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the last battle_c·s·刘易斯-第25部分

小说: the last battle_c·s·刘易斯 字数: 每页4000字

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〃i know。 and yet …〃 said edmund。

〃isnt it wonderful?〃 said lucy。 〃have you noticed one cant feel afraid;  even if one wants to? try it。鈥

〃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 steadily up the face of the waterfall。 that white thing was the  unicorn。 you couldnt 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  cascaded 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 gallop they had not been at  all out of breath; but now; as they swarmed and wriggled 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 fully; 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  hadnt been drowned; you would have been smashed to pieces by the terrible weight of  water against the countless 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 racing 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?鈥

〃yes;〃 said digory; 〃and it seems to me as if it were only yesterday。鈥

〃and on a flying horse?〃 asked tirian。 〃is that part true?鈥

〃certainly;〃 said digory。 but the dogs barked; 〃faster; faster!鈥

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 winding  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 turquoise; 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  bowling 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?鈥

but while they were standing 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 e out。 and what  came was the last thing he had expected: a little; sleek; 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 shrill voice:  〃wele; in the lions name。 e further up and further in。鈥

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 worlds 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!鈥

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 warrior。 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 gateway there  came a horse so mighty 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 e 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 ing up to meet the  newers 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 owl and puddleglum the marshwiggle; and  king rilian the disenchanted; and his mother the stars daughter and his great father  caspian himself。

and close beside him were the lord drinian and the lord berne and trumpkin  the dwarf and truffle…hunter the good badger with glenstorm the centaur 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  mare。 and then  

… which was a wonder beyond all wonders to tirian … there came from further  away in the past; the two good beavers and tumnus the faun。 and there was greeting and  kissing and hand…shaking and old jokes revived; (youve 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 pany moved forward to the centre of the orchard where the phoenix 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 descended。 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 wor

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