the dufflepuds made happy

lucy followed the great lion out into the passage and at once she saw coming towards them an old man, barefoot, dressed in a red robe. his white hair was crowned with a chaplet of oak leaves, his beard fell to his girdle, and he supported himself with a curiously carved staff. when he saw aslan he bowed low and said,

"welcome, sir, to the least of your houses."

"do you grow weary, coriakin, of ruling such foolish subjects as i have given you here?"

"no," said the magician, "they are very stupid but there is no real harm in them. i begin to grow rather fond of the creatures. sometimes, perhaps, i am a little impatient, waiting for the day when they can be governed by wisdom instead of this rough magic."

"all in good time, coriakin," said aslan.

"yes, all in very good time, sir," was the answer. "do you intend to show yourself to them?"

"nay," said the lion, with a little half-growl that meant (lucy thought) the same as a laugh. "i should frighten them out of their senses. many stars will grow old and come to take their rest in islands before your people are ripe for that. and today before sunset i must visit trumpkin the dwarf where he sits in the castle of cair paravel counting the days till his master caspian comes home. i will tell him all your story, lucy. do not look so sad. we shall meet soon again."

"please, aslan," said lucy, "what do you call soon?"

"i call all times soon," said aslan; and instantly he was vanished away and lucy was alone with the magician.

"gone!" said he, "and you and i quite crestfallen. it's always like that, you can't keep him; it's not as if he were a tame lion. and how did you enjoy my book?"

"parts of it very much indeed," said lucy. "did you know i was there all the time?"

"well, of course i knew when i let the duffers make themselves invisible that you would be coming along presently to take the spell off. i wasn't quite sure of the exact day. and i wasn't especially on the watch this morning. you see they had made me invisible too and being invisible always makes me so sleepy. heigh-ho - there i'm yawning again. are you hungry?"

"well, perhaps i am a little," said lucy. "i've no idea what the time is."

"come," said the magician. "all times may be soon to aslan; but in my home all hungry times are one o'clock."

he led her a little way down the passage and opened a door. passing in, lucy found herself in a pleasant room full of sunlight and flowers. the table was bare when they entered, but it was of course a magic table, and at a word from the old man the tablecloth, silver, plates, glasses and food appeared.

"i hope that is-what you would like," said he. "i have tried to give you food more like the food of your own land than perhaps you have had lately."

"it's lovely," said lucy, and so it was; an omelette, piping hot, cold lamb and green peas, a strawberry ice, lemonsquash to drink with the meal and a cup of chocolate to follow. but the magician himself drank only wine and ate only bread. there was nothing alarming about him, and lucy and he were soon chatting away like old friends.

"when will the spell work?" asked lucy. "will the duffers be visible again at once?"

"oh yes, they're visible now. but they're probably all asleep still; they always take a rest in the middle of the day."

"and now that they're visible, are you going to let them off being ugly? will you make them as they were before?"

"well, that's rather a delicate question," said the magician. "you see, it's only they who think they were so nice to look at before. they say they've been uglified, but that isn't what i called it. many people might say the change was for the better."

"are they awfully conceited?"

"they are. or at least the chief duffer is, and he's taught all the rest to be. they always believe every word he says."

"we'd noticed that," said lucy.

"yes - we'd get on better without him, in a way. of course i could turn him into something else, or even put a spell on him which would make them not believe a word he said. but i don't like to do that. it's better for them to admire him than to admire nobody."

"don't they admire you?" asked lucy.

"oh, not me," said the magician. "they wouldn't admire me."

"what was it you uglified them for - i mean, what they call uglified?"

"well, they wouldn't do what they were told. their work is to mind the garden and raise food - not for me, as they imagine, but for themselves. they wouldn't do it at all if i didn't make them. and of course for a garden you want water. there is a beautiful spring about half a mile away up the hill. and from that spring there flows a stream which comes right past the garden. all i asked them to do was to take their water from the stream instead of trudging up to the spring with their buckets two or three times a day and tiring themselves out besides spilling half of it on the way back. but they wouldn't see it. in the end they refused point blank."

"are they as stupid as all that?" asked lucy.

the magician sighed. "you wouldn't believe the troubles i've had with them. a few months ago they were all for washing up the plates and knives before dinner: they said it saved time afterwards. i've caught them planting boiled potatoes to save cooking them when they were dug up. one day the cat got into the dairy and twenty of them were at work moving all the milk out; no one thought of moving the cat. but i see you've finished. let's go and look at the duffers now they can be looked at."

they went into another room which was full of polished instruments hard to understand - such as astrolabes, orreries, chronoscopes, poesimeters, choriambuses and theodolinds - and here, when they had come to the window, the magician said, "there. there are your duffers."

"i don't see anybody," said lucy. "and what are those mushroom things?"

the things she pointed at were dotted all over the level grass. they were certainly very like mushrooms, but far too big - the stalks about three feet high and the umbrellas about the same length from edge to edge. when she looked carefully she noticed too that the stalks joined the umbrellas not in the middle but at one side which gave an unbalanced look to them. and there was something - a sort of little bundle - lying on the grass at the foot of each stalk. in fact the longer she gazed at them the less like mushrooms they appeared. the umbrella part was not really round as she had thought at first. it was longer than it was broad, and it widened at one end. there were a great many of them, fifty or more.

the clock struck three.

instantly a most extraordinary thing happened. each of the "mushrooms" suddenly turned upside-down. the little bundles which had lain at the bottom of the stalks were heads and bodies. the stalks themselves were legs. but not two legs to each body. each body had a single thick leg right under it (not to one side like the leg of a one-legged man) and at the end of it, a single enormous foot-a broadtoed foot with the toes curling up a little so that it looked rather like a small canoe. she saw in a moment why they had looked like mushrooms. they had been lying flat on their backs each with its single leg straight up in the air and its enormous foot spread out above it. she learned afterwards that this was their ordinary way of resting; for the foot kept off both rain and sun and for a monopod to lie under its own foot is almost as good as being in a tent.

"oh, the funnies, the funnies," cried lucy, bursting into laughter. "did you make them like that?"

"yes, yes. i made the duffers into monopods," said the magician. he too was laughing till the tears ran down his cheeks. "but watch," he added.

it was worth watching. of course these little one-footed men couldn't walk or run as we do. they got about by jumping, like fleas or frogs. and what jumps they made! as if each big foot were a mass of springs. and with what a bounce they came down; that was what made the thumping noise which had so puzzled lucy yesterday. for now they were jumping in all directions and calling out to one another, "hey, lads! we're visible again."

"visible we are," said one in a tasselled red cap who was obviously the chief monopod. "and what i say is, when chaps are visible, why, they can see one another."

"ah, there it is, there it is, chief," cried all the others. "there's the point. no one's got a clearer head than you. you couldn't have made it plainer."

"she caught the old man napping, that little girl did," said the chief monopod. "we've beaten him this time."

"just what we were, going to say ourselves," chimed the chorus. "you're going stronger than ever today, chief. keep it up, keep it up."

"but do they dare to talk about you like that?" said lucy. "they seemed to be so afraid of you yesterday. don't they know you might be listening?"

"that's one of the funny things about the duffers," said the magician. "one minute they talk as if i ran everything and overheard everything and was extremely dangerous. the next moment they think they can take me in by tricks that a baby would see through - bless them!"

"will they have to be turned back into their proper shapes?" asked lucy. "oh, i do hope it wouldn't be unkind to leave them as they are. do they really mind very much? they seem pretty happy. i say - look at that jump. what were they like before?"

"common little dwarfs," said he. "nothing like so nice as the sort you have in narnia."

"it would be a pity to change them back," said lucy. "they're so funny: and they're rather nice. do you think it would make any difference if i told them that?"

"i'm sure it would - if you could get it into their heads."

"will you come with me and try?"

"no, no. you'll get on far better without me."

"thanks awfully for the lunch," said lucy and turned quickly away. she ran down the stairs which she had come up so nervously that morning and cannoned into edmund at the bottom. all the others were there with him waiting, and lucy's conscience smote her when she saw their anxious faces and realized how long she had forgotten them.

"it's all right," she shouted. "everything's all right. the magician's a brick - and i've seen him - aslan."

after that she went from them like the wind and out into the garden. here the earth was shaking with the jumps and the air ringing with the shouts of the monopods. both were redoubled when they caught sight of her.

"here she comes, here she comes," they cried. "three cheers for the little girl. ah! she put it across the old gentleman properly, she did."

"and we're extremely regrettable," said the chief monopod, "that we can't give you the pleasure of seeing us as we were before we were uglified, for you wouldn't believe the difference, and that's the truth, for there's no denying we're mortal ugly now, so we won't deceive you."

"eh, that we are, chief, that we are," echoed the others, bouncing like so many toy balloons. "you've said it, you've said it."

"but i don't think you are at all," said lucy, shouting to make herself heard. "i think you look very nice."

"hear her, hear her," said the monopods. "true for you, missie. very nice we look. you couldn't find a handsomer lot." they said this without any surprise and did not seem to notice that they had changed their minds.

"she's a-saying," remarked the chief monopod, "as how we looked very nice before we were uglified."

"true for you, chief, true for you," chanted the others. "that's what she says. we heard her ourselves."

"i did not," bawled lucy. "i said you're very nice now."

"so she did, so she did," said the chief monopod, "said we were very nice then."

"hear 'em both, hear 'em both," said the monopods. "there's a pair for you. always right. they couldn't have put it better."

"but we're saying just the opposite," said lucy, stamping her foot with impatience.

"so you are, to be sure, so you are," said the monopods. "nothing like an opposite. keep it up, both of you."

"you're enough to drive anyone mad," said lucy, and gave it up. but the monopods seemed perfectly contented, and she decided that on the whole the conversation had been a success.

and before everyone went to bed that evening something else happened which made them even more satisfied with their one-legged condition. caspian and all the narnians went back as soon as possible to the shore to give their news to rhince and the others on board the dawn treader, who were by now very anxious. and, of course, the monopods went with them, bouncing like footballs and agreeing with one another in loud voices till eustace said, "i wish the magician would make them inaudible instead of invisible." (he was soon sorry he had spoken because then he had to explain that an inaudible thing is something you can't hear, and though he took a lot of trouble he never felt sure that the monopods had really understood, and what especially annoyed him was that they said in the end, "eh, he can't put things the way our chief does. but you'll learn, young man. hark to him. he'll show you how to say things. there's a speaker for you!") when they reached the bay, reepicheep had a brilliant idea. he had his little coracle lowered and paddled himself about in it till the monopods were thoroughly interested. he then stood up in it and said, "worthy and intelligent monopods, you do not need boats. each of you has a foot that will do instead. just jump as lightly as you can on the water and see what happens."

the chief monopod hung back and warned the others that they'd find the water powerful wet, but one or two of the younger ones tried it almost at once; and then a few others followed their example, and at last the whole lot did the same. it worked perfectly. the huge single foot of a monopod acted as a natural raft or boat, and when reepicheep had taught them how to cut rude paddles for themselves, they all paddled about the bay and round the dawn treader, looking for all the world like a fleet of little canoes with a fat dwarf standing up in the extreme stern of each. and they had races, and bottles of wine were lowered down to them from the ship as prizes, and the sailors stood leaning over the ship's sides and laughed till their own sides ached.

the duffers were also very pleased with their new name of monopods, which seemed to them a magnificent name though they never got it right. "that's what we are," they bellowed, "moneypuds, pomonods, poddymons. just what it was on the tips of our tongues to call ourselves." but they soon got it mixed up with their old name of duffers and finally settled down to calling themselves the dufflepuds; and that is what they will probably be called for centuries.

that evening all the narnians dined upstairs with the magician, and lucy noticed how different the whole top floor looked now that she was no longer afraid of it. the mysterious signs on the doors were still mysterious but now looked as if they had kind and cheerful meanings, and even the bearded mirror now seemed funny rather than frightening. at dinner everyone had by magic what everyone liked best to eat and drink, and after dinner the magician did a very useful and beautiful piece of magic. he laid two blank sheets of parchment on the table and asked drinian to give him an exact account of their voyage up to date: and as drinian spoke, everything he described came out on the parchment in fine clear lines till at last each sheet was a splendid map of the eastern ocean, showing galma, terebinthia, the seven isles, the lone islands, dragon island, burnt island, deathwater, and the land of the duffers itself, all exactly the right sizes and in the right positions. they were the first maps ever made of those seas and better than any that have been made since without magic. for on these, though the towns and mountains looked at first just as they would on an ordinary map, when the magician lent them a magnifying glass you saw that they were perfect little pictures of the real things, so that you could see the very castle and slave market and streets in narrowhaven, all very clear though very distant, like things seen through the wrong end of a telescope. the only drawback was that the coastline of most of the islands was incomplete, for the map showed only what drinianhad seen with his own eyes. when they were finished the. magician kept one himself and presented the other to caspian: it still hangs in his chamber of instruments at cair paravel. but the magician could tell them nothing about seas or lands further east. he did, however, tell them that about seven years before a narnian ship had put in at his waters and that she had on board the lords revilian, argoz, mavramorn and rhoop: so they judged that the golden man they had seen lying in deathwater must be the lord restimar.

next day, the magician magically mended the stern of the dawn treader where it had been damaged by the sear serpent and loaded her with useful gifts. there was a most friendly parting, and when she sailed, two hours after noon, all the dufflepuds paddled out with her to the harbour mouth, and cheered until she was out of sound of their cheering.

11、笨蛋瓜皆大欢喜

露茜跟着狮王出来，走进走廊，顿时看见迎面来了一个老人，光着脚，穿着一件红袍。他白发上戴着一顶橡树叶编的花冠，胡须垂到腰带，撑着一根雕工奇妙的手杖。他看见阿斯兰就深深鞠躬说：

欢迎阁下光临。”

“科里亚金，我把这么一批笨东西交给你管，你是不是管得厌烦了?”

“不，”魔法师说，“他们虽然很笨，倒没有真正的坏心眼。我对这批怪物慢慢喜欢起来了。我一直在等待有那么一天可以靠智慧，不靠这种粗暴的魔法，来治理他们，有时候，也许等得有点不耐烦了。”

“到时候就好了，科里亚金。”阿斯兰说。

“是啊，到时候就好了，阁下，”他回答道，“你打算在他们面前露露面吗?”

“不，”狮子说，略带几分咆哮，露茜心想这跟笑大概是一个意思吧，“我会把他们吓破胆的。就是等到许多星辰老了，在岛上退休了，你手下的人还没长进到那个程度呢。今天太阳落山前我还必须去看看小矮人杜鲁普金，他正坐在凯尔帕拉维尔的城堡里数着他主人凯斯宾回家的日子呢。我会把你们的经历全告诉他的。露茜，别那么愁眉苦脸。我们不久就会再见面的。”

“请问，阿斯兰，”露茜说，“你说的不久算多久?”

“随时都可以算不久。”阿斯兰说，霎时间他就没影了，只剩下露茜一个人和魔法师在一起。

“走了!”他说，“你我都很失望。一向都是这样，你留不住他；他不像是头温驯的狮子。我那本书怎么样?”

“书里有些地方的确很有趣，”露茜说，“你一直知道我在那儿吗。”

“这个嘛，当然知道，我让这批笨蛋变成隐身人的时候就知道你不久就会来破除魔法。就是拿不准日子。今天早晨，我倒不特意提防。你瞧，这魔法把我也变成隐身人了，隐了身以后弄得我老是想睡。嗨——嗬——瞧我又打呵欠了。你饿了吗?”

“说起来，也许真有点儿饿了，”露茜说，“我不知道现在几点了。”

“来吧，”魔法师说，“对阿斯兰来说，随时都可以算不久；可在我家里肚子随时饿了都算一点钟。”

他带她在走廊上走了一小段路，打开一扇门。进了门，露茜就见自己到了一间满是阳光和鲜花的房间。桌上是空的，可那当然是一张魔桌啦，老魔法师念了一句咒语，桌布、银器、餐盘、酒杯和食物就都出现了。

希望这正是你喜欢吃的，”他说，“我想方设法给你弄来更合乎你本乡本土的食物，不是你最近也许吃过的那种食物。”

“真可爱。”露茜说，可不是吗:一份滚烫的煎蛋卷、冷羊肉、绿豌豆、一份草莓冰淇淋、柠檬汽水作佐餐饮料，随后还有一杯巧克力。可是魔法师本人只喝酒，只吃面包。他一点也不让人觉得惊恐不安，露茜跟他很快就像老朋友似的闲聊开了。

“这咒语几时起作用?”露茜问，“那些笨蛋是不是立刻就现形了?”

“是啊，他们这会儿就现形了。不过他们大概都还睡着；他们在晌午总要休息一下。”

“既然他们都现了形，你打算去掉他们的丑样儿吗?你要不要使他们恢复以前的模样?”

“这个嘛，倒是个相当微妙的问题，”魔法师说，“要知道，只有他们才以为自己从前多么好看。他们说他们给变丑了，可我并不这么说。好多人完全可以说变得反而好看了呢。”

“他们都非常自以为了不起吗?”

“他们就是这样。至少笨蛋头儿是这样，他把其他人都教得这样。他们一贯对他说的话句句都信。”

“这点我们都看出来了。”露茜说。

“是啊——可以说，没有他的话我们日子会更好过些。当然，我能把他变成别的东西，或者对他念一种咒语，使他们对他一句话都不信。可是我不愿意这么做。还是让他们钦佩他吧，总比对谁都不钦佩好。”

“难道他们不钦佩你吗?”露茜问。

“啊呀，才轮不到我呢，”魔法师说，“他们不愿钦佩我。”

“你为什么把他们变丑——我意思是说，他们所谓的变丑?”

“说起来，他们不愿干我叫他们干的活儿。他们的活儿就是照料照料花园，种种粮食——不是像他们想像的为我，而是为他们自己。如果我不逼他们干，他们根本就不愿干。照料花园当然少不了水。山上约莫半英里外有个美丽的山泉，有条小溪从那山泉一直流过花园。我只要他们从这条小溪里取水就行了，用不着他们一天两三回提着水桶，辛辛苦苦爬上山泉去打水，筋疲力尽回来，还不说路上洒掉了一半。可是他们死也不明白，到末了他们干脆拒绝不干了。”

“他们就笨到那种地步吗?”露茜问。

魔法师叹了口气：“他们给我惹的麻烦，说了你也不会相信。两三个月前，饭前他们就都去洗餐盘和刀子，他们说这可以节约时间，免得饭后再洗。有一回他们在刨地，我碰见他们在种煮熟的土豆，说是免得吃时再煮。有一天猫溜进了牛奶房，他们就出动二十个人把牛奶搬出来；竟没人想到把猫赶出来。啊，我看你吃完了。我们就去看看这些笨蛋现在的模样吧。”"

他们走进另外一间房间，里面全是叫人搞不明白的仪表器具，擦得铮亮——比如测定天体位置的星盘、太阳系仪、测量速度的瞬时计、诗行计算表、诗律计算表，经纬仪等等——他们走到窗口，魔法师说：“瞧，这就是你要看的笨蛋。”-

“我什么人都看不见啊，”露茜说，“那些蘑菇般的东西是什么?”

她指的是铺满平坦的草地的东西。的确很像蘑菇，可是要大得多——蘑菇柄约三英尺高，蘑菇盖直径也有这么长。她仔细一看，才看出蘑菇的柄和盖不是在当中连接，而是偏在一边，看上去不对称。每根蘑菇柄根部都有什么东西——一种小包袱似的——躺在草地上。其实这些东西越看越不像蘑菇。正如她开头所想的，盖子部分并不真是圆的，直里比横里长，一头宽。有好多个呢。大约有五十多个。

时钟敲了三下。

顿时出现了一件离奇透顶的事。每一只“蘑菇”忽然一下子都颠倒过来了。连在根部的那小包袱原来是脑袋和身子，柄原来是腿，但不是每个身子长着两条腿。每个身子下面只长着一条粗腿，而且不像一条腿的人那样长在一边，腿下端是一只其大无比的脚——一只粗脚趾的脚，脚趾略为翘起，看上去活像一只小小的独木舟。她一会儿就明白他们为什么看上去像蘑菇了。他们一直仰天平躺在地上，每个人都把那条独腿直挺挺朝天伸着，大脚正好在身子上面伸开。事后她才知道这是他们通常休息的方式；因为这只脚又遮雨又遮太阳，独脚怪躺在自己脚下面几乎跟躺在帐篷里一样。

“啊哟，有趣死了，有趣死了，”露茜放声大笑道，“是你让他们变成这样的吗?”

“是啊，是啊，我把这些笨蛋变成了独脚怪。”魔法师说，他也哈哈大笑，笑得脸上眼泪直淌。“可是你看哪。”他又说。

这倒是值得一看。这些独脚小人当然不能跟我们一样走啊跑的。他们就像跳蚤或青蛙般跳来跳去。他们蹦得多有劲啊!——仿佛每只大脚都是一大团弹簧。他们跳下来也够有劲的；那声音正是昨天搞得露茜莫名其妙的砰砰声。这会儿他们正在四面八方蹦蹦跳跳，彼此大喊大叫：“嗨，伙计!我们又现形了。”

“我们现形了，”一个头戴缀着流苏的红帽子的人说，显然他就是独脚怪的头儿，“我说的是，伙计们现形了，所以我们才互相看得见。”

“啊，说得对，说得对，头儿，”其他的人齐声喊道，“说得一针见血。谁的头脑也比不上你清醒。你说得不能再明白了。”

“那小姑娘弄得老头措手不及，她真行。”独脚怪头儿说，“这回我们骗过他了。”

“我们也正打算这么说呢，”大家齐声唱道，“你今天比往日强多了，头儿。说下去，说下去。”

“可他们竟敢这样说你吗?”露茜说，“他们昨天似乎还很怕你。难道他们不知道你可能听见他们说话吗?”

“这又是那些笨蛋一件可笑事，”魔法师说，“他们一会儿把我说得好像统管一切，偷听一切，危险之至。过一会儿又以为他们凭奶娃娃一看也能识破的花招就能骗我上当——天哪!”

“他们非得变回老样子不可吗?”露茜问，“啊呀，希望让他们就这个模样不至于不近人情吧。他们当真非常在乎吗?他们似乎相当快乐。哎呀——瞧那种跳跳蹦蹦的样子。他们以前是什么模样?”

“普通的小矮人呗，”他说，“比你们纳尼亚那种小矮人差得多了。”

“把他们变回老样子真太可惜了，”露茜说，“他们很滑稽，而且相当好。你看如果我跟他们说了会有什么影响吗?”

“如果你能使他们彻底明白——我相信会有影响的。”

“你愿意陪我去试试吗?”

“不，不，我不在场你说了效果反而好得多。”

“多谢你请我吃饭。”露茜说着赶快转身就走。她跑下楼梯，那天早晨她走上这条楼梯时心里还七上八下的呢，在楼下撞上爱德蒙，其他几个都在那儿跟他一起等候，露茜看见大家脸色焦急，明白自己把他们忘掉了好久，不由于心不安。

“没事啦，”她大声叫道，“什么事都没啦。魔法师是个好心人。我还看见他——阿斯兰。”

说完她像阵风似的，走到花园里。花园里地面给独脚怪跳得直震动，四下只听见他们一片叫喊。他们一看见她，更是跳得加倍厉害，叫得也加倍起劲。

“她来啦，她来啦，”他们叫道，“为小姑娘三呼万岁。啊呀!她把老先生完全瞒过了，瞒过了。”

“我们非常遗憾，”独脚怪头儿说，“没法让你看到我们没变丑时的模样。因为你不会相信这差别，那是实话，用不着否认，我们现在真是丑极了，所以我们决不会骗你。”

“啊，说得对，头儿，说得对，”其他人随声附和道，一面像好多玩具气球似的蹦得老高，“你说得真对，你说得真对。”

“可是我一点也不觉得你们丑，”露茜扯着嗓门叫着，好让大家听见，“我觉得你们非常好看。”

“她说得对，她说得对，”独脚怪说，“小姐，你说得一点不错。我们非常好看。你找不到更漂亮的人了。”他们毫无惊讶之意地说，似乎并没注意到他们已经改变主意了。

“她说的是，”独脚怪头儿说，“我们大家变丑以前有多么好看。”

“说得不错，头儿，说得不错，”其他人一再喊道，“她是这么说的。我们亲耳听到的。”

“我没那么说，”露茜大声喊着，“我是说你们现在非常好看。”

“她那么说的，她那么说的，”独脚怪头儿说，“说我们当时非常好看。”

“他们两个都说得对，他们两个都说得对，”独脚怪说，“你们瞧，真是一对。一贯正确。他们说得再好也没有了。”

“可是我们两个说的话正好相反。”露茜不耐烦地顿脚说。

“一点不假，她就是这意思，她就是这意思。”独脚怪说，“一点不像相反。你们两个都说下去。”

“你们真会缠，把人都缠疯了。”露茜说着就干脆不说了。可是独脚怪似乎都心满意足，她当下得出结论，这次谈话基本上是成功的。

那天晚上大家临睡前又出了些事，使他们对自己的独脚现状更加满足了。凯斯宾和全体纳尼亚人尽快回到岸边，向赖因斯和黎明踏浪号上的其他人通报消息，当时他们都急坏了。不消说，那些独脚怪当然也跟他们一起去，一面像足球似的蹦蹦跳跳，一面互相大声一唱一和，直到尤斯塔斯说了句：“我真希望魔法师不是把他们变成隐身人，而是变成无声人。”(他说完马上就后悔了，因为这时他不得不向他们说明无声就是听不见声音，尽管他费了不少唇舌，他还是一点也拿不准独脚怪是不是真听明白了，尤其使他恼火的是他们临了竟说：“呃，他不能像我们的头儿那样要怎样就怎样。不过你会知道的，年轻人。听听头儿说话吧。他会教你怎么说话。你瞧，多会说话的人呀!”)当大家来到海滩边，雷佩契普想到一个绝妙的主意。它早已放下自己的小筏子，还坐在里面亲自划桨，独脚怪看得大感兴趣。于是它在筏子里站起来说：“尊敬而聪明的独脚先生，你们用不着小船。你们每个人都有一只脚可以当船用。只要尽量轻巧地在水面上跳，再瞧瞧怎么着就是了。”

独脚怪头儿缩在后面，警告其他人说他们会看到水是透湿透湿的，可是一两个年轻些的几乎马上就去试试看了，接着又有几个跟着做，最后全体都到水里去了。独脚怪那只大脚完全可以当一只天然筏子或小船，雷佩契普教他们为自己砍根粗糙的木桨，他们大家就在海湾一带，绕着黎明踏浪号划过来划过去，看上去活像一支小划子组成的船队，每条小划子的船尾都站着一个胖胖的小矮人。他们还举行比赛，大船上放下一瓶瓶酒给他们当奖品，水手们趴在大船舷侧看他们，笑得肚子都痛了。

那些笨蛋对自己有了独脚怪的新名称也非常高兴，虽然他们根本念不准音，可是在他们心目中这似乎是个了不起的名称。“我们就叫这个，”他们大吼大叫道，“独角怪，怪独角，角怪独。我们称呼自己的叫法就在舌尖上。”可是转眼工夫他们就把这叫法跟老叫法“笨蛋”搞混了，叫着叫着最后竟叫定了，自称为“笨蛋瓜”：这名称大概还要叫上好几百年吧。'

那天晚上，全体纳尼亚客人都在楼上同魔法师共进晚餐，露茜注意到整个楼上大变样了，现在她不再害怕了。门上的神秘符号还是怪神秘的，可是现在看上去好像也是善意可亲，甚至长胡子的镜子现在看上去也不吓人，而是滑稽有趣了。席间，大家都靠魔法的法力，尝到自己最喜爱的食品和饮料。饭后，魔法师又使出一件非常实用而精彩的魔法。他在桌上铺了两张空白的羊皮纸，要求德里宁向他精确讲述直到目前的全部航程：德里宁一边讲，纸上一边就线条清晰地显出他讲的一切细节，最后每张纸都成了一幅绝妙的东洋地图，标出了加尔马、特里宾西亚、七群岛、孤独群岛、龙岛、火烧岛、死水岛和笨蛋居住的地方，尺寸大小、位置方向都丝毫不差。这是那片海域破天荒第一次制作的地图，比此后不施魔法制作的好得多。因为这两张地图上面标着的城镇和山脉虽然初看之下和普通地图一模一样，可是魔法师借给他们一个放大镜后，看出来就是活灵活现的真实原物的雏型了，所以你能看见狭港那个城堡和奴隶市场，还有街道，虽然很远，却很清晰，就跟用望远镜另一头望出来的事物一样。惟一缺陷是大部分岛屿的海岸线都是不完整的，因为地图只能根据德里宁亲眼看到的来标明。等到地图完成，魔法师就自己留下一幅，把另一幅送给凯斯宾，这幅地图至今仍然挂在凯尔帕拉维尔仪器馆里。不过魔法师也无法告诉他们再往东去那里海洋和陆地的情况。然而，他倒告诉他们，七年前有一艘纳尼亚船开进他这里的海面，船上有雷维廉、阿尔戈兹、马夫拉蒙、罗普几位爵爷，所以他们推断他们看见躺在死水里的金人一定是雷斯蒂玛爵爷。

第二天魔法师用魔法修理好黎明踏浪号上被海蛇破坏的船尾，还给船上装满有用的礼物。分别时大家极为友好，下午两点启航时，所有的笨蛋瓜都划着桨跟着船到港口，一直欢呼到船上听不到他们的欢呼才罢。