THE HOUSE OF HARFANG
"Go on, Pole, do your stuff," whispered Scrubb.
Jill found that her mouth was so dry that she couldn't speak a word. She nodded savagely1 at Scrubb.
Thinking to himself that he would never forgive her (or Puddleglum either), Scrubb licked his lips and shouted up to the King giant.
"If you please, Sire, the Lady of the Green Kirtle salutes2 you by us and said you'd like to have us for your Autumn Feast."
The giant King and Queen looked at each other, nodded to each other, and smiled in a way that Jill didn't exactly like. She liked the King better than the Queen. He had a fine, curled beard and a straight eagle-like nose, and was really rather good-looking as giants go. The Queen was dreadfully fat and had a double chin and a fat, powdered face - which isn't a very nice thing at the best of times, and of course looks much worse when it is ten times too big. Then the King put out his tongue and licked his lips. Anyone might do that: but his tongue was so very large and red, and came out so unexpectedly, that it gave Jill quite a shock.
"Oh, what good children!" said the Queen. ("Perhaps she's the nice one after all," thought Jill.)
"Yes indeed," said the King. "Quite excellent children. We welcome you to our court. Give me your hands."
He stretched down his great right hand - very clean and with any number of rings on the fingers, but also with terrible pointed3 nails. He was much too big to shake the hands which the children, in turn, held up to him; but he shook the arms.
"And what's that?" asked the King, pointing to Puddleglum.
"Reshpeckobiggle," said Puddleglum.
"Oh!" screamed the Queen, gathering4 her skirts close about her ankles. "The horrid5 thing! It's alive."
"He's quite all right, your Majesty6, really, he is," said Scrubb hastily. "You'll like him much better when you get to know him. I'm sure you will."
I hope you won't lose all interest in Jill for the rest of the book if I tell you that at this moment she began to cry. There was a good deal of excuse for her. Her feet and hands and ears and nose were still only just beginning to thaw7; melted snow was trickling8 off her clothes; she had had hardly anything to eat or drink that day; and her legs were aching so that she felt she could not go on standing9 much longer. Anyway, it did more good at the moment than anything else would have done, for the Queen said:
"Ah, the poor child! My lord, we do wrong to keep our guests standing. Quick, some of you! Take them away. Give them food and wine and baths. Comfort the little girl. Give her lollipops10, give her dolls, give her physics, give her all you can think of - possets and comfits and caraways and lullabies and toys. Don't cry, little girl, or you won't be good for anything when the feast comes."
Jill was just as indignant as you and I would have been at the mention of toys and dolls; and, though lollipops and comfits might be all very well in their way, she very much hoped that something more solid would be provided. The Queen's foolish speech, however, produced excellent results, for Puddleglum and Scrubb were at once picked up by gigantic gentlemen-in-waiting, and Jill by a gigantic maid of honour, and carried off to their rooms.
Jill's room was about the size of a church, and would have been rather grim if it had not had a roaring fire on the hearth11 and a very thick crimson12 carpet on the floor. And here delightful13 things began to happen to her. She was handed over to the Queen's old Nurse, who was, from the giants' point of view, a little old woman almost bent14 double with age, and, from the human point of view, a giantess small enough to go about an ordinary room without knocking her head on the ceiling. She was very capable, though Jill did wish she wouldn't keep on clicking her tongue and saying things like "Oh la, la! Ups-adaisy" and "There's a duck" and "Now we'll be all right, my poppet". She filled a giant foot-bath with hot water and helped Jill into it. If you can swim (as Jill could) a giant bath is a lovely thing. And giant towels, though a bit rough and coarse, are lovely too, because there are acres of them. In fact you don't need to dry at all, you just roll about on them in front of the fire and enjoy yourself. And when that was over, clean, fresh, warmed clothes were put on Jill: very splendid clothes and a little too big for her, but clearly made for humans not giantesses. "I suppose if that woman in the green kirtle comes here, they must be used to guests of our size," thought Jill.
She soon saw that she was right about this, for a table and chair of the right height for an ordinary grown-up human were placed for her, and the knives and forks and spoons were the proper size too. It was delightful to sit down, feeling warm and clean at last. Her feet were still bare and it was lovely to tread on the giant carpet. She sank in it well over her ankles and it was just the thing for sore feet. The meal - which I suppose we must call dinner, though it was nearer tea time - was cock-a-leekie soup, and hot roast turkey, and a steamed pudding, and roast chestnuts15, and as much fruit as you could eat.
The only annoying thing was that the Nurse kept coming in and out, and every time she came in, she brought a gigantic toy with her - a huge doll, bigger than Jill herself, a wooden horse on wheels, about the size of an elephant, a drum that looked like a young gasometer, and a woolly lamb. They were crude, badly made things, painted in very bright colours, and Jill hated the sight of them. She kept on telling the Nurse she didn't want them, but the Nurse said:
"Tut-tut-tut-tut. You'll want 'em all right when you've had a bit of a rest, I know! Te-he-he! Beddy bye, now. A precious poppet!"
The bed was not a giant bed but only a big four-poster, like what you might see in an old-fashioned hotel; and very small it looked in that enormous room. She was very glad to tumble into it.
"Is it still snowing, Nurse?" she asked sleepily.
"No. Raining now, ducky!" said the giantess. "Rain'll wash away all the nasty snow. Precious poppet will be able to go out and play tomorrow!" And she tucked Jill up and said good night.
I know nothing so disagreeable as being kissed by a giantess. Jill thought the same, but was asleep in five minutes.
The rain fell steadily16 all the evening and all the night, dashing against the windows of the castle, and Jill never heard it but slept deeply, past supper time and past midnight. And then came the deadest hour of the night and nothing stirred but mice in the house of the giants. At that hour there came to Jill a dream. It seemed to her that she awoke in the same room and saw the fire, sunk low and red, and in the firelight the great wooden horse. And the horse came of its own will, rolling on its wheels across the carpet, and stood at her head. And now it was no longer a horse, but a lion as big as the horse. And then it was not a toy lion, but a real lion, The Real Lion, just as she had seen him on the mountain beyond the world's end. And a smell of all sweet-smelling things there are filled the room. But there was some trouble in Jill's mind, though she could not think what it was, and the tears streamed down her face and wet the pillow. The Lion told her to repeat the signs, and she found that she had forgotten them all. At that, a great horror came over her. And Aslan took her up in his jaws17 (she could feel his lips and his breath but not his teeth) and carried her to the window and made her look out. The moon shone bright; and written in great letters across the world or the sky (she did not know which) were the words UNDER ME. After that, the dream faded away, and when she woke, very late next morning, she did not remember that she had dreamed at all.
She was up and dressed and had finished breakfast in front of the fire when the Nurse opened the door and said: "Here's pretty poppet's little friends come to play with her."
In came Scrubb and the Marsh-wiggle.
"Hullo! Good morning," said Jill. "Isn't this fun? I've slept about fifteen hours, I believe. I do feel better, don't you?"
"1 do," said Scrubb, "but Puddleglum says he has a headache. Hullo! - your window has a window seat. If we got up on that, we could see out." And at once they all did so: and at the first glance Jill said, "Oh, how perfectly18 dreadful!"
The sun was shining and, except for a few drifts, the snow had been almost completely washed away by the rain. Down below them, spread out like a map, lay the flat hill-top which they had struggled over yesterday afternoon; seen from the castle, it could not be mistaken for anything but the ruins of a gigantic city. It had been flat, as Jill now saw, because it was still, on the whole, paved, though in places the pavement was broken. The criss-cross banks were what was left of the walls of huge buildings which might once have been giants' palaces and temples. One bit of wall, about five hundred feet high, was still standing; it was that which she had thought was a cliff. The things that had looked like factory chimneys were enormous pillars, broken off at unequal heights; their fragments lay at their bases like felled trees of monstrous19 stone. The ledges20 which they had climbed down on the north side of the hill - and also, no doubt the other ledges which they had climbed up on the south side - were the remaining steps of giant stairs. To crown all, in large, dark lettering across the centre of the pavement, ran the words UNDER ME.
The three travellers looked at each other in dismay, and, after a short whistle, Scrubb said what they were all thinking, "The second and third signs muffed." And at that moment Jill's dream rushed back into her mind.
"It's my fault," she said in despairing tones. "I - I'd given up repeating the signs every night. If I'd been thinking about them I could have seen it was the city, even in all that snow."
"I'm worse," said Puddleglum. "I did see, or nearly. I thought it looked uncommonly21 like a ruined city."
"You're the only one who isn't to blame," said Scrubb. "You did try to make us stop."
"Didn't try hard enough, though," said the Marshwiggle. "And I'd no call to be trying. I ought to have done it. As if I couldn't have stopped you two with one hand each!"
"The truth is," said Scrubb, "we were so jolly keen on getting to this place that we weren't bothering about anything else. At least I know I was. Ever since we met that woman with the knight22 who didn't talk, we've been thinking of nothing else. We'd nearly forgotten about Prince Rilian."
"I shouldn't wonder," said Puddleglum, "if that wasn't exactly what she intended."
"What I don't quite understand," said Jill, "is how we didn't see the lettering? Or could it have come there since last night. Could he - Aslan - have put it there in the night? I had such a queer dream." And she told them all about it.
"Why, you chump!" said Scrubb. "We did see it. We got into the lettering. Don't you see? We got into the letter E in ME. That was your sunk lane. We walked along the bottom stroke of the E, due north - turned to our right along the upright - came to another turn to the right - that's the middle stroke - and then went on to the top left-hand corner, or (if you like) the north-eastern corner of the letter, and came back. Like the bally idiots we are." He kicked the window seat savagely, and went on, "So it's no good, Pole. I know what you were thinking because I was thinking the same. You were thinking how nice it would have been if Aslan hadn't put the instructions on the stones of the ruined city till after we'd passed it. And then it would have been his fault, not ours. So likely, isn't it? No. We must just own up. We've only four signs to go by, and we've muffed the first three."
"You mean I have," said Jill. "It's quite true. I've spoiled everything ever since you brought me here. All the same - I'm frightfully sorry and all that - all the same, what are the instructions? UNDER ME doesn't seem to make much sense."
"Yes it does, though," said Puddleglum. "It means we've got to look for the Prince under that city."
"But how can we?" asked Jill.
"That's the question," said Puddleglum, rubbing his big, frog-like hands together. "How can we now? No doubt, if we'd had our minds on our job when we were at the Ruinous City, we'd have been shown how - found a little door, or a cave, or a tunnel, met someone to help us. Might have been (you never know) Aslan himself. We'd have got down under those paving-stones somehow or other. Aslan's instructions always work: there are no exceptions. But how to do it now - that's another matter."
"Well, we shall just have to go back, I suppose," said Jill.
"Easy, isn't it?" said Puddleglum. "We might try opening that door to begin with." And they all looked at the door and saw that none of them could reach the handle, and that almost certainly no one could turn it if they did.
"Do you think they won't let us out if we ask?" said Jill. And nobody said, but everyone thought, "Supposing they don't."
It was not a pleasant idea. Puddleglum was dead against any idea of telling the giants their real business and simply asking to be let out; and of course the children couldn't tell without his permission, because they had promised. And all three felt pretty sure that there would be no chance of escaping from the castle by night. Once they were in their rooms with the doors shut, they would be prisoners till morning. They might, of course, ask to have their doors left open, but that would rouse suspicions.
"Our only chance," said Scrubb, "is to try to sneak23 away by daylight. Mightn't there be an hour in the afternoon when most of the giants are asleep? - and if we could steal down into the kitchen, mightn't there be a back door open?"
"It's hardly what I call a Chance," said the Marshwiggle. "But it's all the chance we're likely to get." As a matter of fact, Scrubb's plan was not quite so hopeless as you might think. If you want to get out of a house without being seen, the middle of the afternoon is in some ways a better time to try it than the middle of the night. Doors and windows are more likely to be open; and if you are caught, you can always pretend you weren't meaning to go far and had no particular plans. (It is very hard to make either giants or grown-ups believe this if you're found climbing out of a bedroom window at one o'clock in the morning.)
"We must put them off their guard, though," said Scrubb. "We must pretend we love being here and are longing24 for this Autumn Feast."
"That's tomorrow night," said Puddleglum. "I heard one of them say so."
"I see," said Jill. "We must pretend to be awfully25 excited about it, and keep on asking questions. They think we're absolute infants anyway, which will make it easier."
"Gay," said Puddleglum with a deep sigh. "That's what we've got to be. Gay. As if we hadn't a care in the world. Frolicsome26. You two youngsters haven't always got very high spirits, I've noticed. You must watch me, and do as I do. I'll be gay. Like this" - and he assumed a ghastly grin. "And frolicsome" - here he cut a most mournful caper27. "You'll soon get into it, if you keep your eyes on me. They think I'm a funny fellow already, you see. I dare say you two thought I was a trifle tipsy last night, but I do assure you it was - well, most of it was - put on. I had an idea it would come in useful, somehow."
The children, when they talked over their adventures afterwards, could never feel sure whether this last statement was quite strictly28 true; but they were sure that Puddleglum thought it was true when he made it.
"All right. Gay's the word," said Scrubb. "Now, if we could only get someone to open this door. While we're fooling about and being gay, we've got to find out all we can about this castle."
Luckily, at that very moment the door opened, and the giant Nurse bustled29 in saying, "Now, my poppets. Like to come and see the King and all the court setting out on the hunting? Such a pretty sight!"
They lost no time in rushing out past her and climbing down the first staircase they came to. The noise of hounds and horns and giant voices guided them, so that in a few minutes they reached the courtyard. The giants were all on foot, for there are no giant horses in that part of the world, and the giants' hunting is done on foot; like beagling in England. The hounds were also of normal size. When Jill saw that there were no horses she was at first dreadfully disappointed, for she felt sure that the great fat Queen would never go after hounds on foot; and it would never do to have her about the house all day. But then she saw the Queen in a kind of litter supported on the shoulders of six young giants. The silly old creature was all got up in green and had a horn at her side.
Twenty or thirty giants, including the King, were assembled, ready for the sport, all talking and laughing fit to deafen30 you: and down below, nearer Jill's level, there were wagging tails, and barking, and loose, slobbery mouths and noses of dogs thrust into your hand. Puddleglum was just beginning to strike what he thought a gay and gamesome attitude (which might have spoiled everything if it had been noticed) when Jill put on her most attractively childish smile, rushed across to the Queen's litter and shouted up to the Queen.
"Oh, please! You're not going away, are you? You will come back?"
"Yes, my dear," said the Queen. "I'll be back tonight."
"Oh, good. How lovely!" said Jill. "And we may come to the feast tomorrow night, mayn't we? We're so longing for tomorrow night! And we do love being here. And while you're out, we may run over the whole castle and see everything, mayn't we? Do say yes."
The Queen did say yes, but the laughter of all the courtiers nearly drowned her voice.
“继续吧，波尔，显显你的本事吧。”斯克罗布悄声说。吉尔觉得自己口干得厉害，一句话也说不出来。她拼命朝斯克罗布点头。
斯克罗布暗想他永远也不会原谅她(也不会原谅普德格伦)，舔了舔嘴唇，对着巨人国王大声说道：
“请睦下容我说，绿衣夫人派我们代她向你致敬，她说你们会乐意让我们参加你们的秋季盛宴。”
巨人国王和王后互相望望，彼此点点头，微微一笑。吉尔可不大喜欢他们笑的样子。她比较喜欢国王。他有一部好看的拳曲的胡子，一个笔直的鹰钩鼻，就巨人来说，算是相当漂亮的了。王后胖得吓人，双下巴，一张擦着粉的胖脸——即使在最好的情况下，这都不是件好事，而这张脸又大了十倍，当然看上去就更糟了。这时国王伸出舌头，舔了舔嘴唇。虽然任何人都会伸舌头，但他的舌头又大又红，而且是出其不意地伸出来，真把吉尔吓了一跳。
“哦，多好的孩子啊！”王后说。(“说不定到头来她竟是个好人呢口”吉尔想。
“是啊，一点不错，”国王说，”好得没说的。我们欢迎你们到我们宫里来。把你们的手给我。”
他伸出他那只巨大的右手——非常干净，手指上还戴了不知多少戒指，不过指甲可尖得可怕。他的手实在太大了，没法跟两个孩子——伸出来的手握，他只好握握他们的胳膊。
“那是什么？”国王问，一面指着普德格伦。
“正敬的乖。”普德格伦说。
“哦！”王后尖叫一声，一面收拢裙子，围住脚脖子，”怪物！还是活的昵。”
“它相当不错，隆下，真的，相当不错，”斯克罗布赶紧说，”等你跟它熟了，就会更喜欢它的。包你们会喜欢。”
要是我告诉你就在这时吉尔哭了起来，希望你们看到下文不要对吉尔失去兴趣。她哭的理由可多着呢。她的手、脚、耳、鼻还只刚开始变软；融化的雪正慢慢从她衣服上淌下，当天她简直还没吃过，也没喝过什么东西；她的腿又痛得再也站不住了。不管怎么说，她这个时候哭比做出任何举动都来得好，因为王后说：
“啊呀，可怜的孩子！隆下，我们尽让我们的客人站着可不对啊。快，来人哪！把他们带下去。给他们吃点东西，喝点酒，让他们洗洗澡。安慰安慰那个小女孩。给她棒糖，给她娃娃，给她吃药，凡是你们想得到的统统给她——牛奶甜酒、蜜饿、催眠曲和玩具。别哭了，小姑娘，否则你在盛宴上就一点也没用了。”
吉尔跟你我一样，一听到提起什么玩具和娃娃，就感到气不打一处来；虽然按他们的规矩糖果和蜜钱也许不错，可是她却非常希望来点更实惠的东西。不过王后这篇蠢话倒产生了极好的结果，因为普德格伦和斯克罗布立刻被几个巨人男侍从抱起，吉尔也被一个女侍从抱走，送到各自的房间里去了。4
吉尔的房间有一个教堂那么大，要是壁炉里没有旺旺的火，地上没铺着厚厚的红地毯，屋里看上去就相当阴暗可怕。在这儿她开始遇上一些令人高兴的事。吉尔被人交给了王后的老保姆，从巨人的观点看，她是个上了年纪，弯腰屈背的小老太婆，从人类的观点来看，她仍算是个女巨人，只是身材矮小得可以走进一间普通房间，脑袋不至于碰到天花板罢了。老保姆非常能干，然而吉尔真希望她不要老是喋喋不休，说什么，”哦，啦啦，抱抱就好了”，”真是小宝贝儿”，”好，我们就好了，小乖乖”。她在一只巨人的洗脚盆里倒上热水，帮吉尔爬进去。要是你会游泳(吉尔就会游泳)，在巨人盆里洗次澡可真妙。还有巨人的毛巾，虽然有点粗糙，也很可爱，因为那毛巾足有几英亩那么大，事实上你完全不用擦干，只要在毛巾上滚过去，滚到炉火前，痛痛快快玩就行了。洗完澡以后，吉尔穿上了干净、鲜艳、暖和的衣服。衣服十分华丽，就是大了一点，但看得出这衣服是为人做的，而不是为女巨人做的。”我猜要是那个绿衣女人上这儿来，这些衣服就用来给我们这种身材的客人穿。”吉尔想道。
她很快就看出她猜对了，因为一副给普通成人用的桌椅已经为她放好了，还有刀、叉、匙也都是正常的规格。终于能够暖暖和和、干干净净地坐下来，真叫人高兴。她还光着两只脚，踩在巨人的地毯上可真舒服。她的脚在里面一直陷到足踝，对痛脚来说正需要这样的东西。那顿饭——我想我们得称之为午饭，虽然那时已将近用茶点的时间了——是韭菜鸡肉汤、热的烤火鸡，还有一道蒸布丁、烤栗子以及尽够吃的水果。
惟一讨厌的事是老保姆出出进进，每次进来，都带来一个巨型玩具——一个大娃娃，比吉尔本人还要大，一匹有四个轮子的木马，大约有一只象那么大，一只鼓大得像只小煤气罐，还有一只毛茸茸的小羊羔。这些东西都是粗制滥造，涂着十分鲜艳的颜色，吉尔看见这些东西就不喜欢。她不断跟保姆说她不要这些东西，但保姆说:
“啧，啧，啧。你休息一会儿以后准会要的，我知道！嘻，嘻，嘻，好了，上床吧，可爱的小宝贝！”
那张床不是一张巨人床，只是一张有四个柱子的大床，像老式旅馆里看得见的那种，在这间其大无比的屋子里看上去很小很小。她非常高兴地爬上了床。
“外面还在下雪吗，嬷嬷？”她睡眼惺忪地问。
“不。现在下雨了，宝宝！”老保姆说，”雨会把讨厌的大雪统统冲洗掉。小宝贝明天就能上外面去玩了！”她给吉尔盖好了被子，并道了晚安。
我不知道还有什么比让一个女巨人亲亲更讨厌的事，吉尔也有同样想法，但她不到五分钟就睡着了。
那天傍晚的雨一直不停地下了整整一夜，雨点溅在城堡的窗户上，但吉尔完全没听见，只是沉沉熟睡，睡过了晚饭时刻，睡过了午夜。到了夜阑人静的时刻，在这座巨人的屋子里，除了老鼠，什么动静也没有。就在这时吉尔做了一个梦。梦中她似乎就在这间屋里醒来，看见那堆火，火力已经减弱，发红了，火光中是那匹大木马。木马轮子自动转起来，滚过地毯，停在她床头。这会儿那不是马，而是一只像马那么大的狮子了。接着它又不是玩具狮子，而是一头真正的狮子了。真正的狮王，就像她曾经在世界尽头外的高山上看见过的一样。屋里充满了各种各样的香味儿。但吉尔脑子里出了点麻烦，尽管她想不出是怎么回事，眼泪还是刷刷地流下她脸蛋，把枕头都弄湿了。狮王叫她背一下指示，而她竟发现自己已经把指示全忘光了。因此，她吓得要命。后来阿斯兰把她衔起来(她感觉到他的嘴唇和呼吸，但感觉不到牙齿)，带她来到窗前，叫她往外看。外面月光明亮，在天上或地上(她不知道是哪儿)是几个大大的字”在我下面”。此后，梦就消失了，第二天早上她很晚才醒来，这时她已完全不记得做过梦了。
她起来穿上衣服，在炉火前吃完早餐，这时保姆开开门说:
“漂亮宝贝的小朋友来跟她玩了。”
斯克罗布和沼泽怪走了进来。
“嗨，早上好，”吉尔说，”这多有趣？我相信自己已睡了十五个小时了。我真觉得好多了，你们呢？”
“我也好多了，”斯克罗布说，”不过普德格伦说它头痛。嗨，你这儿的窗户有窗座。要是我们站在上面，就能看看外面。”他们立刻都站了上去。吉尔刚看了一眼就说”哦，糟糕透了！”
外面阳光普照，除了几堆残雪以外，几乎全被雨冲掉了。在他们下面，像一张地图似的展开着的正是他们昨天下午拼命爬过来的那平坦的山顶，从城堡望去，分明是一座巨人城的废墟，决不会看错成任何东西。吉尔现在才看出，说山顶是平的，是因为那儿基本上还铺着路面，虽然有好多地方路面已经裂开了。那些纵横交错的堤岸原来是那些庞大的建筑留下的残垣断壁，这里可能一度是巨人的宫殿和庙宇吧。有一面墙，大约有五百英尺高，仍然屹立不动，她就是把这堵墙当成是悬崖的。那些看来像工厂烟囱的是巨大的柱子，断裂成高低不一的残桩；断裂的碎片就堆在柱子底座旁边，像是倒下的大石头树。他们从山北坡往下爬的那些突出的石头——毫无疑问，还有他们从南面往上爬的另外那些石头——原来是巨型楼梯残留下来的梯级。更糟糕的是，在路面中央，有黑色大字这么写着:在我下面。
他们三个都惊愕地面面相觑，斯克罗布嘘的一下吹了声口哨，说出了他们大家心里想的。”第二点和第三点指示错过了。”这时吉尔才回想起她的梦。
“都怪我不好，”她说，声音充满绝望，”我——我放弃了每晚背诵那些指示。要是我一直想着那些指示，即使在那么大的雪里，我本来也看得出那是个城市的。”
“我更不好，”普德格伦说，”我的确看见了，或者说差不多看见了。我还认为那地方看上去非常像一座废墟城呢。”
“只有你不该受到责怪，”斯克罗布说，”你的确尽力想拉住我们。”
“可是还不够尽力，”沼泽怪说，”而且我也不必要尽力想着，我本来应该动于干的。我一手拉着一个，还拉不住你们吗？”
“实际情况是，”斯克罗布说，”我们都一心向往着这个地方，别的事就不肯操心了。至少我知道我是这样的。自从我们遇见那个女人和那个不说话的骑士，就一直没想过别的事，几乎已经忘了瑞廉王子了。”
“如果那正是她的目的，”普德格伦说，”我也不会奇怪。”
“我不大懂的是，”吉尔说，”我们怎么会没看见那些字呢？要不，这字是不是昨天晚上才出现的？是不是他——阿斯兰——晚上写在那儿的？我做了个怪梦。”她把那个梦一五一十全告诉他们。
“咦，你这个笨蛋！”斯克罗布说，”我们的确见过的。我们走到字里面去了，你还不明白？我们走到ME字后一个字母E里去了，那就是你掉下去的那条沟。我们走在E字最下面一划里，正北——转到我们右边，顶着竖的一笔——来到另一个右转弯——那是当中的一划——然后再继续到左上角拐角，或者说(也许)这字母的东北角，再回来。我们都是些大笨瓜。”他粗鲁地踢了窗座一脚，再说下去：”所以这事不妙，波尔，我知道你在想什么，因为我跟你有同样想法。你在想，要是阿斯兰是在我们走过这个废墟城之后再把这些指示写在石头上的该有多好呀。那就是他的错，不是我们的错了。很可能，对吗？不行口我们一定得坦白承认。我们只有第四点指示可以照办，而前面三点都已经错过了。”
“你意思是说我错过了，”吉尔说，”这话不假。从你带我上这儿来以后，我就把一切都弄糟了。反正都一样——说我非常抱歉什么的——反正都一样。那指示是什么？在我下面好像没什么意思吧。”
“可是，那的确有意思，”普德格伦说，”意思是我们得到那个城市下面去寻找王子。”
“但我们怎么能去呢？”吉尔问。
“问题就在这儿，”普德格伦说着，一面搓搓那双像青蛙爪子般的大手，”现在我们有什么办法呢？毫无疑问，要是我们在废墟城的时候，就一心一意放在要干的事上面，早就有人来指点我们怎么办了——发现一扇小门啊，或者一个山洞啊，或者一条地道啊，遇见什么人帮助我们啊，也许是阿斯兰本人(事情很难说)。我们总有办法钻到那些铺路石下面去的。阿斯兰的指示一向管用，毫无例外。但现在怎么办——那是另一回事了。”
“得了，我想我们只好回去。”吉尔说。
“说来容易吧？”普德格伦说，”开头我们不妨想法打开那扇门。”于是他们都看着那扇门，只见谁也够不着门把，即使够得着也几乎肯定没人转得动那门把。
“你们看，要是我们要求出去，他们会不让我们出去吗？”吉尔说。大家都不吭声，但每个人都在想”假如他们不肯呢？”
这主意可不妙。普德格伦坚决反对把他们真正的任务告诉巨人和干脆要求出去这样的主意。当然两个孩子没有它的许可也不能说，因为他们已经保证过了。他们三个都知道要在晚上逃出城堡是万万不可能的。一旦他们待在自己的房间里，房门关上了，他们就得一直关到早上为止。他们当然可以请求让房门开着，但那样会引起怀疑。
“我们惟一的机会是，”斯克罗布说，”想法在白天偷偷溜走。下午会不会有个把小时大多数巨人都睡着了呢？——要是我们能偷偷到厨房里去，会不会有一扇后门开着？”
“这也说不上是一个机会，”沼泽怪说，”但我们很可能只有这么个机会了。”事实上，斯克罗布的计划并不像你们认为那么希望渺茫。如果你要走出一所房子而不让人看见，从某些方面看来，在下午这段时间试试看，倒比半夜里更好，门窗很可能都开着，万一被抓住，你总是可以装出并不是有意要走远，而且也没什么特别的打算。(要是半夜一点钟给人发现你正从卧室窗户往外爬，就很难叫巨人或成人相信这一点了。
“可是，我们一定要趁他们不提防，”斯克罗布说，”我们得装出喜欢待在这儿，一心盼望着这次秋季盛宴。”
“那就在明天晚上，”普德格伦说，”我听他们中间有人这么说。”
“明白了，”吉尔说，”我们得装出对秋季盛宴非常起劲儿，问这问那，问个没完。反正他们当我们完全是小娃娃，这样事情也好办一些。”
“高高兴兴，”普德格伦说着深深叹了口气，”我们一定得这样，高高兴兴的。仿佛我们一点心事也没有，就爱闹着玩儿。我注意到了，你们两个孩子没有经常保持兴高采烈的样子。你们得看着我，照我做的去做。我会高高兴兴的。就像这样——”它龇牙咧嘴，装出一副可怕的笑容，”还爱闹着玩儿——”说到这儿它又苦中作乐地蹦蹦跳跳，”要是你们一直看着我，很快就学会了。你们瞧，他们已经把我当成有趣的家伙了。我敢说，你们俩都认为昨晚我有点喝醉了吧，但我请你们放心，那是——嗯，大部分是——装出来的。我有个想法，这样做总会派上用处的。”
“行啊，就高高兴兴吧，”斯克罗布说，”好了，只要我们能让什么人打开这扇门就行。我们在四处闲逛，装得高高兴兴的时候，还得尽量摸清这座城堡的情况。”
幸亏就在这时，门开了，那个巨人保姆急忙奔进来说:”喂，我的宝贝儿。想来看看国王和满朝上下出发去打猎吗？那场面真好看啊！”
他们立刻奔过她身边，爬下他们走到的第一段阶梯。猎狗、号角和巨人的声音为他们指路，因此不到几分钟他们就来到院子里。巨人们全都步行，因为在世界那一边还没有巨型马，所以巨人打猎是走着去的，就像在英国打兔子那样。
而且猎狗也是正常大小的狗。吉尔看见没有马，开头她感到非常失望，因为她确信那个大胖王后是绝对不会跟在猎狗后面走的，而让王后整天都待在宫里也是绝对不行的。不料后来她看见王后原来坐在一种轿子里，由六个年轻的巨人抬着。那个老蠢货穿着一身绿，身边还放着一只号角。二三十个巨人，包括国王，集合起来准备去打猎，大家说说笑笑，把你耳朵都要震聋了。底下，同吉尔差不多高的，尽是一条条摇摆的尾巴，汪汪叫的、松开的、潮乎乎的狗嘴和狗鼻子硬挨到你手里。普德格伦正开始装出一种它认为是高高兴兴、好玩的态度(要是有谁注意到它，可能就把一切都毁了),这时吉尔就装出她最动人的孩子气的笑容，冲到王后轿边，大声朝王后嚷道:
“哦，求求你了！你不走吧。你要回来吗？”
“是啊，亲爱的，”王后说”我今天晚上就回来。”
“哦，好啊。多妙啊！”吉尔说，“我们能参加明天的盛宴吧？我们都盼望着明天晚上呢！我们真喜欢待在这儿。你们出去的时候我们能在城堡里跑来跑去看看，行吗？请说声行吧。”
王后果真说了声行，但所有大臣都哈哈大笑，笑声几乎把她的声音淹没了。
收听单词发音 |
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savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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salutes
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| n.致敬，欢迎，敬礼( salute的名词复数 )v.欢迎，致敬( salute的第三人称单数 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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thaw
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| v.（使）融化，（使）变得友善；n.融化，缓和 | |
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trickling
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| n.油画底色含油太多而成泡沫状突起v.滴( trickle的现在分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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lollipops
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| n.棒糖，棒棒糖( lollipop的名词复数 )；（用交通指挥牌让车辆暂停以便儿童安全通过马路的）交通纠察 | |
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hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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chestnuts
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| n.栗子( chestnut的名词复数 )；栗色；栗树；栗色马 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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ledges
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| n.（墙壁，悬崖等）突出的狭长部分( ledge的名词复数 )；（平窄的）壁架；横档；（尤指）窗台 | |
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uncommonly
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| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
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knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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sneak
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| vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行 | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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frolicsome
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| adj.嬉戏的，闹着玩的 | |
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caper
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| v.雀跃，欢蹦；n.雀跃，跳跃；续随子，刺山柑花蕾；嬉戏 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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bustled
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| 闹哄哄地忙乱，奔忙( bustle的过去式和过去分词 )； 催促 | |
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deafen
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| vt.震耳欲聋；使听不清楚 | |
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