CHAPTER FOURTEEN HOW ALL WERE VERY BUSY（第3/3页）

“You’ll stay with us，sweetheart？”said Aslan．

“Oh，may I？ Thank you，thank you，”said Gwendolen．Instantly she joined hands with two of the Maenads，who whirled her round in a merry dance and helped her take off some of the unnecessary and uncomfortable clothes that she was wearing．

Wherever they went in the little town of Beruna it was the same．Most of the people fled，a few joined them．When they left the town they were a larger and a merrier company．

They swept on across the level fields on the north bank，or left bank，of the river．At every farm animals came out to join them．Sad old donkeys who had never known joy grew suddenly young again; chained dogs broke their chains; horses kicked their carts to pieces and came trotting along with them—clop—clop—kicking up the mud and whinnying．

At a well in a yard they met a man who was beating a boy．The stick burst into flower in the man’s hand．He tried to drop it，but it stuck to his hand．His arm became a branch，his body the trunk of a tree，his feet took root．The boy，who had been crying a moment before，burst out laughing and joined them．

At a little town half-way to Beaversdam，where two rivers met，they came to another school，where a tired-looking girl was teaching arithmetic to a number of boys who looked very like pigs．She looked out of the window and saw the divine revellers singing up the street and a stab of joy went through her heart．Aslan stopped right under the window and looked up at her．

“Oh，don’t，don’t，”she said．“I’d love to．But I mustn’t．I must stick to my work．And the children would be frightened if they saw you．”

“Frightened？”said the most pig-like of the boys．“Who’s she talking to out of the window？ Let’s tell the inspector she talks to people out of the window when she ought to be teaching us．”

“Let’s go and see who it is，”said another boy，and they all came crowding to the window．But as soon as their mean little faces looked out，Bacchus gave a great cry of Euan，euoi-oi-oi-oi and the boys all began howling with fright and trampling one another down to get out of the door and jumping out of the windows．And it was said afterward (whether truly or not) that those particular little boys were never seen again，but that there were a lot of very fine little pigs in that part of the country which had never been there before．

“Now，Dear Heart，”said Aslan to the Mistress，and she jumped down and joined them．

At Beaversdam they re-crossed the river and came east again along the southern bank．They came to a little cottage where a child stood in the doorway crying．“Why are you crying，my love？”asked Aslan．The child，who had never seen a picture of a lion，was not afraid of him．“Auntie’s very ill，”she said．“She’s going to die．”Then Aslan went to go in at the door of the cottage，but it was too small for him．So，when he had got his head through，he pushed with his shoulders (Lucy and Susan fell off when he did this) and lifted the whole house up and it fell backwards and apart．And there，still in her bed，though the bed was now in the open air，lay a little old woman who looked as if she had Dwarf blood in her．She was at death’s door，but when she opened her eyes and saw the bright，hairy head of the lion staring into her face，she did not scream or faint．She said，“Oh，Aslan！ I knew it was true．I’ve been waiting for this all my life.Have you come to take me away？”

“Yes，Dearest，”said Aslan．“But not the long journey yet．”And as he spoke，like the flush creeping along the underside of a cloud at sunrise，the colour came back to her white face and her eyes grew bright and she sat up and said，“Why，I do declare I feel that better．I think I could take a little breakfast this morning．”

“Here you are，mother，”said Bacchus，dipping a pitcher in the cottage well and handing it to her．But what was in it now was not water but the richest wine，red as red-currant jelly，smooth as oil，strong as beef，warming as tea，cool as dew．

“Eh，you’ve done something to our well，”said the old woman.“That makes a nice change，that does．”And she jumped out of bed.

“Ride on me，”said Aslan，and added to Susan and Lucy，“You two queens will have to run now．”

“But we’d like that just as well，”said Susan．And off they went again．

And so at last，with leaping and dancing and singing，with music and laughter and roaring and barking and neighing，they all came to the place where Miraz’s army stood flinging down their swords and holding up their hands，and Peter’s army，still holding their weapons and breathing hard，stood round them with stern and glad faces．And the first thing that happened was that the old woman slipped off Aslan’s back and ran across to Caspian and they embraced one another; for she was his old nurse．