castle  of cair paravel。 no man alive has seen that blessed place and perhaps even the  ruins of it have now vanished。 but we believe it was far from here; down at the mouth of the  great river; on the very shore of the sea。鈥

〃ugh!〃 said caspian with a shudder。 〃do you mean in the black woods? where  all the … the … you know; the ghosts live?鈥

〃your highness speaks as you have been taught;〃 said the doctor。 〃but it is  all lies。

there are no ghosts there。 that is a story invented by the telmarines。 your  kings are in deadly fear of the sea because they can never quite forget that in all  stories aslan es from over the sea。 they dont want to go near it and they dont want anyone  else to go near it。 so they have let great woods grow up to cut their people off from  the coast。 but because they have quarrelled with the trees they are afraid of the woods。  and because they are afraid of the woods they imagine that they are full of ghosts。 and  the kings and great men; hating both the sea and the wood; partly believe these stories;  and partly encourage them。 they feel safer if no one in narnia dares to go down to the  coast and look out to sea towards aslans land and the morning and the eastern end of  the world。鈥

there was a deep silence between them for a few minutes。 then doctor  cornelius said; 〃e。 we have been here long enough。 it is time to go down and to bed。鈥

〃must we?〃 said caspian。 〃id like to go on talking about these things for  hours and hours and hours。鈥

〃someone might begin looking for us; if we did that;〃 said doctor  cornelius。

  



CHAPTER SIX

锛堝皬锛忥紡璇达紡锛弔锛忥紡xt锝//澶//鍫傦級
the people that lived in hiding  now began the happiest times that caspian had ever known。 on a fine summer  morning when the dew lay on the grass he set off with the badger and the two  dwarfs; up through the forest to a high saddle in the mountains and down on to their sunny  southern slopes where one looked across the green wolds of archenland。

〃we will go first to the three bulgy bears;〃 said trumpkin。

they came in a glade to an old hollow oak tree covered with moss; and  trufflehunter tapped with his paw three times on the trunk and there was no answer。 then  he tapped again and a woolly sort of voice from inside said; 〃go away。 its not time  to get up yet。鈥

but when he tapped the third time there was a noise like a small earthquake  from inside and a sort of door opened and out came three brown bears; very bulgy indeed  and blinking their little eyes。 and when everything had been explained to them  (which took a long time because they were so sleepy) they said; just as trufflehunter had  said; that a son of adam ought to be king of narnia and all kissed caspian … very wet;  snuffly kisses they were … and offered him some honey。 caspian did not really want honey;  without bread; at that time in the morning; but he thought it polite to accept。 it  took him a long time afterwards to get unsticky。

after that they went on till they came among tall beech trees and  trufflehunter called out; 〃pattertwig! pattertwig! pattertwig!〃 and almost at once; bounding down  from branch to branch till he was just above their heads; came the most magnificent red  squirrel that caspian had ever seen。 he was far bigger than the ordinary dumb squirrels  which he had sometimes seen in the castle gardens; indeed he was nearly the size of a  terrier and the moment you looked in his face you saw that he could talk。 indeed the  difficulty was to get him to stop talking; for; like all squirrels; he was a chatterer。 he  weled caspian at once and asked if he would like a nut and caspian said thanks; he would。  but as pattertwig went bounding away to fetch it; trufflehunter whispered in  caspians ear; 〃dont look。 look the other way。 its very bad manners among squirrels to  watch anyone going to his store or to look as if you wanted to know where it was。〃 then  pattertwig came back with the nut and caspian ate it and after that pattertwig asked  if he could take any messages to other friends。 〃for i can go nearly everywhere without  setting foot to ground;〃 he said。 trufflehunter and the dwarfs thought this a very good  idea and gave pattertwig messages to all sorts of people with queer names te

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