the hunting of the white stag

the battle was all over a few minutes after their arrival. most of the enemy had been killed in the first charge of aslan and his -companions; and when those who were still living saw that the witch was dead they either gave themselves up or took to flight. the next thing that lucy knew was that peter and aslan were shaking hands. it was strange to her to see peter looking as he looked now - his face was so pale and stern and he seemed so much older.

"it was all edmund's doing, aslan," peter was saying. "we'd have been beaten if it hadn't been for him. the witch was turning our troops into stone right and left. but nothing would stop him. he fought his way through three ogres to where she was just turning one of your leopards into a statue. and when he reached her he had sense to bring his sword smashing down on her wand instead of trying to go for her directly and simply getting made a statue himself for his pains. that was the mistake all the rest were making. once her wand was broken we began to have some chance - if we hadn't lost so many already. he was terribly wounded. we must go and see him."

they found edmund in charge of mrs beaver a little way back from the fighting line. he was covered with blood, his mouth was open, and his face a nasty green colour.

"quick, lucy," said aslan.

and then, almost for the first time, lucy remembered the precious cordial that had been given her for a christmas present. her hands trembled so much that she could hardly undo the stopper, but she managed it in the end and poured a few drops into her brother's mouth.

"there are other people wounded," said aslan while she was still looking eagerly into edmund's pale face and wondering if the cordial would have any result.

"yes, i know," said lucy crossly. "wait a minute."

"daughter of eve," said aslan in a graver voice, "others also are at the point of death. must more people die for edmund?"

"i'm sorry, aslan," said lucy, getting up and going with him. and for the next half-hour they were busy - she attending to the wounded while he restored those who had been turned into stone. when at last she was free to come back to edmund she found him standing on his feet and not only healed of his wounds but looking better than she had seen him look - oh, for ages; in fact ever since his first term at that horrid school which was where he had begun to go wrong. he had become his real old self again and could look you in the face. and there on the field of battle aslan made him a knight.

"does he know," whispered lucy to susan, "what aslan did for him? does he know what the arrangement with the witch really was?"

"hush! no. of course not," said susan.

"oughtn't he to be told?" said lucy.

"oh, surely not," said susan. "it would be too awful for him. think how you'd feel if you were he."

"all the same i think he ought to know," said lucy. but at that moment they were interrupted.

that night they slept where they were. how aslan provided food for them all i don't know; but somehow or other they found themselves all sitting down on the grass to a fine high tea at about eight o'clock. next day they began marching eastward down the side of the great river. and the next day after that, at about teatime, they actually reached the mouth. the castle of cair paravel on its little hill towered up above them; before them were the sands, with rocks and little pools of salt water, and seaweed, and the smell of the sea and long miles of bluish-green waves breaking for ever and ever on the beach. and oh, the cry of the sea-gulls! have you heard it? can you remember?

that evening after tea the four children all managed to get down to the beach again and get their shoes and stockings off and feel the sand between their toes. but next day was more solemn. for then, in the great hall of cair paravel - that wonderful hall with the ivory roof and the west wall hung with peacock's feathers and the eastern door which looks towards the sea, in the presence of all their friends and to the sound of trumpets, aslan solemnly crowned them and led them to the four thrones amid deafening shouts of, "long live king peter! long live queen susan! long live king edmund! long live queen lucy!"

"once a king or queen in narnia, always a king or queen. bear it well, sons of adam! bear it well, daughters of eve!" said aslan.

and through the eastern door, which was wide open, came the voices of the mermen and the mermaids swimming close to the shore and singing in honour of their new kings and queens.

so the children sat on their thrones and sceptres were put into their hands and they gave rewards and honours to all their friends, to tumnus the faun, and to the beavers, and giant rumblebuffin, to the leopards, and the good centaurs, and the good dwarfs, and to the lion. and that night there was a great feast in cair paravel, and revelry and dancing, and gold flashed and wine flowed, and answering to the music inside, but stranger, sweeter, and more piercing, came the music of the sea people.

but amidst all these rejoicings aslan himself quietly slipped away. and when the kings and queens noticed that he wasn't there they said nothing about it. for mr beaver had warned them, "he'll be coming and going," he had said. "one day you'll see him and another you won't. he doesn't like being tied down and of course he has other countries to attend to. it's quite all right. he'll often drop in. only you mustn't press him. he's wild,' you know. not like a tame lion."

and now, as you see, this story is nearly (but not quite) at an end. these two kings and two queens governed narnia well, and long and happy was their reign. at first much of their time was spent in seeking out the remnants of the white witch's army and destroying them, and indeed for a long time there would be news of evil things lurking in the wilder parts of the forest - a haunting here and a killing there, a glimpse of a werewolf one month and a rumour of a hag the next. but in the end all that foul brood was stamped out. and they made good laws and kept the peace and saved good trees from being unnecessarily cut down, and liberated young dwarfs and young satyrs from being sent to school, and generally stopped busybodies and interferers and encouraged ordinary people who wanted to live and let live. and they drove back the fierce giants (quite a different sort from giant rumblebuffin) on the north of narnia when these ventured across the frontier. and they entered into friendship and alliance with countries beyond the sea and paid them visits of state and received visits of state from them. and they themselves grew and changed as the years passed over them. and peter became a tall and deep-chested man and a great warrior, and he was called king peter the magnificent. and susan grew into a tall and gracious woman with black hair that fell almost to her feet and the kings of the countries beyond the sea began to send ambassadors asking for her hand in marriage. and she was called susan the gentle. edmund was a graver and quieter man than peter, and great in council and judgement. he was called king edmund the just. but as for lucy, she was always gay and golden-haired, and all princes in those parts desired her to be their queen, and her own people called her queen lucy the valiant.

so they lived in great joy and if ever they remembered their life in this world it was only as one remembers a dream. and one year it fell out that tumnus (who was a middle-aged faun by now and beginning to be stout) came down river and brought them news that the white stag had once more appeared in his parts - the white stag who would give you wishes if you caught him. so these two kings and two queens with the principal members of their court, rode a-hunting with horns and hounds in the western woods to follow the white stag. and they had not hunted long before they had a sight of him. and he led them a great pace over rough and smooth and through thick and thin, till the horses of all the courtiers were tired out and these four were still following. and they saw the stag enter into a thicket where their horses could not follow. then said king peter (for they talked in quite a different style now, having been kings and queens for so long), "fair consorts, let us now alight from our horses and follow this beast into the thicket; for in all my days i never hunted a nobler quarry."

"sir," said the others, "even so let us do."

so they alighted and tied their horses to trees and went on into the thick wood on foot. and as soon as they had entered it queen susan said,

"fair friends, here is a great marvel, for i seem to see a tree of iron."

"madam," said,king edmund, "if you look well upon it you shall see it is a pillar of iron with a lantern set on the top thereof."

"by the lion's mane, a strange device," said king peter, "to set a lantern here where the trees cluster so thick about it and so high above it that if it were lit it should give light to no man!"

"sir," said queen lucy. "by likelihood when this post and this lamp were set here there were smaller trees in the place, or fewer, or none. for this is a young wood and the iron post is old." and they stood looking upon it. then said king edmund,

"i know not how it is, but this lamp on the post worketh upon me strangely. it runs in my mind that i have seen the like before; as it were in a dream, or in the dream of a dream."

"sir," answered they all, "it is even so with us also."

"and more," said queen lucy, "for it will not go out of my mind that if we pass this post and lantern either we shall find strange adventures or else some great change of our fortunes."

"madam," said king edmund, "the like foreboding stirreth in my heart also."

"and in mine, fair brother," said king peter.

"and in mine too," said queen susan. "wherefore by my counsel we shall lightly return to our horses and follow this white stag no further."

"madam," said king peter, "therein i pray thee to have me excused. for never since we four were kings and queens in narnia have we set our hands to any high matter, as battles, quests, feats of arms, acts of justice, and the like, and then given over; but always what we have taken in hand, the same we have achieved."

"sister," said queen lucy, "my royal brother speaks rightly. and it seems to me we should be shamed if for any fearing or foreboding we turned back from following so noble a beast as now we have in chase."

"and so say i," said king edmund. "and i have such desire to find the signification of this thing that i would not by my good will turn back for the richest jewel in all narnia and all the islands."

"then in the name of aslan," said queen susan, "if ye will all have it so, let us go on and take the adventure that shall fall to us."

so these kings and queens entered the thicket, and before they had gone a score of paces they all remembered that the thing they had seen was called a lamppost, and before they had gone twenty more they noticed that they were. making their way not through branches but through coats. and next moment they all came tumbling out of a wardrobe door into the empty room, and they were no longer kings and queens in their hunting array but just peter, susan, edmund and lucy in their old clothes. it was the same day and the same hour of the day on which they had all gone into the wardrobe to hide. mrs macready and the visitors were still talking in the passage; but luckily they never came into the empty room and so the children weren't caught.

and that would have been the very end of the story if it hadn't been that they felt they really must explain to the professor why four of the coats out of his wardrobe were missing. and the professor, who was a very remarkable man, didn't tell them not to be silly or not to tell lies, but believed the whole story. "no," he said, "i don't think it will be any good trying to go back through the wardrobe door to get the coats. you won't get into narnia again by that

route. nor would the coats be much use by now if you did!

eh? what's that? yes, of course you'll get back to narnia again some day. once a king in narnia, always a king in narnia. but don't go trying to use the same route twice.

indeed, don't try to get there at all. it'll happen when you're not looking for it. and don't talk too much about it even among yourselves. and don't mention it to anyone else unless you find that they've had adventures of the same sort themselves. what's that? how will you know? oh, you'll know all right. odd things they say - even their looks - will let the secret out. keep your eyes open. bless me, what do they teach them at these schools?

and that is the very end of the adventure of the wardrobe.

but if the professor was right it was only the beginning of the adventures of narnia.

第十七章 追猎白鹿

这场战斗在他们赶到后片刻间就全部结束了。大部分敌人在阿斯兰和它的伙伴第一次猛攻时就已送了命，那些还活着的看见妖婆死了，不是投降就是逃走了。接下来露茜只知道彼得跟阿斯兰在握手了。她觉得彼得这会儿看上去很怪——他的脸那么苍白，神情严峻，而且他老气多了。

“这都是爱德蒙的功劳，阿斯兰，”彼得说道，“要不是他，我们就要被她们打败了。妖婆把我们的军队都变成石头排在两边。可什么也挡不住他。他一路打倒了三个吃人恶魔，一直打到她刚把你的一头豹变成石像的地方。等他靠近她时，他很理智，先用剑劈了她的魔杖，而不是鲁莽地直接向她进攻，害得自己反而被变成一个石像。而所有其他的人正是犯了这个错误。要是我们原先损失没那么严重的话，她的魔杖一断，我们就开始有转机了。他受了重伤。我们必须去看看他。”

他们发现爱德蒙就在离战线不远的后方，由海狸太太负责照看着。他浑身是血，张着嘴，脸色惨白。

“快，露茜。”阿斯兰说。

到了那时，露茜才头一回记起作为圣诞礼物送给她的那瓶珍贵的妙药。她两手抖得厉害，怎么也打不开瓶塞，不过末了她总算打开了，而且在她哥哥嘴里倒了几滴。

“还有别的伤员呢。”阿斯兰说。她却仍然焦急地望着爱德蒙苍白的脸，不知妙药有没有什么效果。

“是啊，我知道，”露茜生气地说，“等一下。”

“夏娃的女儿，”阿斯兰的声音严肃起来了，“别人也在生死关头，难道一定要更多的人为爱德蒙而死吗？”

“对不起，阿斯兰。”露茜说着站起来跟它一起走去。接下来半小时里她们忙得不可开交——她忙着照顾伤员，它忙着把那些变成石头的动物变回原样。等她终于抽出身子回到爱德蒙那儿时，她发现他已经一个人站在那儿了，不仅伤口长好了，而且看上去比以前还要好；事实上，自从他上了那个讨厌的学校，第一学期他就开始变坏了。如今他已经恢复本来面目，敢于正视你的脸了。阿斯兰就在战场上封他为骑士。

“他知道，”露茜悄悄对苏珊说，“阿斯兰为他作出什么牺牲吗？他知道狮王和妖婆的真正协议吗？”

“嘘！不，当然不知道。”苏珊说。

“难道不应该告诉他吗？”露茜说。

“哦，当然不应该，”苏珊说，“那对他太可怕了。如果你是他，想想看你有什么感想？”

“尽管如此，我认为他应该知道。”露茜说。不过这时有人打断了她们的谈话。那天晚上他们就在原地睡觉。阿斯兰怎么供大家吃饭我可不知道；不过不管怎么说，大伙儿在八点钟左右全都坐在草地上吃了一顿美美的正式茶点。第二天他们开始沿着那条大河往东进发。第三天，大约在吃茶点的时候，他们果然来到了入海口。坐落在小山上的凯尔帕拉维尔城堡高高屹立在他们上面；在他们前方是沙滩、岩石、一个个小小的咸水坑、海草、大海的气息，还有青绿色的万里波涛永远不停地冲击着海滩。哦，还有海鸥的叫声！你们听见过吗？你们还能记得吗？

那天傍晚吃过茶点，四个孩子全都想方设法再到海滩上去，他们脱下鞋袜，光脚在沙滩上玩。不过第二天就严肃得多了。原来那时，在凯尔帕拉维尔的大厅里，在那象牙屋顶的精美大厅里(西门全都挂满了孔雀毛，东门直通大海)，阿斯兰当着他们的各位好友，听到号声齐鸣，就庄严地为他们加冕。“彼得国王万岁！苏珊女王万岁！爱德蒙国王万岁！露茜女王万岁！”在震耳欲聋的欢呼声中，阿斯兰领他们坐到四个宝座上。

“在纳尼亚一朝为王，就终身为王，好好记住，亚当的儿子！好好记住，夏娃的女儿！”阿斯兰说。

同时从敞开的东门外传来了雄人鱼和雌人鱼的声音，它们游到靠近城堡台阶的地方，欢唱着向它们的国王和女王致敬。

于是四个孩子坐在宝座上，接受了权杖，他们对所有好友分别犒赏，表示敬意，包括羊怪图姆纳斯、海狸夫妇、巨人伦波布芬、豹、善良的人头马和小矮人，以及另一头狮子。那天晚上在凯尔帕拉维尔举行了一个盛大的宴会，纵情歌舞狂欢，金光闪闪，美酒汩汩，和城堡里的音乐相呼应的是海上传来的那种更奇妙、更甜美、更扣人心弦的仙乐。

但就在这场欢庆中，阿斯兰悄悄地溜走了。两位国王和两位女王注意到它不在了，倒也没说什么。因为海狸先生曾经对他们有言在先。“它是来去自由的，”它说，“你们今天看见它，改天就看小见了。它不喜欢被拴住——当然还有别的国家要它去操心。这没关系。它会常常来的。只是你们不能逼它。要知道它性子野，不像驯化了的狮子。”

现在呢，你们也看得出，这故事就快讲完了(不过还没完呢)。话说这两位国王和两位女王管理纳尼亚，倒也搞得长治久安，快快活活。一开头他们大部分时间都花在搜寻白妖婆军队的残余并消灭他们上。长期以来确实也有潜伏在森林中偏僻地带的坏蛋作恶的消息——到处捣乱，杀人，这个月看见一个狼人，下个月又谣传出现母夜叉。不过到头来所有的祸害都被消灭了。他们制订了完善的法律，维持社会治安，保护好树木不受滥砍滥伐，不让年轻的小矮人和树精被强迫上学，严禁人家多嘴多舌、爱管闲事，鼓励愿意安居乐业的普通百姓安定下来。他们赶走了胆敢越过纳尼亚北部边境的凶猛巨人(这些巨人跟伦渡布芬大不相同)。他们跟海外一些国家结成友好同盟，对那些国家进行国事访问，并接待对方的访问。岁月流逝，他们自己也都长大成人，起了变化。彼得变成一个身材高大、胸脯厚实的男人，一个伟大的武士，人称至尊王彼得。苏珊长成一个身材颀长，举止文雅的女人，一头黑发几乎拖到脚跟，海外一些国王开始纷纷派大使来向她求婚，人称温柔女王苏珊。爱德蒙比起彼得来显得更严肃、更沉默，善于掌握议会和主持审判，人称公正王爱德蒙。至于露茜，她一向无忧无虑，而且是满头金发，那一带所有的王子都想娶她为王后，国内人民称之为英勇女王露茜。

于是他们就这样过着欢欢喜喜的日子，如果他们想到过他们在人世间的生活，也只是像人们想起一个梦似的。有一年，图姆纳斯(如今这只羊怪也到了中年，身子也开始发胖了)顺河下来给他们带信说，白鹿又出现在他这一带了——如果你抓到白鹿，白鹿就可以让你实现愿望。于是两位国王和两位女王带上他们宫廷里的文武百官，还带着号角、猎犬，骑着马到西部森林去追踪白鹿了。他们去了不久就看到了白鹿的身影，白鹿领着他们飞快地翻山越岭，历尽艰险，折腾得所有大臣的马都累倒了，只有这四个国王仍然紧追不舍。他们看见那只鹿钻进一片灌木丛中，坐骑进不去。于是彼得国王说(如今他们在朝执政已经多年，所以说话的口气也大不一样了)，“各位王弟王妹，现在让我们下马，跟随那畜生进入灌木丛吧；因为我生平从未打到过一只比这更高贵的猎物了。”

“王兄，”其余三个说，“既然如此，我们就走吧。”

于是他们都下了马，把马拴在树上，继续向密林中走去。他们刚走进树林，苏珊女王就说：

“各位，这儿有一大奇迹，我似乎看见了一棵铁树。”

“王姐，”爱德蒙国王说，“如果你好好看一看，就会看出这是一根铁柱，顶上装了一盏灯。”

“真是的，想得倒怪，”彼得国王说，“把灯装在周围树木这么密、这么高的地方，就是灯亮着也照不见人。”

“王兄，”露茜女王说，“很可能这根柱子和这盏灯装在这儿的时候，这地方只有小树，也可能树木稀，也可能没树。因为这里是幼林，而铁柱是老的。”于是他们都站在那儿望着铁柱。后来爱德蒙国王说：

“不知道怎么回事，但柱子上的这盏灯对我有种奇怪的影响。在我脑子里闪过，以前我好像见过类似的东西，似乎是个梦，或者是梦中梦。”

“王弟，”他们大家都回答说，“我们也这样想。”

“而且，”露茜女王说，“我脑子里老在想，只要我们走过这根柱子和灯，我们就会有种种哿遇，或者命运就要发生大大变化。”

“王妹，”爱德蒙国王说，“我心里也有类似的预感。”

“我也是，王弟。”彼得国王说。

“我也这么想，”苏珊女王说，“因此依我之见，我们还是悄悄地回到我们拴马的地方，不要再追踪这只白鹿了。”

“王妹，”彼得国王说，“这一点我要请你原谅。因为我们四个自从在纳尼亚当了国王和女王以来，我们不论着手进行什么大事，诸如战争、审讯、比武、执法之类，都没有半途而废过；我们一向总是一旦着于，就必定贯彻到底的。”

“王姐，”露茜女王说，“王兄说得对。而且我觉得，要是我们为了任何恐惧或预感就回去，不再追捕一只那么高贵的野兽，似乎太不像话了。”

“我也这么想，”爱德蒙国王说，“我一心想发现这东西的意义，就是拿整个纳尼亚最珍贵的珠宝和所有的岛屿来换，我也决不回去。”

“那么以阿斯兰的名义起誓，”苏珊女王说，“如果你们都要这样做，那就让我们走下去，不管将遇上什么奇事都听之任之吧。”

于是两位国王和两位女王走进了灌木丛，他们刚走了几步就全想起来了，他们看见的那东西叫作路灯柱，再走了不到二十步，他们发现不是在树枝间摸索着走路，而是在大衣堆里止路。不一会儿他们全都从大衣柜的一扇门里滚到空房间里了，而且他们也不再是穿着猎装的国王和女王，而是穿着过去的衣服的彼得、苏珊、爱德蒙和露茜。时间还是他们躲进大衣柜的同一天，同一个时辰。麦克里迪太太和参观的客人还在过道里谈话；不过幸好他们没到这空房间里来，因此孩子们也没被他们发现。

要不是他们觉得真的必须对教授说清他大衣柜里丢失四件大衣的原因，这个故事本来也就结束了。而教授呢，他是一个非常了不起的人，他并没教训他们别瞎说，或者别说谎，而是相信了整个故事。

“不，”他说，“我认为想再从衣柜里去拿回那些大衣没什么好处。你们不要从那条路再回纳尼亚去了。即使拿回来，那些大衣也没多大用处。啊？什么？是啊，有一天你们当然会回纳尼亚去。在纳尼亚一朝为王，就终身为王嘛。不过你们不要再走同一条路线。真的，千万别想方设法上那儿去。你们不去找它，它自会出现。而且，即使在你们自己之间也别多谈这件事。也别对任何外人说起，除非你们发现他们也有过类似的奇遇。什么？你们怎么会知道？哦，你们准会知道的。碰上怪事，他们说的话——甚至他们的神情——会露出马脚的。你们留心好了。天哪，他们那些学校是怎么教他们的啊？”

这就是大衣柜奇遇的结尾了。不过如果教授说得对的话，这只是纳尼亚奇遇的开始。