CHAPTER SIXTEEN THE HEALING OF HARMS（第3/4页）

They both slipped off their Centaurs（who took no notice of them）.

“I wish I was at home,”said Jill.

Eustace nodded，saying nothing，and bit his lip.

“I have come,”said a deep voice behind them. They turned and saw the Lion himself，so bright and real and strong that everything else began at once to look pale and shadowy compared with him. And in less time than it takes to breathe Jill forgot about the dead King of Narnia and remembered only how she had made Eustace fall over the cliff，and how she had helped to muff nearly all the signs，and about all the snappings and quarrellings. And she wanted to say“I’m sorry”but she could not speak. Then the Lion drew them towards him with his eyes，and bent down and touched their pale faces with his tongue，and said：“Think of that no more. I will not always be scolding. You have done the work for which I sent you into Narnia.”

“Please，Aslan,”said Jill，“may we go home now ？”

“Yes. I have come to bring you Home,”said Aslan. Then he opened his mouth wide and blew. But this time they had no sense of flying through the air：instead，it seemed that they remained still，and the wild breath of Aslan blew away the ship and the dead King and the castle and the snow and the winter sky. For all these things floated off into the air like wreaths of smoke，and suddenly they were standing in a great brightness of mid-summer sunshine，on smooth turf，among mighty trees，and beside a fair，fresh stream.

Then they saw that they were once more on the Mountain of Aslan，high up above and beyond the end of that world in which Narnia lies. But the strange thing was that the funeral music for King Caspian still went on，though no one could tell where it came from. They were walking beside the stream and the Lion went before them：and he became so beautiful，and the music so despairing，that Jill did not know which of them it was that filled her eyes with tears.

Then Aslan stopped，and the children looked into the stream. And there，on the golden gravel of the bed of the stream，lay King Caspian，dead，with the water flowing over him like liquid glass. His long white beard swayed in it like water-weed. And all three stood and wept. Even the Lion wept：great Lion-tears，each tear more precious than the Earth would be if it was a single solid diamond. And Jill noticed that Eustace looked neither like a child crying，nor like a boy crying and wanting to hide it，but like a grown-upcrying. At least，that is the nearest she could get to it； but really，as she said，people don’t seem to have any particular ages on that mountain.

“Son of Adam,”said Aslan，“go into that thicket and pluck the thorn that you will find there，and bring it to me.”

Eustace obeyed. The thorn was a foot long and sharp as a rapier.

“Drive it into my paw，Son of Adam,”said Aslan，holding up his right fore-paw and spreading out the great pad towards Eustace.

“Must I ？”said Eustace.

“Yes,”said Aslan.

Then Eustace set his teeth and drove the thorn into the Lion’s pad. And there came out a great drop of blood，redder than all redness that you have ever seen or imagined.

And it splashed into the stream over the dead body of the King. At the same moment the doleful music stopped. And the dead King began to be changed. His white beard turned to grey， and from grey to yellow，and got shorter and vanished altogether； and his sunken cheeks grew round and fresh，and the wrinkles were smoothed，and his eyes opened，and his eyes and lips both laughed，and suddenly he leaped up and stood before them—a very young man，or a boy. （But Jill couldn’t say which，because of people having no particular ages in Aslan’s country. Even in this world，of course，it is the stupidest children who are most childish and the stupidest grown-ups who are most grown-up.）And he rushed to Aslan and flung his arms as far as they would go round the huge neck；and he gave Aslan the strong kisses of a King，and Aslan gave him the wild kisses of a Lion.

At last Caspian turned to the others. He gave a great laugh of astonished joy.

“Why ！ Eustace ！”he said. “Eustace ！ So you did reach the end of the world after all. What about my second-best sword that you broke on the sea-serpent ？ ”

Eustace made a step towards him with both hands held out， but then drew back with a somewhat startled expression.

“Look here ！ I say,”he stammered. “It’s all very well. But aren’t you ？—I mean didn’t you—”

“Oh，don’t be such an ass,”said Caspian.

“But,”said Eustace，looking at Aslan.“Hasn’t heer—died ？”

“Yes,”said the Lion in a very quiet voice，almost（Jill thought）as if he were laughing. “He has died. Most people have，you know. Even I have. There are very few who haven’t.”

“Oh,”said Caspian. “I see what’s bothering you. You think I’m a ghost，or some nonsense. But don’t you see ？ I would be that if I appeared in Narnia now：because I don’t belong there any more. But one can’t be a ghost in one’s own country. I might be a ghost if I got into your world. I don’t know. But I suppose it isn’t yours either，now you’re here.”