CHAPTER ONE BY CALDRON POOL（第2/3页）

He flung it down in front of Shift and stood dripping and shivering and trying to get his breath back. But the Ape never looked at him or asked him how he felt. The Ape was too busy going round and round the Thing and spreading it out and patting it and smelling it. Then a wicked gleam came into his eye and he said：

“It is a lion’s skin.”

“Ee-auh-auh-oh，is it ？”gasped Puzzle．

“Now I wonder... I wonder... I wonder，”said Shift to himself， for he was thinking very hard．

“I wonder who killed the poor lion，”said Puzzle presently.“It ought to be buried. We must have a funeral.”

“Oh，it wasn’t a Talking Lion，”said Shift.“You needn’t bother about that. There are no Talking Beasts up beyond the Falls，up in the Western Wild. This skin must have belonged to a dumb，wild lion.”

This，by the way，was true. A Hunter，a Man，had killed and skinned this lion somewhere up in the Western Wild several months before. But that doesn’t come into this story．

“All the same，Shift，”said Puzzle，“even if the skin only belonged to a dumb，wild lion，oughtn’t we to give it a decent burial ？ I mean，aren’t all lions rather-well，rather solemn ？ Because of you know Who. Don’t you see ？”

“Don’t you start getting ideas into your head，Puzzle，”said Shift.“Because，you know，thinking isn’t your strong point. We’ll make this skin into a fine warm winter coat for you.”

“Oh，I don’t think I’d like that，”said the Donkey.“It would look-I mean，the other Beasts might think-that is to say，I shouldn’t feel-”

“What are you talking about ？”said Shift，scratching himself the wrong way up as Apes do．

“I don’t think it would be respectful to the Great Lion，to Aslan himself，if an ass like me went about dressed up in a lion-skin，”said Puzzle．

“Now don’t stand arguing，please，”said Shift.“What does an ass like you know about things of that sort ？ You know you’re no good at thinking，Puzzle，so why don’t you let me do your thinking for you ？ Why don’t you treat me as I treat you ？ I don’t think I can do everything. I know you’re better at some things than I am. That’s why I let you go into the Pool; I knew you’d do it better than me. But why can’t I have my turn when it comes to something I can do and you can’t ？ Am I never to be allowed to do anything ？ Do be fair. Turn and turn about.”

“Oh，well，of course，if you put it that way，”said Puzzle．

“I tell you what，”said Shift.“You’d better take a good brisk trot down river as far as Chippingford and see if they have any oranges or bananas.”

“But I’m so tired，Shift，”pleaded Puzzle．

“Yes，but you are very cold and wet，”said the Ape.“You want something to warm you up. A brisk trot would be just the

thing. Besides，it’s market day at Chippingford today.”And then of course Puzzle said he would go．

As soon as he was alone Shift went shambling along， sometimes on two paws and sometimes on four，till he reached his own tree. Then he swung himself up from branch to branch， chattering and grinning all the time，and went into his little house. He found needle and thread and a big pair of scissors there; for he was a clever Ape and the Dwarfs had taught him how to sew. He put the ball of thread (it was very thick stuff，more like cord than thread) into his mouth so that his cheek bulged out as if he were sucking a big bit of toffee. He held the needle between his lips and took the scissors in his left paw. Then he came down the tree and shambled across to the lion-skin. He squatted down and got to work．

He saw at once that the body of the lion-skin would be too long for Puzzle and its neck too short. So he cut a good piece out of the body and used it to make a long collar for Puzzle’s long neck. Then he cut off the head and sewed the collar in between the head and the shoulders. He put threads on both sides of the skin so that it would tie up under Puzzle’s chest and stomach. Every now and then a bird would pass overhead and Shift would stop his work，looking anxiously up. He did not want anyone to see what he was doing. But none of the birds he saw were Talking Birds，so it didn’t matter．

Late in the afternoon Puzzle came back. He was not trotting but only plodding patiently along，the way donkeys do．

“There weren’t any oranges，”he said，“and there weren’t any bananas. And I’m very tired.”He lay down．

“Come and try on your beautiful new lion-skin coat，”said Shift．

“Oh bother that old skin，”said Puzzle.“I’ll try it on in the morning. I’m too tired tonight.”

“You are unkind，Puzzle，”said Shift.“If you’re tired what do you think I am ？ All day long，while you’ve been having a lovely refreshing walk down the valley，I’ve been working hard to make you a coat. My paws are so tired I can hardly hold these scissors. And you won’t say thank you-and you won’t even look at the coat-and you don’t care-and-and-”