the wonders of the last sea

very soon after they had left ramandu's country they began to feel that they had already sailed beyond the world. all was different. for one thing they all found that they were needing less sleep. one did not want to go to bed. nor to eat much, nor even to talk except in low voices. another thing was the light. there was too much of it. the sun when it came up each morning looked twice, if not; three times, its usual size. and every morning (which gave lucy the strangest feeling of all) the huge white birds, singing their song with human voices in a language no one knew, streamed overhead and vanished astern on their way to their breakfast at aslan's table. a little later they came flying back and vanished into the east.

"how beautifully clear the water is!" said lucy to herself, as she leaned over the port side early in the afternoon of the second day.

and it was. the first thing that she noticed was a little black object, about the size of a shoe, travelling along at the same speed as the ship. for a moment she thought it was something floating on the surface. but then there came floating past a bit of stale bread which the cook had just thrown out of the galley. and the bit of bread looked as if it were going to collide with the black thing, but it didn't. it passed above it, and lucy now saw that the black thing could not be on the surface. then the black thing suddenly got very much bigger and flicked back to normal size a moment later.

now lucy knew she had seen something just like that happen somewhere else - if only she could remember where. she held her hand to her head and screwed up her face and put out her tongue in the effort to remember. at last she did. of course! it was like what you saw from a train on a bright sunny day. you saw the black shadow of your own coach running along the fields at the same pace as the train. then you went into a cutting; and immediately the same shadow flicked close up to you and got big, racing :long the grass of the cutting-bank. then you came out of the cutting and - pick! - once more the black shadow had gone back to its normal size and was running along the fields.

"it's our shadow! - the shadow of the dawn treader," said lucy. "our shadow running along on the bottom of the sea. that time when it got bigger it went over a hill. but in that case the water must be clearer than i thought! good gracious, i must he seeing the bottom of the sea; fathoms and fathoms down."

as soon as she had said this she realized that the great silvery expanse which she had been seeing (without noticing) for some time was really the sand on the sea-bed and that ail sorts of darker or brighter patches were not lights and shadows on the surface but real things on the bottom. at present, for instance, they were passing over a mass of soft purply green with a broad, winding strip of pale grey in the middle of it but now that she knew it was on the bottom she saw it much better. she could see that bits of the dark stuff were much higher than other bits and were waving gently. "just like trees in a wind," said lucy. "and do believe that's what they are. it's a submarine forest."

they passed on above it and presently the pale streak was joined by another pale streak. "if i was down there," thought lucy, "that streak would be just like a road through the wood. and that place where it joins the other would be a crossroads. oh, i do wish i was. hallo! the forest is coming to an end. and i do believe the streak really was a road! i can still see it going on across the open sand. it's a different colour. and it's marked out with something at the edges - dotted lines. perhaps they are stones. and now it's getting wider."

but it was not really getting wider, it was getting nearer. she realized this because of the way in which the shadow of the ship came rushing up towards her. and the road she felt sure it was a road now - began to go in zigzags. obviously it was climbing up a steep hill. and when she held her head sideways and looked back, what she saw was very like what you see when you look down a winding road from the top of a hill. she could even see the shafts of sunlight falling through the deep water on to the wooded valley - and, in the extreme distance, everything melting away into a dim greenness. but some places - the sunny ones, she thought - were ultramarine blue.

she could not, however, spend much time looking back; what was coming into view in the forward direction was too exciting. the road had apparently now reached the top of the hill and ran straight forward. little specks were moving to and fro on it. and now something most wonderful, fortunately in full sunlight - or as full as it can be when it falls through fathoms of water - flashed into sight. it was knobbly and jagged and of a pearly, or perhaps an ivory, colour. she was so nearly straight above it that at first she could hardly make out what it was. but everything became plain when she noticed its shadow. the sunlight was falling across lucy's shoulders, so the shadow of the thing lay stretched out on the sand behind it. and by its shape she saw clearly that it was a shadow of towers and pinnacles, minarets and domes.

"why! - it's a city or a huge castle," said lucy to herself "but i wonder why they've built it on top of a high mountain?"

long afterwards when she was back in england and talked all these adventures over with edmund, they thought of a reason and i am pretty sure it is the true one. in the sea, the deeper you go, the darker and colder it gets, and it is down there, in the dark and cold, that dangerous things live - the squid and the sea serpent and the kraken. the valleys are the wild, unfriendly places. the sea-people feel about their valleys as we do about mountains, and feel about their mountains as we feel about valleys. it is on the heights (or, as we would say, "in the shallows") that there is warmth and peace. the reckless hunters and brave knights of the sea go down into the depths on quests and adventures, but return home to the heights for rest and peace, courtesy and council, the sports, the dances and the songs.

they had passed the city and the sea-bed was still rising. it was only a few hundred feet below the ship now. the road had disappeared. they were sailing above an open park-like country, dotted with little groves of brightlycoloured vegetation. and then - lucy nearly squealed aloud with excitement-she had seen people.

there were between fifteen and twenty of them, and all mounted on sea-horses - not the tiny little sea-horses which you may have seen in museums but horses rather bigger than themselves. they must be noble and lordly people, lucy thought, for she could catch the gleam of gold on some of their foreheads and streamers of emerald- or orange-coloured stuff fluttered from their shoulders in the current. then:

"oh, bother these fish!" said lucy, for a whole shoal of small fat fish, swimming quite close to the surface, had come between her and the sea people. but though this spoiled her view it led to the most interesting thing of all.

suddenly a fierce little fish of a kind she had never seen before came darting up from below, snapped, grabbed, and sank rapidly with one of the fat fish in its mouth. and all the sea people were sitting on their horses staring up at what had happened. they seemed to be talking and laughing. and before the hunting fish had got back to them with its prey, another of the same kind came up from the sea people. and lucy was almost certain that one big sea man who sat on his sea-horse in the middle of the party had sent it or released it; as if he had been holdng it back till then in his hand or on his wrist.

"why, i do declare," said lucy, "it's a hunting party. or more like a hawking party. yes, that's it. they ride out with these little fierce fish on their wrists just as we used to ride out with falcons on our wrists when we were kings and queens at cair paravel long ago. and then they fly them - or i suppose i should say swim them - at the others."

she stopped suddenly because the scene was changing. the sea people had noticed the dawn treader. the shoal of fish hard scattered in every direction: the people themselves were coming up to find out the meaning of this big, black thing which had come between them and the sun. and now they were so close to the surface that if they had been in air, instead of water, lucy could have spoken to them. there were men and women both. all wore coronets of some kind and many had chains of pearls. they wore no other clothes. their bodies were the colour of old ivory, their hair dark purple. the king in the centre (no one could mistake him for anything but the king) looked proudly and fiercely into lucy's face and shook a spear in his hand. his knights did the same. the faces of the ladies were filled with astonishment. lucy felt sure they had never seen a ship or a human before - and how should they, in seas beyond the world's end where no ship ever came?

"what are you staring at, lu?" said a voice close beside her.

lucy had been so absorbed in what she was seeing that she started at the sound, and when she turned she found that her arm had gone "dead" from leaning so long on the rail in one position. drinian and edmund were beside her.

"look," she said.

they both looked, but almost at once drinian said in a low voice:

"turn round at once, your majesties - that's right, with our backs to the sea. and don't look as if we were talking about anything important."

"why, what's the matter?" said lucy as she obeyed.

"it'll never do for the sailors to see all that," said drinian. "we'll have men falling in love with a seawoman, or falling in love with the under-sea country itself, and jumping overboard. i've heard of that kind of thing happening before in strange seas. it's always unlucky to see these people."

"but we used to know them," said lucy. "in the old days at cair paravel when my brother peter was high king. they came to the surface and sang at our coronation."

"i think that must have been a different kind, lu," said edmund. "they could live in the air as well as under water. i rather think these can't. by the look of them they'd have surfaced and started attacking us long ago if they could. they seem very fierce."

"at any rate," said drinian, but at that moment two sounds were heard. one was a plop. the other was a voice from the fighting top shouting, "man overboard!" then everyone was busy. some of the sailors hurried aloft to take in the sail: others hurried below to get to the oars; and rhince, who was on duty on the poop, began to put the helm hard over so as to come round and back to the man who had gone overboard. but by now everyone knew that it wasn't strictly a man. it was reepicheep.

"drat that mouse!" said drinian. "it's more trouble than all the rest of the ship's company put together. if there is any scrape to be got into, in it will get! it ought to be put in irons - keel-hauled - marooned - have its whiskers cut off. can anyone see the little blighter?"

all this didn't mean that drinian really disliked reepicheep. on the contrary he liked him very much and was therefore frightened about him, and being frightened put him in a bad temper - just as your mother is much angrier with you for running out into the road in front of a car than a stranger would be. no one, of course, was afraid of reepicheep's drowning, for he was an excellent swimmer; but the three who knew what was going on below the water were afraid of those long, cruel spears in the hands of the sea people.

in a few minutes the dawn treader had come round and everyone could see the black blob in the water which was reepicheep. he was chattering with the greatest excitement but as his mouth kept on getting filled with water nobody could understand what he was saying.

"he'll blurt the whole thing out if we don't shut him up," cried drinian. to prevent this he rushed to the side and lowered a rope himself, shouting to the sailors, "all right, all right. back to your places. i hope i can heave a mouse up without help." and as reepicheep began climbing up the rope not very nimbly because his wet fur made him heavy - drinian leaned over and whispered to him,

"don't tell. not a word."

but when the dripping mouse had reached the deck it turned out not to be at all interested in the sea people.

"sweet!" he cheeped. "sweet, sweet!"

"what are you talking about?" asked drinian crossly. "and you needn't shake yourself all over me, either."

"i tell you the water's sweet," said the mouse. "sweet, fresh. it isn't salt."

for a moment no one quite took in the importance of this. but then reepicheep once more repeated the old prophecy:

"where the waves grow sweet, doubt not, reepicheep, there is the utter east."

then at last everyone understood.

"let me have a bucket, rynelf," said drinian.

it was handed him and he lowered it and up it came again. the water shone in it like glass.

"perhaps your majesty would like to taste it first," said drinian to caspian.

the king took the bucket in both hands, raised it to his lips, sipped, then drank deeply and raised his head. his face was changed. not only his eyes but everything about him seemed to be brighter.

"yes," he said, "it is sweet. that's real water, that. i'm not sure that it isn't going to kill me. but it is the death i would have chosen - if i'd known about it till now."

"what do you mean?" asked edmund.

"it - it's like light more than anything else," said caspian.

"that is what it is," said reepicheep. "drinkable light. we must be very near the end of the world now."

there was a moment's silence and then lucy knelt down on the deck and drank from the bucket.

"it's the loveliest thing i have ever tasted," she said with a kind of gasp. "but oh - it's strong. we shan't need to eat anything now."

and one by one everybody on board drank. and for a long time they were all silent. they felt almost too well and strong to bear it; and presently they began to notice another result. as i have said before, there had been too much light ever since they left the island of ramandu - the sun too large (though not too hot), the sea too bright, the air too shining. now, the light grew no less - if anything, it increased - but they could bear it. they could look straight up at the sun without blinking. they could see more light than they had ever seen before. and the deck and the sail and their own faces and bodies became brighter and brighter and every rope shone. and next morning, when the sun rose, now five or six times its old size, they stared hard into it and could see the very feathers of the birds that came flying from it.

hardly a word was spoken on board all that day, till about dinner-time (no one wanted any dinner, the water was enough for them) drinian said:

"i can't understand this. there is not a breath of wind. the sail hangs dead. the sea is as flat as a pond. and yet we drive on as fast as if there were a gale behind us."

"i've been thinking that, too," said caspian. "we must be caught in some strong current."

"h'm," said edmund. "that's not so nice if the world really has an edge and we're getting near it."

"you mean," said caspian, "that we might be just well, poured over it?"

"yes, yes," cried reepicheep, clapping his paws together. "that's how i've always imagined it - the world like a great round table and the waters of all the oceans endlessly pouring over the edge. the ship will tip up stand on her head - for one moment we shall see over the edge - and then, down, down, the rush, the speed -"

"and what do you think will be waiting for us at the bottom, eh?" said drinian.

"aslan's country perhaps," said the mouse, its eyes shining. "or perhaps there isn't any bottom. perhaps it goes down for ever and ever. but whatever it is, won't it be worth anything just to have looked for one moment beyond the edge of the world."

"but look -here," said eustace, "this is all rot. the world's round - i mean, round like a ball, not like a table."

"our world is," said edmund. "but is this?"

"do you mean to say," asked caspian, "that you three come from a round world (round like a ball) and you've never told me! it's really too bad of you. because we have fairy-tales in which there are round worlds and i always loved them. i never believed there were any real ones. but i've always wished there were and i've always longed to live in one. oh, i'd give anything - i wonder why you can get into our world and we never get into yours? if only i had the chance! it must be exciting to live on a thing like a ball. have you ever been to the parts where people walk about upside-down?"

edmund shook his head. "and it isn't like that," he added. "there's nothing particularly exciting about a round world when you're there.

15、最后一片大海的奇观

他们离开拉曼杜那地方以后，一下子就感到自己已把船开到了世界外面。一切都变样了。一是他们全都觉得不大需要睡觉了。大家都不想上床，也不想多吃，连话也不多，要说也是细声细气的。二是亮光。真是太亮太亮了。每天早晨太阳出来看上去即使没有通常三倍那么大，也有两倍那么大。而且每天早晨(这点给露茜的感受最奇特)那些大白鸟用人类的声音唱着歌，谁也听不懂唱的是什么语言，它们川流不息地飞过头顶，飞去阿斯兰的餐桌吃早餐，飞到船尾处就不见踪影了。不一会儿，它们又飞回来，飞到东边又不见了。

“海水清澈得多美啊!”第二天刚到午后，露茜就趴在左舷侧自言自语道。

果然如此，她注意到的第一样东西是个小小的黑物件，像一只鞋那么大小，同船速一样快地跟着船一路过来。一时间她还以为那东西是漂在水面上的。可是这时厨子刚从厨房里扔出一块陈面包，面包在水面上漂过，看起来好像要跟那东西相撞了，谁知竞没撞上。面包在那东西上面掠过了，露茜这才明白那黑东西不可能在水面上。然后那黑东西一下子大得不得了，过一会儿又闪回原来的大小。

露茜马上知道自己在别处也看见过同样的情景——只要她记得在哪儿就好了。她一手撑着头，板着脸，伸出舌头，拼命地想。终于想出来了。不用说!就像你在阳光明媚的好天，乘在火车里看出来的情景一样。你看见的是自己那列客车的黑影同车速一样快地在田野上一路奔驰。等到火车开进路堑，那影子顿时就一闪贴近火车，变大，顺着路堑的草坡一路飞跑。再等到开出路堑——一下子!——那黑影又变回原来的大小，在田野间一路飞驰。

“原来是我们这条船的影子!——黎明踏浪号的影子，”露茜说，“我们的船影在海底奔驰。开过海底的山顶时船影就大了。这样的话，海水一定比我想像中还要清!老天哪，我一定看见好深好深的海底了。”

她说完这句话，心里已明白自己不知不觉一直看了好一阵子的那一大片粼粼银光实际上是海底的沙滩，各种深一片淡一片的不是海面上的光影，而是水底的实物。比如说，眼下他们的船开过一大丛软软的绿中带紫的东西，当中还有一条弯弯绕绕的淡灰色阔带子。不过既然她知道这是在海底下，她看起来就更清楚了。她能看见那一小片黑乎乎的东西比另一片高，而且轻轻在飘动。“正像风中树木一样，”露茜说，“我相信这些是树。是海底森林。”

他们开过了这片森林上面，不一会儿那条灰带子就和另一条灰带子汇合了。“假如我在下面，”露茜心里想，“那条带子就像林间一条路。两条带子的汇合点就是十字路口了。啊呀，我真希望在下面啊。嗨!森林到头啦。我相信那带子真是一条路!我还能看见它一直穿过空旷的沙滩呢。颜色也不同了。边上还画着什么——虚线。也许是石头吧。现在变宽了。”

不过这并不是真的宽了，而是近了。她知道这点，因为船影经过时，这条路朝船身冲过来了。而这条路——她拿准这是条路了——开始弯弯曲曲了。显然这条路是爬上一座陡峭小山的路。当她侧着头，回头看时，觉得很像在山顶俯看一条弯弯曲曲的道路那样。她甚至看得见阳光一直透过深水，照在树木繁茂的山谷上：而在最远处，一切景物都融入模模糊糊一片绿色中。但有些地方——据她看，是照着阳光的地方——倒是深蓝色的。

但是，她不能多花时间回头看；前方映入眼帘的景观太令人激动了。现在那条路分明通到山顶，笔直向前了。上面还有小小的斑点在动来动去。眼下，幸亏阳光充足——阳光照进深深的海底能有多亮就有多亮——有样最奇妙的东西闪现在眼前。这东西是小圆丘形，参差不齐，颜色像珍珠，或者说像象牙。开头她几乎恰的正在这东西上面，所以简直分辨不出是什么。但等她看到这东西的影子才一清二楚。阳光正照过露茜的肩膀，所以那东西的影子直躺在它后面的沙地上。看形状她才明白那原来是高塔、尖塔、叫拜楼和圆顶的影子。

“哎呀!——原来是座城市，要不就是座大城堡。”露茜自言自语说，“可是不知道为什么他们要把这造在高山顶上?”

她回到英国很久以后，跟爱德蒙谈起这一切奇遇，他们想出一条理由，我相信这理由一点不错。在海里，越深越黑，越深越冷，危险的怪物——大乌贼啊、大海蛇啊、海怪啊，就住在下面又黑又冷的地方。山谷都是荒野凶险的地方。海人对他们山谷的看法就跟我们对高山的看法一样，对他们高山的看法又跟我们对山谷的看法一样。在高处(或者，按我们的说法是“在浅处”)才又暖和又宁静。海底那些鲁莽的猎人和勇敢的骑士到深处去探险猎奇，然后回到高处家里安心休息，跟别人礼尚往来，开会议事，娱乐玩耍，唱歌跳舞。

他们这条船开过城市，海底不断在升高。现在海底离船下只有几百英尺了。那条路也不见了。他们这条船现在正在一片公园般空旷的地方上面航行，地上点缀着一簇簇色彩鲜艳的草木。于是——露茜差点兴奋得高声尖叫起来——她看见人了。

一共有十五个到二十个左右，全骑在海马上——不是你在博物馆里看到的那种小海马，而是比他们身材高大得多的海马。露茜心想，他们一定是些王公贵族，因为她能一眼看见水里有些人的脑门上金光闪闪，翠绿色的飘带或橙红色的织物在他们肩上飘动。

忽然间，露茜说：“啊呀，这些鱼真讨厌!”因为一群肥肥的小鱼正游得贴近水面，挡在她和海人之间。可是虽然这一来使她大为扫兴，却让她看到一幕最有趣的事。有一条她从来没见过的凶狠的小鱼冷不防从水底跳起来，猛地张口咬住一条肥鱼不放，衔在嘴里迅速沉到水下。海人都骑在海马上，抬眼看着这一幕。他们似乎有说有笑。那条猎鱼还没带着捕获物回到他们身边，另一条同样的猎鱼又从海人身边跳上水面。露茜几乎肯定就是这一伙中间那个骑着海马的大个子把猎鱼放出去的；似乎刚才他一直把猎鱼抓在手里或架在手腕上。

“哎呀，那可真怪，”露茜说，“这是一支狩猎队啊。不过倒更像一支放鹰打猎队。对了，准是的。他们手腕上架着这些凶猛的小鱼，骑海马出来，正如我们很久以前在凯尔帕拉维尔当国王和女王那阵子，经常手腕上架着猎鹰，骑马出去一样。见到猎物就放猎鱼飞——我看，该说放猎鱼游——向猎物。怎么……”

她突然住口了，因为景象变了。海人看到了黎明踏浪号。那群鱼向四处逃窜，海人也亲自冒出来查看这个挡在太阳和他们之间的黑乎乎的庞然大物是什么玩意儿。眼下他们快贴近水面了，如果他们在露天，不是在水里，露茜倒会跟他们说话呢。他们有男有女，头上都戴着某种王冠，许多人还戴着珍珠项链。他们没穿别的衣服。身体是陈年象牙的颜色，头发是深紫红色。国王在当中(没人会认错他)高傲而凶狠地注视着露茜的脸，手里挥舞一枝长矛。手下的骑士也跟他一致行动。几位女的脸上满是惊讶的神色。露茜相信他们以前根本没见过船或人——他们身处世界尽头外边的海洋里，从来没有船到过那儿，怎么见识得到呢?

“你在盯着看什么啊，露?”身边有个声音说。

露茜原来一心看着，听到声音吓了一跳，她回过头来，才发现因为全身重心压在栏杆一边，一条手臂早发麻了。德里宁和爱德蒙在她身边。

“瞧。”她说。

他们两个都瞧了，可是德里宁几乎马上低声说：

“两位陛下，马上掉过头来——对了，背对着大海。别像在谈论什么重要大事似的。”

“啊呀，怎么回事啊?”露茜听从他的话后说道。

“水手是绝对不该看这一切的，”德里宁说，“看了以后，我们就有人会爱上海女，或者爱上海底世界，跳下水去。我听说过以前在陌生的海域里出过这种事。看见这些人总是倒霉的。”

“可是我们过去在凯尔帕拉维尔那年月认识他们，”露茜说，“当时我哥哥彼得正当上至尊王，他们来到水面上，唱歌祝贺我们加冕。”

“我看那一定是另外一种海人，露，”爱德蒙说，“他们又可以在水下生活，又可以在露天生活。我倒认为这些人无法在露天里生活。看他们样子，如果办得到的话，早就冒出水面攻击我们了。他们样子似乎很凶狠。”

“总而言之——”德里宁开口说。谁知正在这时，忽然听到两种声响。一是扑通一声。二是观测台上传来一声吼，“有人落水了!”于是人人都忙着了。有些水手匆匆爬上去落篷，有些水手匆匆跑下去划桨；在船尾楼值班的赖因斯开始拼命转舵，把船掉过头来开回那人落水的地方。可是这时大家都知道落水的根本不是人，而是雷佩契普。

“那老鼠真该死!”德里宁说，“船上其余人加在一起也没它那么多的麻烦。如果有什么倒霉事，准有它一份!应当把它戴上脚镣手铐——用绳子把它绑在船的龙骨底下拖——把它放逐到荒岛上去——把它的胡子剃掉。谁看得见这个小混蛋?”

说了这么一大套话并不意味着德里宁当真不喜欢雷佩契普。恰恰相反，他很喜欢它，因此害怕它出事，而由于害怕，德里宁才发脾气——正如你母亲为了你跑出去在路上迎面碰到了汽车而大为生气，而一个陌生人就决不会这样。当然，雷佩契普掉进水里，谁也不怕，因为它是个游泳好手：可是知道水下将有什么事发生的三个人却害怕海人手中那些杀气腾腾的长矛。

一会儿，黎明踏浪号绕过弯来了，大家都看得见水里那个黑乎乎的东西就是雷佩契普。它正兴高采烈地吱吱喳喳说话，可是嘴里灌满了水，所以没人听得懂它在说什么。

“如果我们不让它闭上嘴，它可要把什么事情都捅出去了。”德里宁叫道。为了阻止它，他奔向舷侧，亲自放下一根缆绳，对水手们喊着说：“行了，行了。回到你们的岗位上去。希望我不要人帮忙就能把一只老鼠拉上来。”雷佩契普从缆绳上爬上来了——行动不是很利索，因为浑身皮毛都湿透，身子也沉了——德里宁弯下腰，对它悄声说：

“别说。一句话也别说。”

谁知湿淋淋的老鼠踏上甲板后，原来对海人竟丝毫不感兴趣。

“甜啊!”它吱吱叫道，“甜啊，甜啊!”

“你在说些什么啊?”德里宁生气地问，“你也用不着把水全抖在我身上。”

“水真的是甜的，”老鼠说，“甜美、新鲜，不是成的。”

一时间，没人完全领会这番话的重要意义。可是这时雷佩契普又重复那段老预言了：

海水变得甜又香，

雷佩契普，把心放，

那里就是极东方。

大家一听才终于明白过来。

“给我一个水桶，赖尼夫。”德里宁说。

水桶递到他手里，他就把水桶放下去，再吊上来。那水果然像玻璃一样闪闪发光。

“也许陛下愿意先尝一口吧?”德里宁对凯斯宾说。

国王双手捧住水桶，举到唇边，浅浅啜了一口，又深深喝了一大口，再抬起头。他的脸色变了。不仅眼睛似乎更亮，而且精神焕发。

“是啊，”他说，“果然甜。这才是真正的水啊。我不敢肯定喝了这水不会送命。不过如果现在才知道这水的味道，我倒愿意这样死掉。”

“你这是什么意思?”爱德蒙问。

“这——这比任何东西更像光。”凯斯宾说。

“说得一点不错，”雷佩契普说，“可以喝的光。我们现在一定贴近世界尽头了。”

大家沉默了片刻，于是露茜在甲板上跪下，就着水桶喝水。

“我生来还从没尝到这么香的东西呢。”她喘着气说，“不过，啊呀——真有劲。我们现在什么都不需要吃了。”

船上的人一个个都喝了一通，全都久久默不作声。他们都感到这水简直太妙了，太有劲了，未免受不了；不一会儿，他们又开始看出另一种效果。我前文说过，自从他们离开拉曼杜的岛以来，光线很强——太阳很大(虽然还不太热)，海面很亮，天空很灿烂。这时，亮光不见减弱——要说吗，反而增强了——可是他们倒受得了啦。他们可以一眼也不眨地笔直仰望着太阳，他们能看着比以前见过的更强烈的亮光。甲板上、船帆上、他们自己的脸上、身体上都变得越来越明亮，越来越明亮，每根缆绳都闪闪发光。第二天早晨，太阳升起时比平时大了五六倍，他们使劲盯着太阳，看得见从太阳上飞起的鸟的羽毛。

那天整整一天，船上简直没人说过一句话。直到午餐时间(谁也不想进餐，喝了这水大家就够受用的了)，德里宁说：

“这点我弄不明白，一丝风都没有，船帆挂着不动。海面平静得像小池塘。可是我们的船还是开得一帆风顺。”

“我也一直在琢磨这事，”凯斯宾说，“我们一定是碰上什么强大的水流了。”

“嗯，”爱德蒙说，“如果世界真有个边缘的话，我们这条船又正在接近边缘，那可不妙啊。”

“你是说，”凯斯宾说，“我们这条船可能会——呃，就这样从边上流出去?”

“是啊，是啊，”雷佩契普拍着两个爪子说，“我就是始终这么想像的——世界像个大圆桌，各大洋的水无穷无尽地从边上流下去。这条船会翻倒，来个倒栽葱——一会儿工夫我们翻过边缘就明白了——接着就往下扎，往下飞速猛冲——”

“呃，你看底下有什么在等着我们呢?”德里宁说。

“也许是阿斯兰的国土吧，”雷佩契普眼睛闪闪发光说，“或许没什么底。也许一直冲下去，冲下去，没个头。可是不管是什么，只要看一会儿世界尽头外边是什么景象，岂不是也值得吗?”

“不过听我说，”尤斯塔斯说，“这简直是荒唐!世界是圆的——我是说，圆得像个球，不是像张桌子。”

“我们的世界是圆的，”爱德蒙说，“可这个世界是不是圆的呢?”

“你们意思是说，”凯斯宾问，“你们三位都来自一个圆圆的世界(圆得像个球)，而你们从来没跟我说起过!你们真是太不像话了。因为我们的童话里就有圆圆的世界，我一直很喜欢这种世界。我根本不相信有什么真正的圆世界。不过我总是希望有这种世界，而且总是向往在一个这种世界里生活。啊呀，我愿意拿一切来换——我不知你们为什么可以进入我们的世界，而我们就根本不能进入你们的世界?只要有这么个机会就好了!生活在一个球上一定够刺激的。你们到过人们颠倒走路的地方吗?”爱德蒙摇摇头，“事情并不是这样的，”他又加了一句。“一旦你到了那儿，圆圆的世界就没什么特别刺激了。”