CHAPTER TWELVE THE QUEEN OF UNDERLAND（第3/4页）

“There’s Aslan.”

“Aslan ？”said the Witch，quickening ever so slightly the pace of her thrumming. “What a pretty name ！ What does it mean ？”

“He is the great Lion who called us out of our own world,”said Scrubb，“and sent us into this to find Prince Rilian.”

“What is a lion ？”asked the Witch.

“Oh，hang it all ！”said Scrubb. “Don’t you know ？ How can we describe it to her ？ Have you ever seen a cat ？”

“Surely,”said the Queen. “I love cats.”

“Well，a lion is a little bit—only a little bit，mind you—like a huge cat—with a mane. At least，it’s not like a horse’s mane， you know，it’s more like a judge’s wig. And it’s yellow. And terrifically strong.”

The Witch shook her head. “I see,”she said，“that we should do no better with your lion，as you call it，than we did with your sun. You have seen lamps，and so you imagined a bigger and better lamp and called it the sun. You’ve seen cats，and now you want a bigger and better cat，and it’s to be called a lion. Well，’tis a pretty make-believe，though，to say truth，it would suit you all better if you were younger. And look how you can put nothing into your make-believe without copying it from the real world，this world of mine，which is the only world. But even you children are too old for such play. As for you，my lord Prince，that art a man full grown，fie upon you ！ Are you not ashamed of such toys ？ Come，all of you. Put away these childish tricks. I have work for you all in the real world. There is no Narnia，no Overworld，no sky，no sun，no Aslan. And now，to bed all. And let us begin a wiser life tomorrow. But，first，to bed；to sleep；deep sleep， soft pillows，sleep without foolish dreams.”

The Prince and the two children were standing with their heads hung down，their cheeks flushed，their eyes half closed；the strength all gone from them；the enchantment almost complete. But Puddleglum，desperately gathering all his strength，walked over to the fire. Then he did a very brave thing. He knew it wouldn’t hurt him quite as much as it would hurt a human；for his feet（which were bare）were webbed and hard and cold-blooded like a duck’s. But he knew it would hurt him badly enough；and so it did. With his bare foot he stamped on the fire，grinding a large part of it into ashes on the flat hearth. And three things happened at once.

First，the sweet，heavy smell grew very much less. For though the whole fire had not been put out，a good bit of it had， and what remained smelled very largely of burnt Marsh-wiggle， which is not at all an enchanting smell. This instantly made everyone’s brain far clearer. The Prince and the children held up their heads again and opened their eyes.

Secondly，the Witch，in a loud，terrible voice，utterly different from all the sweet tones she had been using up till now， called out，“What are you doing ？ Dare to touch my fire again， mud-filth，and I’ll turn the blood to fire inside your veins.”

Thirdly，the pain itself made Puddleglum’s head for a moment perfectly clear and he knew exactly what he really thought. There is nothing like a good shock of pain for dissolving certain kinds of magic.

“One word，Ma’am,”he said，coming back from the fire； limping，because of the pain. “One word. All you’ve been saying is quite right，I shouldn’t wonder. I’m a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it. So I won’t deny any of what you said. But there’s one thing more to be said，even so. Suppose we have only dreamed，or made up， all those things—trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that，in that case，the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well，it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that’s a funny thing，when you come to think of it. We’re just babies making up a game，if you’re right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That’s why I’m going to stand by the play-world. I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia. So，thanking you kindly for our supper，if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready，we’re leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for Overland. Not that our lives will be very long，I should think；but that’s a small loss if the world’s as dull a place as you say.”

“Oh，hurrah ！ Good old Puddleglum ！”cried Scrubb and Jill. But the Prince shouted suddenly，“Ware ！ Look to the Witch.”

When they did look their hair nearly stood on end.

The instrument dropped from her hands. Her arms appeared to be fastened to her sides. Her legs were intertwined with each other，and her feet had disappeared. The long green train of her skirt thickened and grew solid，and seemed to be all one piece with the writhing green pillar of her interlocked legs. And that writhing green pillar was curving and swaying as if it had no joints，or else were all joints. Her head was thrown far back and while her nose grew longer and longer，every other part of her face seemed to disappear，except her eyes. Huge flaming eyes they were now， without brows or lashes. All this takes time to write down；it happened so quickly that there was only just time to see it. Long before there was time to do anything，the change was complete， and the great serpent which the Witch had become，green as poison，thick as Jill’s waist，had flung two or three coils of its loathsome body round the Prince’s legs. Quick as lightning another great loop darted round，intending to pinion his sword-arm to his side. But the Prince was just in time. He raised his arms and got them clear：the living knot closed only round his chest-ready to crack his ribs like firewood when it drew tight.