what happened about the statues

"what an extraordinary place!" cried lucy. "all those stone animals -and people too! it's -it's like a museum."

"hush," said susan, "aslan's doing something."

he was indeed. he had bounded up to the stone lion and breathed on him. then without waiting a moment he whisked round - almost as if he had been a cat chasing its tail -and breathed also on the stone dwarf, which (as you remember) was standing a few feet from the lion with his back to it. then he pounced on a tall stone dryad which stood beyond the dwarf, turned rapidly aside to deal with a stone rabbit on his right, and rushed on to two centaurs. but at that moment lucy said,

"oh, susan! look! look at the lion."

i expect you've seen someone put a lighted match to a bit of newspaper which is propped up in a grate against an unlit fire. and for a second nothing seems to have happened; and then you notice a tiny streak of flame creeping along the edge of the newspaper. it was like that now. for a second after aslan had breathed upon him the stone lion looked just the same. then a tiny streak of gold began to run along his white marble back then it spread - then the colour seemed to lick all over him as the flame licks all over a bit of paper - then, while his hindquarters were still obviously stone, the lion shook his mane and all the heavy, stone folds rippled into living hair. then he opened a great red mouth, warm and living, and gave a prodigious yawn. and now his hind legs had come to life. he lifted one of them and scratched himself. then, having caught sight of aslan, he went bounding after him and frisking round him whimpering with delight and jumping up to lick his face.

of course the children's eyes turned to follow the lion; but the sight they saw was so wonderful that they soon forgot about him. everywhere the statues were coming to life. the courtyard looked no longer like a museum; it looked more like a zoo. creatures were running after aslan and dancing round him till he was almost hidden in the crowd. instead of all that deadly white the courtyard was now a blaze of colours; glossy chestnut sides of centaurs, indigo horns of unicorns, dazzling plumage of birds, reddy-brown of foxes, dogs and satyrs, yellow stockings and crimson hoods of dwarfs; and the birch-girls in silver, and the beech-girls in fresh, transparent green, and the larch-girls in green so bright that it was almost yellow. and instead of the deadly silence the whole place rang with the sound of happy roarings, brayings, yelpings, barkings, squealings, cooings, neighings, stampings, shouts, hurrahs, songs and laughter.

"oh!" said susan in a different tone. "look! i wonder - i mean, is it safe?"

lucy looked and saw that aslan had just breathed on the feet of the stone giant.

"it's all right!" shouted aslan joyously. "once the feet are put right, all the rest of him will follow."

"that wasn't exactly what i meant," whispered susan to lucy. but it was too late to do anything about it now even if aslan would have listened to her. the change was already creeping up the giant's legs. now he was moving his feet. a moment later he lifted his club off his shoulder, rubbed his eyes and said,

"bless me! i must have been asleep. now! where's that dratted little witch that was running about on the ground. somewhere just by my feet it was." but when everyone had shouted up to him to explain what had really happened, and when the giant had put his hand to his ear and got them to repeat it all again so that at last he understood, then he bowed down till his head was no further off than the top of a haystack and touched his cap repeatedly to aslan, beaming all over his honest ugly face. (giants of any sort are now so rare in england and so few giants are good-tempered that ten to one you have never seen a giant when his face is beaming. it's a sight well worth looking at.)

"now for the inside of this house!" said aslan. "look alive, everyone. up stairs and down stairs and in my lady's chamber! leave no corner unsearched. you never know where some poor prisoner may be concealed."

and into the interior they all rushed and for several minutes the whole of that dark, horrible, fusty old castle echoed with the opening of windows and with everyone's voices crying out at once, "don't forget the dungeons - give us a hand with this door! here's another little winding stair - oh! i say. here's a poor kangaroo. call aslan - phew! how it smells in here - look out for trap-doors - up here! there are a whole lot more on the landing!" but the best of all was when lucy came rushing upstairs shouting out,

"aslan! aslan! i've found mr tumnus. oh, do come quick."

a moment later lucy and the little faun were holding each other by both hands and dancing round and round for joy. the little chap was none the worse for having been a statue and was of course very interested in all she had to tell him.

but at last the ransacking of the witch's fortress was ended. the whole castle stood empty with every door and window open and the light and the sweet spring air flooding into all the dark and evil places which needed them so badly. the whole crowd of liberated statues surged back into the courtyard. and it was then that someone (tumnus, i think) first said,

"but how are we going to get out?" for aslan had got in by a jump and the gates were still locked.

"that'll be all right," said aslan; and then, rising on his hind-legs, he bawled up at the giant. "hi! you up there," he roared. "what's your name?"

"giant rumblebuffin, if it please your honour," said the giant, once more touching his cap.

"well then, giant rumblebuffin," said aslan, "just let us out of this, will you?"

"certainly, your honour. it will be a pleasure," said giant rumblebuffin. "stand well away from the gates, all you little 'uns." then he strode to the gate himself and bang - bang - bang - went his huge club. the gates creaked at the first blow, cracked at the second, and shivered at the third. then he tackled the towers on each side of them and after a few minutes of crashing and thudding both the towers and a good bit of the wall on each side went thundering down in a mass of hopeless rubble; and when the dust cleared it was odd, standing in that dry, grim, stony yard, to see through the gap all the grass and waving trees and sparkling streams of the forest, and the blue hills beyond that and beyond them the sky.

"blowed if i ain't all in a muck sweat," said the giant, puffing like the largest railway engine. "comes of being out of condition. i suppose neither of you young ladies has such a thing as a pocket-handkerchee about you?"

"yes, i have," said lucy, standing on tip-toes and holding her handkerchief up as far as she could reach.

"thank you, missie," said giant rumblebuffin, stooping down. next moment lucy got rather a fright for she found herself caught up in mid-air between the giant's finger and thumb. but just as she was getting near his face he suddenly started and then put her gently back on the ground muttering, "bless me! i've picked up the little girl instead. i beg your pardon, missie, i thought you was the handkerchee!"

"no, no," said lucy laughing, "here it is!" this time he managed to get it but it was only about the same size to him that a saccharine tablet would be to you, so that when she saw him solemnly rubbing it to and fro across his great red face, she said, "i'm afraid it's not much use to you, mr rumblebuffin."

"not at all. not at all," said the giant politely. "never met a nicer handkerchee. so fine, so handy. so - i don't know how to describe it."

"what a nice giant he is!" said lucy to mr tumnus.

"oh yes," replied the faun. "all the buffins always were. one of the most respected of all the giant families in narnia. not very clever, perhaps (i never knew a giant that was), but an old family. with traditions, you know. if he'd been the other sort she'd never have turned him into stone."

at this point aslan clapped his paws together and called for silence.

"our day's work is not yet over," he said, "and if the witch is to be finally defeated before bed-time we must find the battle at once."

"and join in, i hope, sir!" added the largest of the centaurs.

"of course," said aslan. "and now! those who can't keep up - that is, children, dwarfs, and small animals - must ride on the backs of those who can - that is, lions, centaurs, unicorns, horses, giants and eagles. those who are good with their noses must come in front with us lions to smell out where the battle is. look lively and sort yourselves."

and with a great deal of bustle and cheering they did. the most pleased of the lot was the other lion who kept running about everywhere pretending to be very busy but really in order to say to everyone he met. "did you hear what he said? us lions. that means him and me. us lions. that's what i like about aslan. no side, no stand-off-ishness. us lions. that meant him and me." at least he went on saying this till aslan had loaded him up with three dwarfs, one dryad, two rabbits, and a hedgehog. that steadied him a bit.

when all were ready (it was a big sheep-dog who actually helped aslan most in getting them sorted into their proper order) they set out through the gap in the castle wall. at first the lions and dogs went nosing about in all directions. but then suddenly one great hound picked up the scent and gave a bay. there was no time lost after that. soon all the dogs and lions and wolves and other hunting animals were going at full speed with their noses to the ground, and all the others, streaked out for about half a mile behind them, were following as fast as they could. the noise was like an english fox-hunt only better because every now and then with the music of the hounds was mixed the roar of the other lion and sometimes the far deeper and more awful roar of aslan himself. faster and faster they went as the scent became easier and easier to follow. and then, just as they came to the last curve in a narrow, winding valley, lucy heard above all these noises another noise - a different one, which gave her a queer feeling inside. it was a noise of shouts and shrieks and of the clashing of metal against metal.

then they came out of the narrow valley and at once she saw the reason. there stood peter and edmund and all the rest of aslan's army fighting desperately against the crowd of horrible creatures whom she had seen last night; only now, in the daylight, they looked even stranger and more evil and more deformed. there also seemed to be far more of them. peter's army - which had their backs to her looked terribly few. and there werestatues dotted all over the battlefield, so apparently the witch had been using her wand. but she did not seem to be using it now. she was fighting with her stone knife. it was peter she was fightin - both of them going at it so hard that lucy could hardly make out what was happening; she only saw the stone knife and peter's sword flashing so quickly that they looked like three knives and three swords. that pair were in the centre. on each side the line stretched out. horrible things were happening wherever she looked.

"off my back, children," shouted aslan. and they both tumbled off. then with a roar that shook all narnia from the western lamp-post to the shores of the eastern sea the great beast flung himself upon the white witch. lucy saw her face lifted towards him for one second with an expression of terror and amazement. then lion and witch had rolled over together but with the witch underneath; and at the same moment all war-like creatures whom aslan had led from the witch's house rushed madly on the enemy lines, dwarfs with their battleaxes, dogs with teeth, the giant with his club (and his feet also crushed dozens of the foe), unicorns with their horns, centaurs with swords and hoofs. and peter's tired army cheered, and the newcomers roared, and the enemy squealed and gibbered till the wood re-echoed with the din of that onset.

第十六章 石像的遭遇

“多怪的地方！”露茜叫道，“所有那些石头动物——还有石人！就像——就像一个博物馆。” )

“嘘！”苏珊说，“阿斯兰在施什么法了。”

它果然在施法。它跳到石狮面前，对石狮吹了口气。接着突然转过身去——几乎像猫在追自己的尾巴——对那个石头小矮人也吹口气，你们大概还记得，这小矮人正背对着石狮，站在相隔一两英尺的地方。然后它又突然扑向站在小矮人那边的一个高大石头树精，又赶快转到另一边去对付它右面的一只石兔，再冲到两个人头马身边。但就在这时露茜说：

“哦，苏珊，瞧！瞧那只狮子。”

我想你们都见过人家点上一根火柴，凑到壁炉架里一团没点燃的报纸前那种情况。开头的一刹那似乎毫无动静，接着你们就看到一丝小小的火焰在报纸的边缘蔓延。此时的情况正是如此。阿斯兰对石狮吹了口气以后，有一刹那，那只石狮看上去并没什么两样。后来它那白色大理石的背上开始掠过一小缕金色——然后金色蔓延开了——后来金色似乎在它全身掠过，就像火焰吞没了那一团报纸一样——然后，尽管它的后腿是石头，这只狮子却用力抖动鬃毛，所有那些沉甸甸的石头褶痕都飘动起来，成了活生生的鬃毛。它这才张开血盆大嘴，呼出生气和热气，打了一个大大的呵欠。这会儿它的后腿也活过来了。它抬起一条后腿在身上搔搔。接着，它看见阿斯兰，就跳到狮王后面，在阿斯兰身边又蹦又跳，高兴得哭了起来，还跳起来舔舔阿斯兰的脸。

两个女孩子的眼睛当然都跟着狮子转；不过她们看到的景象那么奇妙，因此很快就把它忘了。到处都是活过来的石像。这院子不再像一个博物馆，倒像一个动物园了。动物们都跟着阿斯兰跑，围着它跳舞，到后来它几乎被大伙儿遮住看不见了。院子里本来是一片惨白，如今却是色彩斑斓；人头马栗色的马身，独角兽深蓝色的角，百鸟绚烂的羽毛，红棕色的孤狸，狗和森林神，穿黄袜子戴红风帽的小矮人，一身银装的白桦姑娘，晶莹碧绿的山毛榉姑娘，还有落叶松姑娘，一身苍翠的衣装鲜艳得都快发黄了。这地方原来死气沉沉，一片寂静，如今整个院子里都回荡着欢乐的喧闹声：狮吼，虎啸，驴叫，狗吠，鸽咕，马嘶，还有尖叫声、顿脚声、呐喊声、欢呼声、歌声和笑声。

“哦，”苏珊说话的声音都变了，“瞧！不知道——我是说，不会伤人吗？”

露茜一看，只见阿斯兰朝一个石头巨人的两脚吹了口气。

“没事儿！”阿斯兰兴冲冲地大声喊叫，“只要这双脚治好了，其余的部位就会跟着好起来。”

“我不完全是这个意思。”苏珊悄声对露茜说。不过即使阿斯兰听到她的话，这会儿也来不及了。巨人两腿已经渐渐有了起色。目前他正挪动双脚，过了一会他拿下肩膀上那根大棒，揉揉眼睛说：

“天哪！我一定睡着了。嗨！那个在地上跑来跑去的该死的小妖婆上哪儿去了？刚才她还在我脚边什么地方呢。”当大伙儿都抬头对他大声喊着解释这儿真正出了什么事时，巨人把手放在耳边让他们再说一遍，最后才算听明白了。接着他深深低头一躬，脑袋低得只有干草堆的顶那么高，还不断摸着帽檐向阿斯兰致意，他那张诚实而丑陋的脸满面笑容。(如今在英国无论哪种巨人都难得一见，而脾气好的巨人更少见，你们十之八九就从来没见过一个满面笑容的巨人，这情景倒很值得一看。

“现在该上屋里去了！”阿斯兰说，“大家赶快。楼上，楼下，还有妖婆的房间！每个角落都要搜。你们根本不知道那些可怜的囚犯会给藏在哪儿。”

于是他们全都冲了进去。片刻工夫，那整座黑暗、恐怖、霉臭的旧城堡里响起了开窗户和大伙儿喊叫的声音：“别忘了地牢——帮我们打开这扇门！——这儿还有一条弯曲的楼梯——哦，我说，这儿有一只可怜的小袋鼠。叫阿斯兰来——嘘！这儿多难闻——小心那些暗门——到这儿来！楼梯平台上还有好多呢！”不过最好的事要数露茜冲上楼去，嘴里大叫着：

“阿斯兰！阿斯兰！我找到图姆纳斯先生啦。哦，快来吧！”

过了一会，露茜和那只小羊怪就手拉手跳着舞，高兴地转了一圈又一圈。这小家伙虽然给变成了石像，但并没受伤，因此对她告诉他的一切当然都十分感兴趣。对妖婆堡垒的彻底搜查终于结束了。整个城堡都空了，门窗全都大开，阳光和芳香的春天气息涌进了所有那些黑暗而邪恶的地方，那些地方多么需要阳光和新鲜空气啊。这一大群重新获得生命的石像又拥回院子里。到了这时才有人(我想，是图姆纳斯吧)首先开口说：“可我们怎么出去呢？”

因为阿斯兰是跳进来的，院子大门仍然锁着呢。

“那没关系，”阿斯兰说，随即后腿直立起来，对巨人大声喊叫。“嗨，你，上边的，”它吼道，“你叫什么名字？”

“报告大人，我是巨人伦波布芬。”巨人说着，摸摸帽子以示敬意。

“那好吧，巨人伦波布芬，”阿斯兰说，“让我们从这儿出去，好吗？”

“当然可以，大人。乐意效劳。”巨人伦波布芬说，“你们这些小家伙都离大门远点！”接着他大步走到门口，抡起大棒，砰——砰——砰。第一下，大门吱吱嘎嘎响了，第二下，大门裂开了，第三下，大门成了碎片啦。随后他又去对付大门两边的塔楼，又捶又捣，几下子工夫，两边的塔楼和旁边大部分高墙都轰隆隆倒下了，成了一大堆碎砖烂瓦；等到尘土散去，站在这个光秃秃、阴森森的石头院子里看着豁口外那些草地，摇曳的树木，森林中波光粼粼的溪流，以及溪流外的青山和山外的碧空，可真是别有风味。

“我要不是浑身臭汗才怪呢，”巨人说话时像大火车头似的直喘，“由于条件差，我想你们这些年轻小姐身上都没带手绢吧？”

“有，我有。”露茜说着踮起脚尖，尽量把她的手绢高高举起。

“谢谢你，小姐。”巨人伦波布芬说着弯下了腰。转眼间露茜吓了一大跳，因为她不知不觉中竟被巨人两个指头捏住提到半空中了。不过就在她凑近他脸的时候，他突然一惊，随即把她轻轻放回地上，嘴里还喃喃说，“老天爷，我竟把小姑娘拎起来了。对不起，小姐，我还以为你就是那块手绢呢。”

“不，不，”露茜笑着说，“手绢在这儿呢！”这一回他总算设法拿到了，不过对巨人来说手绢的大小就像你们的糖精片那么大，因此她看见他一本正经地用这块手绢在他那张又大又红的脸上来回擦着，不由说，“伦波布芬先生，恐怖这块手绢对你没多大用处吧。”

“哪儿的话，哪儿的话，”巨人有礼貌地说，“从来没见过比这更好的手绢。这么精致，这么方便。所以——我都不知怎么形容了。”

“他是个多么好的巨人啊！”露茜对图姆纳斯先生说。

“哦，是啊，”羊怪回答说，“布芬家的人全是那样的。他们是纳尼亚最受人尊敬的巨人家族之一。也许不太聪明(我从来就不知道有聪明的巨人)，但他们是一个古老的家族。你知道，这是有传统的。如果他是另外一种人，她也根本不会把他变成石头了。”

这时阿斯兰拍拍爪子，叫大家安静下来。

“我们今天的工作还没完呢，”它说，“如果要在睡觉前打败妖婆，我们必须立刻找她们打一仗。”

“希望算我一个，先生。”那最大的人头马加了一句。

“当然，”阿斯兰说，“现在呢，那些跟不上的——就是说，孩子们、小矮人和小动物们——必须骑在那些跟得上的动物背上——就是说，狮子、人头马、独角兽、马、巨人和鹰。那些鼻子灵的必须跟我们狮子一起走在前头，好闻出哪儿在打仗。赶快，你们自己分分类吧。”

接着就是一阵忙乱，一阵欢呼，它们都分好了。这里头最高兴的要算另外那头狮子了，它一直东跑西颠装做忙忙碌碌的样子，其实是为了对它见到的每一个人说，“你听见它说什么了吗？我们狮子。那意思就是它和我呀。我们狮子。我就喜欢阿斯兰这点。没有架子，不盛气凌人。我们狮子。那意思就是它和我呀。”它一直说来说去，至少说到阿斯兰把三个小矮人、一个树精、两只兔子和一只刺猬放到它背上，这才把它稳住了。一切都准备好以后(原来竟是一条大牧羊犬帮着阿斯兰让大家各就各位的)，他们就从城堡高墙的豁口处动身了。开头狮子和狗四处乱嗅。可是接着有条大猎狗忽然闻到了气味，叫了起来。此后大家就抓紧时间。全部狗啊，狮啊，狼啊，还有其他参加追捕的动物都把鼻子贴近地面，全速前进，其他的都在它们后面大约半英里处尽快跟着飞跑。这声音倒像英国人在猎狐狸，因为大家不时听见猎犬的吠声，夹杂着另一只狮子的吼声，有时还有更深沉、更可怕的阿斯兰自己的吼声。气味变得越来越容易跟踪，他们也就跑得越来越快了。他们刚刚来到峡谷的最后一个转弯处，露茜就听出在所有这些声音之外，又有另一种声音——那是一种不同的声音，她一听心里就有一种怪异的感觉。那是些呐喊声、尖叫声和金属撞击声。

等她们走出峡谷，露茜立刻就明白其中的原因了。彼得和爱德蒙带了阿斯兰其余的军队正拼命跟她昨晚看见过的那群可怕的动物战斗，只不过如今在日光下，那些动物看上去更怪、更恶、更丑，头数也似乎多得多。阿斯兰的军队——它们是背对着露茜的——看上去少得可怜。而且有好多石像散布在战场上，显然这是妖婆使过她的魔杖了。但这会儿她似乎没使魔杖，她是用石刀在打仗。她在跟彼得作战——双方打得十分激烈，露茜简直看不清是怎么回事；她只看出刀光剑影飞闪，叫人眼花缭乱，看上去倒像有三把刀和三把剑了。这一对在中间厮杀，两边都排成一条战线。不论她朝哪边看，都是一片可怕的情景。

“孩子们，快下来。”阿斯兰叫道。她们俩就此翻滚下来。随后一声怒吼，震撼了西起路灯柱东到海边的纳尼亚整个土地，这只巨兽亲自向白妖婆扑去。露茜看见刹那间妖婆抬起头来看着它，脸上充满了恐怖和惊讶。接着狮王和妖婆就滚成一团了，但妖婆被压在下面；这时阿斯兰从妖婆老窝里带来参战的全部动物都狂热地朝敌阵中冲去，小矮人用战斧，猎狗用牙齿，巨人用大棒(他的双脚也踩死了好多敌人)，独角兽用角，人头马用剑和蹄子。彼得那支累坏了的军队立时士气大振，新上阵的动物们怒吼着，敌人叽里呱啦，尖声喊叫，闹得树林里杀声震天。