书城童书纳尼亚传奇系列(套装共7册)
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第386章 医治创伤(4)

Most of the gang were there-Adela Pennyfather and Cholmondely Major, Edith Winterblott, ‘Spotty’ Sorrier, big Bannister, and the two loathsome Garrett twins. But suddenly they stopped. Their faces changed, and all the meanness, conceit, cruelty, and sneakishness almost disappeared in one single expression of terror. For they saw the wall fallen down, and a lion as large as a young elephant lying in the gap, and three figures in glittering clothes with weapons in theirhands rushing down upon them. For, with the strength of Aslan in them, Jill plied her crop on the girls and Caspian and Eustace plied

the flats of their swords on the boys so well that in two minutes all the bullies were running like mad, crying out, “Murder! Fascists! Lions! It isn‘t fair.” And then the Head (who was, by the way, a woman) came running out to see what was happening. And when she saw the lion and the broken wall and Caspian and Jill and Eustace (whom she quite failed to recognize) she had hysterics and went back to the house and began ringing up the police with stories about a lion escaped from a circus, and escaped convicts who broke down walls and carried drawn swords. In the midst of all this fuss Jill and Eustace slipped quietly indoors and changed out of their bright clothes into ordinary things, and Caspian went back into his own world. And the wall, at Aslan’s word, was made whole again. When the police arrived and found no lion, no broken wall, and no convicts, and the Head behaving like a lunatic, there was an inquiry into the whole thing. And in the inquiry all sorts of things about Experiment House came out, and about ten people got expelled. After that, the Head‘s friends saw that the Head was no use as a Head, so they got her made an Inspector to interfere with other Heads. And when they found she wasn’t much good even at that, they got her into Parliament where she lived happily ever after.

Eustace buried his fine clothes secretly one night in the school grounds, but Jill smuggled hers home and wore them at a fancy-dress ball the next holidays. And from that day forth things changed for the better at Experiment House, and it became quite a good school. And Jill and Eustace were always friends.

But far off in Narnia, King Rilian buried his father, Caspian the Navigator, Tenth of that name, and mourned for him. He himself ruled Narnia well and the land was happy in his days, though Puddleglum (whose foot was as good as new in three weeks) often pointed out that bright mornings brought on wet afternoons, and that you couldn‘t expect good times to last. The opening into the hillside was left open, and often in hot summer days the Narnians go in there with ships and lanterns and down to the water and sail to and fro, singing, on the cool, dark underground sea, telling each other stories of the cities that lie fathoms deep below. If ever you have the luck to go to Narnia yourself, do not forget to have a look at those caves.

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第二天早上,吉尔一觉醒来,发现自己是在一个岩洞里。刹那之间,她感到了恐惧,还以为自己又回到了地下世界。但当她很快注意到,自己正躺在石南铺的床上,身上盖着一件皮斗篷,熊熊的火焰在石壁炉上欢快地噼啪作响(就像是刚刚点燃)。不远处,清晨的阳光从洞口照射了进来,她这才想起了整个令人愉快的经过。他们开心地吃了晚餐,所有的人都挤在那个岩洞里。一切还没有正式结束,她已经困得睁不开眼睛了。她模模糊糊地记得,矮人们围拢在炉火的周围,使用的炒锅比他们自己还要大,吱吱作响的腊肠的香味,许多许多的香肠,不是那种蹩脚的香肠,里边装了一半的面包和大豆,而是真正灌满了肉和香料的香肠,油滋滋、热腾腾、胀鼓鼓的,煎得略微有点儿焦黄。大杯子里装着起泡的巧克力,还有烤土豆、烤栗子。烤苹果的芯已经挖去,在里面塞满了葡萄干。饱餐这些热食之后,还有冰激凌来帮助你凉爽一下。

吉尔坐了起来,向四处打量。浦都格伦和尤斯塔斯躺在不远的地方,还在呼呼大睡。

“喂,你们两个!”吉尔大声喊道,“你们不打算起床吗?”“嘘,嘘!”在她的上方某处传来一个睡意朦胧的声音,“还是休息的时间。好好打个盹儿,对,对。不要大声喧哗。嘟-呜!”“啊哈,我相信,”吉尔说着,抬头看见岩洞的一个角落里,一只长着白色羽毛的鸟儿正栖息在一个老掉牙的座钟上,“我相信那是格里姆费塞!”“不错,不错,”猫头鹰嗡嗡应道,从翅膀下边抬起头来,睁开了一只眼睛,“大约两点钟时,我给王子捎来了一个口信。是松鼠们给我们带来的好消息,是给王子的口信。他已经走了。你们也要赶过去。日安--”它的脑袋又缩了回去。

看来从猫头鹰那里再也得不到更多的信息了,吉尔起了床,四处张望,想要设法漱洗一下,然而吃点儿早饭。就在这时,一个小潘恩匆匆跑进了岩洞,他的山羊蹄子在石头地板上发出清脆的哒哒声。

“啊,你终于醒啦,夏娃的女儿,”他说,“也许你最好唤醒亚当的儿子。几分钟后你们就必须出发了。两个半人马善意地提出来,让你们骑在他们的背上,前往凯尔帕拉维尔。”他压低声音补充道,“当然,你要意识到,允许你们骑在半人马身上,这是一种极其特殊、闻所未闻的荣誉。据我所知,以前从未听说有人这么做过。不能让他们在那里一直等着。”

“王子在哪儿?”尤斯塔斯和浦都格伦刚一醒来,就立刻问道。“他已前往凯尔帕拉维尔,去迎接国王,他的父亲。”潘恩答道,他的名字叫欧伦思,“陛下的船随时都可能抵达港口。看来国王遇到了阿斯兰--我不知道他是通过异象,还是亲眼看到的--还没有驶出多远,阿斯兰让他掉头返回,告诉他,当他到达纳尼亚时,会发现他失踪已久的儿子正在那里恭候他的大驾。”

尤斯塔斯起身下床,和吉尔一起帮着欧伦思把早餐摆好。他们让浦都格伦待在床上。一位名叫克劳德博斯的半人马是个大名鼎鼎的医师,或者(像欧伦思所称呼的)是一个“水蛭”,要来诊治他烧伤的脚。

“啊!”浦都格伦用一种近乎满足的声调说,“我毫不奇怪,他想要把我的腿从膝盖处截去。你们等着瞧吧,看他会不会这样做。”能够待在床上,他感到很高兴。

早餐是炒鸡蛋和烤面包,尤斯塔斯吃得津津有味,仿佛半夜时他并没有吃过一顿丰盛的晚餐一样。

“听着,亚当的儿子,”潘恩惊讶地看着尤斯塔斯狼吞虎咽,说道,“你没有必要那么慌张。我想,半人马还没有吃完他们的早餐。”

“那么他们一定起来得很晚,”尤斯塔斯说,“我敢打赌,已经过了十点钟了。”

“哦不,”欧伦思说,“天还没亮他们就起床了。”“要不然,他们一定等了好久才吃早餐。”尤斯塔斯说。“不,他们没有等,”欧伦思说,“他们刚一睡醒,就开始吃早餐了。”“好家伙!”尤斯塔斯说,“他们吃很多东西吗?”“哎呦,亚当的儿子,你难道不懂吗?半人马有一个人类的胃,还有一个马的胃。当然两个胃都要吃早饭。于是他先喝粥,又吃了彩虹鱼、腰子、腌肉、煎鸡蛋、冷火腿、吐司面包片、桔汁、咖啡和啤酒。然后再来关照自己的马胃,用一个小时左右的时间咀嚼青草,最后喝一些热的糊状饲料,吃一些燕麦和一袋糖。这就是要求一个半人马留下来过周末非同寻常的原因。的确事关重大。”

就在这时,洞口传来了马蹄敲打岩石的声音,孩子们抬头望去。只见两个半人马站在那里,他们略微低下头,正朝洞里观看。一个半人马长着黑色的胡须,另一个长着金色的胡须,长髯在他们宽阔赤裸的胸前飘拂着。两个孩子立刻变得彬彬有礼,很快吃完早饭。看到半人马,没有人会觉得他们可笑。他们是一些严肃而崇高的人,充满了远古的智慧,那是他们从星星那里学来的。他们往往喜怒不行于色,可一旦惹他们发怒,他们的怒气就会像海啸一般可怕。

“再见,亲爱的浦都格伦,”吉尔说着,走到沼泽人的床边,“对不起,我们曾说你是个爱泼冷水的人。”

“我也很抱歉,”尤斯塔斯说,“你是世界上最好的朋友。”“我希望我们还能够再见面。”吉尔补充道。“我要说,希望渺茫,”浦都格伦答道,“我认为,很可能我再也看不到自己的小窝棚了。那个王子--他是个好小伙子--但你觉得他身体强壮吗?地下生活能毁坏人的体格,我丝毫也不感到奇怪。看上去他是那种说不定哪天就垮掉的人。”

“浦都格伦!”吉尔说,“你是一个喜爱胡说八道的老家伙。你的话听起来像是葬礼上的悼词一样悲伤,可是我相信,你其实非常快活。你讲起话来,似乎你对什么都惧怕,实际上你勇猛得像--像一头狮子。”

“好吧,说到葬礼。”浦都格伦又开腔了。听到身后半人马在踢踏着蹄子,吉尔猛地用双臂搂住他细细的脖子,在他那泥巴一样的脸颊亲吻了一下,这使他大大地吃了一惊。尤斯塔斯则紧紧握了握他的手。然后,他们俩转身向半人马跑了过去,沼泽人歪倒在床上,自言自语地说道:“喔,我做梦也没想到她会那样。尽管我是一个英俊的家伙。”