FAREWELL TO SHADOWLANDS
IF one could run without getting tired, I don't think one would often want to do anything else. But there might be special reasons for stopping, and it was a special reason which made Eustace presently shout:
"I say! Steady! Look what we're coming to!"
And well he might. For now they saw before them Caldron Pool and beyond the Pool the high unclimbable cliffs and, pouring down the cliffs, thousands of tons of water every second, flashing like diamonds in some places and dark, glassy green in others, the Great Waterfall; and already the thunder of it was in their ears.
"Don't stop! Further up and further in," called Farsight, tilting2 his flight a little upwards3.
"It's all very well for him," said Eustace, but Jewel also cried out:
"Don't stop. Further up and further in! Take it in your stride."
His voice could only just be heard above the roar of the water but next moment everyone saw that he had plunged4 into the Pool. And helter-skelter behind him, with splash after splash, all the others did the same. The water was not biting cold as all of them (and especially Puzzle) expected, but of a delicious foamy5 coolness. They all found they were swimming straight for the Waterfall itself.
"This is absolutely crazy," said Eustace to Edmund.
"I know. And yet -" said Edmund.
"Isn't it wonderful?" said Lucy. "Have you noticed one can't feel afraid, even if one wants to? Try it."
"By Jove, neither one can," said Eustace after he had tried.
Jewel reached the foot of the Waterfall first, but Tirian was only just behind him. Jill was last, so she could see the whole thing better than the others. She saw something white moving steadily6 up the face of the Waterfall. That white thing was the Unicorn7. You couldn't tell whether he was swimming or climbing, but he moved on, higher and higher. The point of his horn divided the water just above his head, and it cascaded8 out in two rainbow-coloured streams all round his shoulders. Just behind him came King Tirian. He moved his legs and arms as if he were swimming but he moved straight upwards: as if one could swim up the wall of a house.
What looked funniest was the Dogs. During the gallop9 they had not been at all out of breath, but now, as they swarmed10 and wriggled11 upwards, there was plenty of spluttering and sneezing among them; that was because they would keep on barking, and every time they barked they got their mouths and noses full of water. But before Jill had time to notice all these things fully12, she was going up the Waterfall herself. It was the sort of thing that would have been quite impossible in our world. Even if you hadn't been drowned, you would have been smashed to pieces by the terrible weight of water against the countless13 jags of rock. But in that world you could do it. You went on, up and up, with all kinds of reflected lights flashing at you from the water and all manner of coloured stones flashing through it, till it seemed as if you were climbing up light itself - and always higher and higher till the sense of height would have terrified you if you could be terrified, but later it was only gloriously exciting. And then at last one came to the lovely, smooth green curve in which the water poured over the top and found that one was out on the level river above the Waterfall. The current was racing14 away behind you, but you were such a wonderful swimmer that you could make headway against it. Soon they were all on the bank, dripping buthappy.
A long valley opened ahead and great snow-mountains, now much nearer, stood up against the sky.
"Further up and further in," cried Jewel and instantly they were off again.
They were out of Narnia now and up into the Western Wild which neither Tirian nor Peter nor even the Eagle had ever seen before. But the Lord Digory and the Lady Polly had. "Do you remember? Do you remember?" they said - and said it in steady voices too, without panting, though the whole party was now running faster than an arrow flies.
"What, Lord?" said Tirian. "Is it then true, as stories tell, that you two journeyed here on the very day the world was made?"
"Yes," said Digory, "and it seems to me as if it were only yesterday."
"And on a flying horse?" asked Tirian. "Is that part true?"
"Certainly," said Digory. But the Dogs barked, "Faster, faster!"
So they ran faster and faster till it was more like flying than running, and even the Eagle overhead was going no faster than they. And they went through winding15 valley after winding valley and up the steep sides of hills and, faster than ever, down the other side, following the river and sometimes crossing it and skimming across mountainlakes as if they were living speed-boats, till at last at the far end of one long lake which looked as blue as a turquoise16, they saw a smooth green hill. Its sides were as steep as the sides of a pyramid and round the very top of it ran a green wall: but above the wall rose the branches of trees whose leaves looked like silver and their fruit like gold.
"Further up and further in!" roared the Unicorn, and no one held back. They charged straight at the foot of the hill and then found themselves running up it almost as water from a broken wave runs up a rock out at the point of some bay. Though the slope was nearly as steep as the roof of a house and the grass was smooth as a bowling17 green, no one slipped. Only when they had reached the very top did they slow up; that was because they found themselves facing great golden gates. And for a moment none of them was bold enough to try if the gates would open. They all felt just as they had felt about the fruit "Dare we? Is it right? Can it be meant for us?"
But while they were standing18 thus a great horn, wonderfully loud and sweet, blew from somewhere inside that walled garden and the gates swung open.
Tirian stood holding his breath and wondering who would come out. And what came was the last thing he had expected: a little, sleek19, bright-eyed Talking Mouse with a red feather stuck in a circlet on its head and its left paw resting on a long sword. It bowed, a most beautiful bow, and said in its shrill20 voice:
"Welcome, in the Lion's name. Come further up and further in."
Then Tirian saw King Peter and King Edmund and Queen Lucy rush forward to kneel down and greet the Mouse and they all cried out "Reepicheep!" And Tirian breathed fast with the sheer wonder of it, for now he knew that he was looking at one of the great heroes of Narnia, Reepicheep the Mouse who had fought at the great Battle of Beruna and afterwards sailed to the World's end with King Caspian the Seafarer. But before he had had much time to think of this he felt two strong arms thrown about him and felt a bearded kiss on his cheeks and heard a well remembered voice saying:
"What, lad? Art thicker and taller since I last touched thee!"
It was his own father, the good King Erlian: but not as Tirian had seen him last when they brought him home pale and wounded from his fight with the giant, nor even as Tirian remembered him in his later years when he was a grey-headed warrior21. This was his father, young and merry, as he could just remember him from very early days when he himself had been a little boy playing games with his father in the castle garden at Cair Paravel, just before bedtime on summer evenings. The very smell of the bread-and-milk he used to have for supper came back to him.
Jewel thought to himself, "I will leave them to talk for a little and then I will go and greet the good King Erlian. Many a bright apple has he given me when I was but a colt." But next moment he had something else to think of, for out of the gateway22 there came a horse so mighty23 and noble that even a Unicorn might feel shy in its presence: a great winged horse. It looked a moment at the Lord Digory and the Lady Polly and neighed out "What, cousins!" and they both shouted "Fledge! Good old Fledge!" and rushed to kiss it.
But by now the Mouse was again urging them to come in. So all of them passed in through the golden gates, into the delicious smell that blew towards them out of that garden and into the cool mixture of sunlight and shadow under the trees, walking on springy turf that was all dotted with white flowers. The very first thing which struck everyone was that the place was far larger than it had seemed from outside. But no one had time to think about that for people were coming up to meet the newcomers from every direction.
Everyone you had ever heard of (if you knew the history of these countries) seemed to be there. There was Glimfeather the Owl1 and Puddleglum the Marshwiggle, and King Rilian the Disenchanted, and his mother the Star's daughter and his great father Caspian himself. And close beside him were the Lord Drinian and the Lord Berne and Trumpkin the Dwarf24 and Truffle-hunter the good Badger25 with Glenstorm the Centaur26 and a hundred other heroes of the great War of Deliverance. And then from another side came Cor the King of Archenland with King Lune his father and his wife Queen Aravis and the brave prince Corin Thunder-Fist, his brother, and Bree the Horse and Hwin the Mare27. And then - which was a wonder beyond all wonders to Tirian - there came from further away in the past, the two good Beavers28 and Tumnus the Faun. And there was greeting and kissing and hand-shaking and old jokes revived, (you've no idea how good an old joke sounds when you take it out again after a rest of five or six hundred years) and the whole company moved forward to the centre of the orchard29 where the Phoenix30 sat in a tree and looked down upon them all, and at the foot of that tree were two thrones and in those two thrones a King and Queen so great and beautiful that everyone bowed down before them. And well they might, for these two were King Frank and Queen Helen from whom all the most ancient Kings of Narnia and Archenland are descended31. And Tirian felt as you would feel if you were brought before Adam and Eve in all their glory.
About half an hour later - or it might have been half a hundred years later, for time there is not like time here - Lucy stood with her dear friend, her oldest Narnian friend, the Faun Tumnus, looking down over the wall of that garden, and seeing all Narnia spread out below. But when you looked down you found that this hill was much higher than you had thought: it sank down with shining cliffs, thousands of feet below them and trees in that lower world looked no bigger than grains of green salt. Then she turned inward again and stood with her back to the wall and looked at the garden.
"I see," she said at last, thoughtfully. "I see now. This garden is like the stable. It is far bigger inside than it was outside."
"Of course, Daughter of Eve," said the Faun. "The further up and the further in you go, the bigger everything gets. The inside is larger than the outside."
Lucy looked hard at the garden and saw that it was not really a garden but a whole world, with its own rivers and woods and sea and mountains. But they were not strange: she knew them all.
"I see," she said. "This is still Narnia, and more real and more beautiful then the Narnia down below, just as it was more real and more beautiful than the Narnia outside the stable door! I see... world within world, Narnia within Narnia..."
"Yes," said Mr Tumnus, "like an onion: except that as you go in and in, each circle is larger than the last."
And Lucy looked this way and that and soon found that a new and beautiful thing had happened to her. Whatever she looked at, however far away it might be, once she had fixed32 her eyes steadily on it, became quite clear and close as if she were looking through a telescope. She could see the whole Southern desert and beyond it the great city of Tashbaan: to Eastward33 she could see Cair Paravel on the edge of the sea and the very window of the room that had once been her own. And far out to sea she could discover the islands, islands after islands to the end of the world, and, beyond the end, the huge mountain which they had called Aslan's country. But now she saw that it was part of a great chain of mountains which ringed round the whole world. In front of her it seemed to come quite close. Then she looked to her left and saw what she took to be a great bank of brightly-coloured cloud, cut off from them by a gap. But she looked harder and saw that it was not a cloud at all but a real land. And when she had fixed her eyes on one particular spot of it, she at once cried out, "Peter! Edmund! Come and look! Come quickly." And they came and looked, for their eyes also had become like hers.
"Whys" exclaimed Peter. "It's England. And that's the house itself - Professor Kirk's old home in the country where all our adventures began!"
"I thought that house had been destroyed," said Edmund.
"So it was," said the Faun. "But you are now looking at the England within England, the real England just as this is the real Narnia. And in that inner England no good thing is destroyed."
Suddenly they shifted their eyes to another spot, and then Peter and Edmund and Lucy gasped34 with amazement35 and shouted out and began waving: for there they saw their own father and mother, waving back at them across the great, deep valley. It was like when you see people waving at you from the deck of a big ship when you are waiting on the quay36 to meet them.
"How can we get at them?" said Lucy.
"That is easy," said Mr Tumnus. "That country and this country - all the real countries - are only spurs jutting37 out from the great mountains of Aslan. We have only to walk along the ridge38, upward and inward, till it joins on. And listen! There is King Frank's horn: we must all go up."
And soon they found themselves all walking together and a great, bright procession it was - up towards mountains higher than you could see in this world even if they were there to be seen. But there was no snow on those mountains: there were forests and green slopes and sweet orchards39 and flashing waterfalls, one above the other, going up forever. And the land they were walking on grew narrower all the time, with a deep valley on each side: and across that valley the land which was the real England grew nearer and nearer.
The light ahead was growing stronger. Lucy saw that a great series of many-coloured cliffs led up in front of them like a giant's staircase. And then she forgot everything else, because Aslan himself was coming, leaping down from cliff to cliff like a living cataract40 of power and beauty.
And the very first person whom Aslan called to him was Puzzle the Donkey. You never saw a donkey look feebler and sillier than Puzzle did as he walked up to Aslan, and he looked, beside Aslan, as small as a kitten looks beside a St Bernard. The Lion bowed down his head and whispered something to Puzzle at which his long ears went down, but then he said something else at which the ears perked41 up again. The humans couldn't hear what he had said either time. Then Aslan turned to them and said:
"You do not yet look so happy as I mean you to be."
Lucy said, "We're so afraid of being sent away, Aslan. And you have sent us back into our own world so often."
"No fear of that," said Aslan. "Have you not guessed?"
Their hearts leaped and a wild hope rose within them.
"There was a real railway accident," said Aslan softly.
"Your father and mother and all of you are - as you used to
call it in the Shadowlands - dead. The term is over: the
holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the
morning."
And as He spoke42 He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.
16告别幻影世界
一个人，如果能够飞跑而不感到疲倦，我想他就不会想到做别的事情了。但，说不定会有停下步来的特别缘故，而这就是使尤斯塔斯大叫的缘故：“听我说!别急!瞧瞧我们来到什么地方了!”
他很可能停下来了。因为现在他们看到了大锅渊、大锅渊背后高不可攀的悬崖，以及每秒钟从悬崖上倾泻而下几千吨水的大瀑布，它在某些地方闪烁如金刚钻，在另外一些地方呈玻璃似的暗绿色；而雷鸣似的瀑布声已经响彻他们的耳中。
“别停下来!朝更高更深处前进!”老鹰一面呼唤，一面斜斜地稍稍往上飞翔。
“对于它，一切都很方便。”尤斯塔斯说道，但独角兽珍宝也呼唤道：“别停止。朝更高更深处前进!你大步前进时要心领神会这种精神。”
大瀑布轰隆声中，独角兽的呼声勉强能够听得到，但片刻之后就看见它深入到大锅渊里去了。手忙脚乱，溅水泼水，其他的人和兽也都下去了。水并不像他们大家(特别是驴子迷惑)所料想的冰冷彻骨，倒是冒着泡沫，凉快宜人。
他们大家都发现：他们正笔直地向大瀑布游去。
“简直是完全疯了。”尤斯塔斯对爱德蒙说道。
“这岂不神奇吗?”露茜说，“你有没有注意到，人没法儿感到害怕，即使想要害怕也办不到?你试试。”
“天哪，真是没法儿害怕。”尤斯塔斯试试后说道。
独角兽珍宝第一个到达大瀑布底下，但蒂莲就跟在它后面。吉尔最后一个到达，所以她比其他的人看得清楚。她看见有个白色的东西在大瀑布的水面上稳稳地移动。白色的东西就是独角兽。你没法儿说它是在游泳还是在攀登，但它是在前进，愈进愈高。它那独角的尖端把那正好在它头顶之上的水分开，水分成两股七彩溪流绕着它的肩膀淌下来。
就在独角兽的后面，国王蒂莲也赶到了。他挥动着他的两腿和两臂，仿佛是在游泳，但他是在笔直地向上移动：仿佛他能游上墙壁似的。
看起来最可笑的是狗儿们。一路奔驰时它们压根儿不曾透不过气来，可现在挤在一起，往上扭动，彼此杂乱地谈了许多话，却打了许多喷嚏；那是因为它们老是不断地吠叫，而每次吠叫都弄得满嘴满鼻子都是水。但，吉尔来不及把这些事情充分看仔细，她自己也爬进大瀑布里。这是一种在我们的世界里完全不可能办到的事情。瀑布以那么可怕的重量冲在石头尖上，即使你没有被淹死，也被冲得粉身碎骨了。但是在那个世界里，你倒能办到的。你继续前进，上升再上升，各种来自瀑布的反光照耀在你身上，各式各样的彩色石子又从水中折射出光芒来，这样，看来好像是你正在光芒的本体上往上攀登哩——而且总是愈登愈高，甚至高的感觉会叫你大吃一惊，如果吓得着你的话，但在这儿不过是光荣的兴奋罢了。最后，来到大水由此涌向山顶的那美丽可爱、光滑苍翠的弯道，便发觉自己已身在瀑布上方平坦的河上了。激流在你背后奔腾而去，但你倒是个神奇的游泳健将，竟能逆流而上。不久，他们大家都上了岸，浑身湿淋淋的，可是快快乐乐的。
前面展开着一个长长的河谷和巨大的积雪高山，高山映衬着天空，巍然矗立，近得多了。
“朝更高更深处前进。”独角兽珍宝大声叫道，于是他们立刻又出发了。
现在他们出了纳尼亚，往高处进入西部荒原，那可是蒂莲、彼得，甚至老鹰以前都没见过的地方。但迪格雷勋爵和波莉夫人倒见过。“你记得吗?你记得吗？”他们说——而且还是用平平稳稳的声调说的，一点也没有气喘吁吁，尽管这一行人兽正飞跑得比箭还快哩。
“啊，勋爵，”蒂莲说道，“故事里说，你们两人在世界初创之日就到这儿来旅行过，那么是确有其事的啦?”
“是的，”迪格雷勋爵说道，“我觉得仿佛不过是昨天的事。”
“骑了一匹飞马吗?”蒂莲问道，“这情节是真实的吗?”
“然是真的。”迪格雷说。但狗儿们吠叫了“快，快!”
所以他们便愈跑愈快，直跑得不像跑而更像飞了，天空的老鹰也不比他们快了。他们穿过一个弯曲的河谷又穿过一个弯曲的河谷，走上群山的陡坡，比以前更加快速地又走下另一边的陡坡，循着河流走过去，有时渡过河去，漂过高山湖泊去，仿佛他们自己就是有生命的快艇。最后他们到了一个长湖的尽头，湖水蓝得像土耳其玉。于是他们看到了一个光滑的绿色小山。小山的两侧陡得像金字塔的边，环绕山顶四周筑有一道绿色的墙垣，墙上伸展出树枝，树叶看上去像银的，果实像金的。
“朝更高更深处前进!”独角兽大声吼道，没有一个人退缩。他们笔直地朝山麓冲去，这就发现他们自己已经奔上山去，几乎就像一个给拦断的波浪，冲上了海湾尖端突出的一块大石头一样。虽然山坡几乎陡得像屋顶，草地光滑得像玩滚木球游戏的草坪，没有一个失足滑倒的。只是他们在到达山顶时放慢了脚步，那是因为他们发现自己面对着巨大的金门。有那么一会儿，谁也不够大胆，不敢去试试金门是否会打开。他们大家的感觉，就像他们对那神奇果实的感觉一模一样——“我们敢吗?对头吗?难道这门能为我们而打开吗?”
但，当他们这么站在门外的时候，一只巨大的号角，声音响亮甜润，在墙内花园里什么地方呜呜地吹着，金门便打开了。
蒂莲屏息静气地站着，心中猜测谁会走出门来。但出来的是他完全没料到的角色：一头小小的、毛发柔软发光、眼睛明亮的、会说人话的老鼠，头上一个圈里插着一根红羽毛，左脚爪按在一把长剑上。它鞠躬，鞠了一个最最漂亮的躬，尖声说道：
“以狮王的名义，欢迎。往更高更深处前进。”
接着蒂莲便看到至尊王彼得和国王爱德蒙和女王露茜跑上前去，跪下向老鼠致敬，大家齐声喊道：“雷佩契普!”
事情神奇之至，蒂莲连呼吸也急促了，因为他现在知道，他正亲眼目睹纳尼亚的大英雄老鼠雷佩契普，当年它曾打过伯龙纳大战，后来跟着航海者凯斯宾国王一直到了天涯海角。但，他还来不及思考这件事情，便觉得有两条强壮的胳膊抱住他，感到有把胡子在吻他的面颊，听到一个挺熟悉的声音说道：
“怎么样，孩子?比我上次吻你时胡子更密更长了吧?”
说这话的是他自己的父亲，善良的国王厄莲：但既不是蒂莲曾看见过的与巨人作战受伤、脸色苍白、人家送他回家来时的父亲，甚至也不是蒂莲所记得的晚年是个白发苍苍的老战士的父亲。眼前可是个年轻而又开心的父亲，蒂莲童年时期所能记得的父亲，当年他自己是个小男孩，在凯尔帕拉维尔城堡花园里同父亲一起做游戏，时间就在夏天黄昏上床之前。晚餐时他常吃的牛奶面包的味道又回来了。
独角兽珍宝心里跟自己说道：“我要让他们谈一会儿，然后我再向国王厄莲致敬。我是个小不点儿的时候，他给我吃过许多光亮的苹果。”但下一刻它又有别的事情要想了，因为大门里又出来一匹马儿，强壮有力，高贵壮丽，甚至独角兽在它面前也自惭形秽。它是一匹长着翅膀的大马。它对迪格雷勋爵和波莉夫人瞧了一会儿，便嘶鸣道：“呀，表兄!”他们俩一同大口叫：“飞羽!善良的老飞羽！”跑过去吻它。
这时候，老鼠重新催促他们进门去。所以他们大家都穿过金门进去，从花园里向他们吹来了宜人的芳香。进入阳光与树阴的凉快混合体里，走在缀着星星点点的白花的、有弹性的草皮上。第一件使大家印象十分深刻的事实是：这花园的里边远比外边看起来要大得多。但谁也没有时间思考这个问题，因为人们正从四面八方赶来同新到的人见面。你听到过的(如果你知道这些国家的历史)每一个人，似乎都在那儿。有猫头鹰格里姆费瑟、沼泽怪普德格伦、解魔醒迷的国王瑞廉、瑞廉的母亲那位明星的女儿、瑞廉的了不起的父亲凯斯宾国王本人。紧挨着凯斯宾的，是德林尼安勋爵和伯尼勋爵、小矮人特鲁普金、猎户特鲁夫尔、善良的獾、人头马格伦斯通姆，以及拯救大战中的其他上百个英雄。从另一边又来了阿钦兰国王科奥、他的父亲国王伦恩、他的王后阿拉维斯、他的兄弟勇敢的王子霹雳拳击手科林、战马布里和母马赫温。接着——在蒂莲看来，这是一切奇迹之上的奇迹——竟从遥远的往昔来了两头善良的海狸和羊怪图姆纳斯。互相问候，接吻，握手，老的笑话也复活了(你完全不了解一个老的笑话听起来多么有趣，当你把它搁了五六百年又重新端出来的时候)，整个队伍向前移动，向果园的中心走去；果园里，长生鸟坐在一棵树上，俯瞰着他们大家，而树底下有两个御座，御座上分别坐着国王和王后，伟大而美丽，大家都拜倒在他们面前。他们也要拜下去，因为这两位就是国王法兰克和王后海伦，纳尼亚和阿钦兰的大部分古代国王都是他们的后裔。而蒂莲当时的感觉就像带你去见风华正茂的亚当和夏娃时的感受一样。
大约半个钟头以后——或者也可能是五十年以后，因为那儿的时间，跟咱们这儿的时间不一样——露茜和她的亲爱的朋友，她的纳尼亚老朋友羊怪图姆纳斯站在一起，越过花园的墙头俯瞰，看到整个纳尼亚展现在下面。但，当你俯瞰时，你发觉这山比你所认为的要大得多，它挟着闪闪发亮的悬崖下沉数千英尺，在底层，树木看上去只有绿色的盐粒那么大。然后她转而向内，背靠着墙，瞧着花园。
“我明白了，”她终于沉思地说道，“现在我明白了。这花园就像那马厩。里边远比外边大得多。”
“当然啦，夏娃的女儿，”羊怪说道，“你愈是往高处深处走去，一切东西就变得愈大。里边比外边大。”
露茜仔细打量着花园，发觉它确实压根儿不是一个花园，而是一个完全的世界，有它自己的江湖、森林、海洋和山岭。但它们并不陌生：她一一都认识它们。
“我明白了，”她说道，“这仍旧是纳尼亚，比下面的纳尼亚更真实更美丽，就像它比马厩门外的纳尼亚更真实更美丽一模一样!我明白了，世界中的世界，纳尼亚里的纳尼亚……”
“是的，”图姆纳斯先生说，“像个洋葱头，除非你不断地往里边儿剥，每一圈总比上一圈大。”
露茜东张西望，不久便发现她眼睛发生了新的美丽的变化。不论她瞧什么，不论她瞧的景物多远，一旦她的眼睛稳稳地盯住它直瞧，它就显得很清晰很近，仿佛她是在用望远镜观看。她能看到南方整个儿大沙漠，沙漠后的塔什班城，向东她能望见海滨的凯尔帕拉维尔城，望见一度属于她的那个房间的窗子。远至大海之上，她能发现岛屿，一个岛接着一个岛的，直至天涯海角，而天涯的后面便是人们称之为阿斯兰的国土的崇山峻岭。但现在她看清楚了，这崇山峻岭不过是环绕整个世界的、连绵不断的大山脉的一部分。它就在她的前面，仿佛很近似的。然后她向左边望去，她看到了一大堆她认为是色彩鲜明的云，跟他们之间隔着一条沟。但她更仔细地看时便看出它压根儿不是云，而是一块真正的陆地。当她的眼睛盯住某一点打量时，她立刻大声叫了起来：“彼得!爱德蒙!来瞧瞧!快来。”他们便来瞧了，因为他们的眼也变得跟露茜的眼睛一样了。
“呀！”彼得叫道，“这是英国啊。这就是那座房屋——柯克教授在乡下的老家，我们的一切奇遇都是从那儿开始的!”
“我以为那屋子已经坍毁了呢。”爱德蒙说。
“屋子是坍掉了，”羊怪说道，“但你现在正望见的是英国里的英国，真正的英国，正如这儿是真正的纳尼亚一样。而在那个内部英国里，没有一件好的东西是毁掉的。”
突然，他们把眼睛转到了另一个地点，彼得、爱德蒙和露茜这就惊讶得连气也透不过来，他们口中叫了出来，双手也开始挥动起来，因为他们看到了他们的父母，父母也隔着那又大又深的溪谷向他们挥手致意。这就像你看到人们在一条大船的甲板上向你挥手致意，而你正在码头上迎接他们。
“我们怎么能和他们团聚呢?”露茜问道。
“那倒容易，”图姆纳斯说道，“那个国家和这个国家——都是真正的国家——都不过是从阿斯兰的崇山峻岭上突出来的山鼻子罢了。我们只要沿着山脊走去，向上向内走去，直到两处连接的地方。听呀，国王法兰克的号角响了，我们大家都必须往上走了。”
不久他们就发现大家都走在一起了——好一个伟大而辉煌的行列——都在向上走向比你在这个世界里能看到的高山还要高的崇山峻岭，如果看得到高山的话。但这些崇山峻岭上可没有积雪：有的是森森林木、苍翠山坡、芳香果园和闪烁瀑布，一个接着一个，永远往高处绵延。而他们正在走着的土地始终在愈变愈窄，两边各有一个深谷，深谷那一边的土地，便是真正的英国，愈走愈近啦。
前边的光芒愈来愈强烈了。露茜看到一系列彩色的悬崖峭壁重重叠叠，像是巨人的磴道。接着她把其他种种都忘掉了，因为阿斯兰自己来了，从悬崖峭壁到悬崖峭壁往下奔腾，像是充满力量和美丽的生动活泼的瀑布。
阿斯兰首先呼唤的对象是驴子迷惑。驴子向阿斯兰走去，你从未看见过一头驴子像迷惑当时那样虚弱和愚蠢的了：它站在阿斯兰身边，看上去小得就像站在圣·贝尔纳身边的小猫一样。狮王俯下脑袋，在迷惑的耳边低声说了些话，听到这话，迷惑的长耳朵垂下来了；但狮王随即又说了些别的话，听到这话，迷惑的耳朵又竖起来了，几个人都没法儿听到狮王先后两次所说的话。接着，阿斯兰转向人们说道：
“看来你们还不像我原来指望的那么快乐啊。”
露茜说：“阿斯兰，我们担心你要把我们送走。你好几次都把我们送回我们自己的世界去的。”
“不用担心，”阿斯兰说道，“你们没猜到吗?”
他们的心怦怦直跳，内心里升起了疯狂的希望。
“确实发生过一次火车事故，”阿斯兰低声说道，“你们的父亲和母亲以及你们大家都死了——正如你们惯常所说的，到影子国土去了。学期结束了，假期开始了。梦做完了：现在是早晨了。”
阿斯兰说话时，他不再像一头狮子那样对着他们直瞧；但以后开始发生的事情是那么伟大和美丽，所以我无法描写。对我们说来，这就是所有故事的结局，我们能最最真实地说，从此以后，他们大家幸福地生活下去了。但对他们说来，这仅仅是真正故事的开端。他们在这个世界里的一切生活以及他们在纳尼亚的一切奇遇，仅仅是一本书的封面和扉页：现在他们终于把这伟大故事的第一章开了个头。这伟大的故事，世界上的人不曾读过，这伟大的故事会永远继续下去：每一章都比前一章更精彩。
收听单词发音 |
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owl
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| n.猫头鹰，枭 | |
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tilting
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| 倾斜，倾卸 | |
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upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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foamy
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| adj.全是泡沫的，泡沫的，起泡沫的 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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unicorn
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| n.(传说中的)独角兽 | |
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cascaded
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| 级联的 | |
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gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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swarmed
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| 密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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wriggled
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| v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的过去式和过去分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等） | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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turquoise
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| n.绿宝石；adj.蓝绿色的 | |
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bowling
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| n.保龄球运动 | |
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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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sleek
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| adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢 | |
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shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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gateway
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| n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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dwarf
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| n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小 | |
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badger
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| v.一再烦扰，一再要求，纠缠 | |
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centaur
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| n.人首马身的怪物 | |
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mare
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| n.母马，母驴 | |
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beavers
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| 海狸( beaver的名词复数 )； 海狸皮毛； 棕灰色； 拼命工作的人 | |
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orchard
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| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
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phoenix
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| n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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quay
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| n.码头，靠岸处 | |
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jutting
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| v.（使）突出( jut的现在分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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orchards
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| （通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 ) | |
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cataract
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| n.大瀑布，奔流，洪水，白内障 | |
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perked
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| （使）活跃( perk的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）增值； 使更有趣 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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