CHAPTER TEN THE RETURN OF THE LION（第4/4页）
“Do you mean that is what you want me to do？”gasped Lucy．
“Yes，little one，”said Aslan．
“Will the others see you too？”asked Lucy．
“Certainly not at first，”said Aslan．“Later on，it depends．”
“But they won’t believe me！”said Lucy．
“It doesn’t matter，”said Aslan．
“Oh dear，oh dear，”said Lucy．“And I was so pleased at finding you again．And I thought you’d let me stay．And I thought you’d come roaring in and frighten all the enemies away—like last time．And now everything is going to be horrid．”
“It is hard for you，little one，”said Aslan．“But things never happen the same way twice．It has been hard for us all in Narnia before now．”
Lucy buried her head in his mane to hide from his face．But there must have been magic in his mane．She could feel lion-strength going into her．Quite suddenly she sat up．
“I’m sorry，Aslan，”she said．“I’m ready now．”
“Now you are a lioness，”said Aslan．“And now all Narnia will be renewed．But come．We have no time to lose．”
He got up and walked with stately，noiseless paces back to the belt of dancing trees through which she had just come: and Lucy went with him，laying a rather tremulous hand on his mane．The trees parted to let them through and for one second assumed their human forms completely．Lucy had a glimpse of tall and lovely wood—gods and wood—goddesses all bowing to the Lion; next moment they were trees again，but still bowing，with such graceful sweeps of branch and trunk that their bowing was itself a kind of dance.
“Now，child，”said Aslan，when they had left the trees behind them，“I will wait here．Go and wake the others and tell them to follow．If they will not，then you at least must follow me alone．”
It is a terrible thing to have to wake four people，all older than yourself and all very tired，for the purpose of telling them something they probably won’t believe and making them do something they certainly won’t like．“I mustn’t think about it，I must just do it，”thought Lucy．
She went to Peter first and shook him．“Peter，”she whispered in his ear，“wake up．Quick．Aslan is here．He says we’ve got to follow him at once．”
“Certainly，Lu.Whatever you like，”said Peter unexpectedly．This was encouraging，but as Peter instantly rolled round and went to sleep again it wasn’t much use．
Then she tried Susan．Susan did really wake up，but only to say in her most annoying grown-up voice，“You’ve been dreaming，Lucy．Go to sleep again．”
She tackled Edmund next．It was very difficult to wake him，but when at last she had done it he was really awake and sat up．
“Eh？”he said in a grumpy voice．“What are you talking about？”
She said it all over again．This was one of the worst parts of her job，for each time she said it，it sounded less convincing．
“Aslan！”said Edmund，jumping up．“Hurray！ Where？”
Lucy turned back to where she could see the Lion waiting，his patient eyes fixed upon her．“There，”she said，pointing．
“Where？”asked Edmund again．
“There．There．Don’t you see？ Just this side of the trees．”
Edmund stared hard for a while and then said，“No．There’s nothing there．You’ve got dazzled and muddled with the moonlight．One does，you know．I thought I saw something for a moment myself．It’s only an optical what-do-you-call-it．”
“I can see him all the time，”said Lucy．“He’s looking straight
at us．”
“Then why can’t I see him？”
“He said you mightn’t be able to．”
“Why？”
“I don’t know．That’s what he said．”
“Oh，bother it all，”said Edmund．“I do wish you wouldn’t keep on seeing things．But I suppose we’ll have to wake the others．