TheLastBattleC.S.LewisCHAPTERONEBYCALDRONPOOLINthelastdaysofNarnia,

far up to the west beyondLantern Waste and closebeside the great waterfall,therelivedanApe.Hewassoold that no one couldremember when he had firstcome to live in those parts,and he was the cleverest,ugliest, most wrinkled Ape

you can imagine. He had alittlehouse,builtofwoodandthatched with leaves, up inthe fork of a great tree, andhis name was Shift. TherewereveryfewTalkingBeastsorMenorDwarfs, or peopleofanysort,inthatpartofthewood, but Shift had onefriend and neighbour whowas a donkey called Puzzle.At least they both said theywere friends, but from theway things went on you

might have thought Puzzlewasmore like Shift's servantthanhisfriend.Hedidallthework. When they wenttogether to the river, Shiftfilledthebigskinbottleswithwater but it was Puzzle whocarriedthemback.Whentheywanted anything from thetowns further down the riveritwasPuzzlewhowentdownwith empty panniers on hisbackandcamebackwith thepanniers full andheavy.And

all the nicest things thatPuzzle brought back wereeaten by Shift; for as Shiftsaid,"Yousee,Puzzle,Ican'teatgrassandthistleslikeyou,soit'sonlyfairIshouldmakeit up in other ways." AndPuzzle always said, "Ofcourse,Shift,ofcourse.Iseethat." Puzzle nevercomplained,becauseheknewthat Shift was far clevererthanhimselfandhethoughtitwas very kind of Shift to be

friendswithhimatall.Andifever Puzzle did try to argueabout anything, Shift wouldalways say, "Now, Puzzle, Iunderstand what needs to bedone better than you. Youknow you're not clever,Puzzle." And Puzzle alwayssaid, "No, Shift. It's quitetrue.I'mnotclever."Thenhewould sigh and do whateverShifthadsaid.

Onemorning early in theyearthepairofthemwereout

walking along the shore ofCaldronPool.CaldronPoolisthe big pool right under thecliffs at the western end ofNarnia. The great waterfallpours down into it with anoiselikeeverlastingthunder,andtheRiverofNarniaflowsout on the other side. Thewaterfall keeps the Poolalways dancing and bubblingand churning round androundasifitwereontheboil,and that of course is how it

gotitsnameofCaldronPool.It is liveliest in the earlyspring when the waterfall isswollenwithallthesnowthathasmeltedoff themountainsfromupbeyondNarniaintheWesternWildfromwhichtheriver comes. And as theylooked at Caldron Pool Shiftsuddenly pointed with hisdark,skinnyfingerandsaid,

"Look!What'sthat?""What's what?" said

Puzzle.

"That yellow thing that'sjustcomedownthewaterfall.Look! There it is again, it'sfloating. We must find outwhatitis."

"Mustwe?"saidPuzzle."Ofcoursewemust,"said

Shift. "It may be somethinguseful.JusthopintothePoollikeagoodfellowandfish itout. Then we can have aproperlookatit."

"Hop into thePool?"saidPuzzle, twitching his long

ears."Wellhowarewetogetit

ifyoudon't?"saidtheApe."But - but," said Puzzle,

"wouldn't it be better if youwent in? Because, you see,it's you who wants to knowwhat it is, and I don't much.And you've got hands, yousee.You'reasgoodasaManoraDwarfwhen it comes tocatching hold of things. I'veonlygothoofs."

"Really, Puzzle," said

Shift, "I didn't think you'dever say a thing like that. Ididn'tthinkitofyou,really."

"Why, what have I saidwrong?" said the Ass,speaking in rather a humblevoice, for he saw that Shiftwas very deeply offended."AllImeantwas-"

"Wanting me to go intothewater,"saidtheApe."Asif you didn't know perfectlywell what weak chests Apesalways have and how easily

they catch cold!Verywell. Iwill go in. I'm feeling coldenough already in this cruelwind. But I'll go in. I shallprobably die. Then you'll besorry." And Shift's voicesounded as if he was justgoingtoburstintotears.

"Please don't, pleasedon't, please don't," saidPuzzle,halfbraying,andhalftalking. "I never meantanything of the sort, Shift,reallyIdidn't.Youknowhow

stupid I am and how I can'tthink ofmore than one thingat a time. I'd forgotten aboutyour weak chest. Of courseI'll go in. You mustn't thinkof doing it yourself. Promisemeyouwon't,Shift."

So Shift promised, andPuzzlewentcloppety-cloponhis four hoofs round therockyedgeofthePooltofindaplacewherehecouldgetin.Quite apart from the cold itwas no joke getting into that

quiveringandfoamingwater,and Puzzle had to stand andshiver for a whole minutebefore he made up his mindtodoit.ButthenShiftcalledoutfrombehindhimandsaid:"Perhaps I'dbetterdo it afterall, Puzzle." And whenPuzzle heard that he said,"No, no. You promised. I'minnow,"andinhewent.

Agreatmassoffoamgothim in the faceand filledhismouthwithwaterandblinded

him. Then he went underaltogether for a few seconds,and when he came up againhe was in quite another partof the Pool. Then the swirlcaught him and carried himround and round and fasterandfastertillittookhimrightunderthewaterfall itself,andtheforceofthewaterplungedhimdown,deepdown,sothathethoughthewouldneverbeable toholdhisbreath tillhecameupagain.Andwhenhe

hadcomeupandwhenatlasthe got somewhere near thething hewas trying to catch,itsailedawayfromhimtillittoogotunderthefallandwasforced down to the bottom.Whenitcameupagainitwasfurther from him than ever.But at last, when he wasalmost tired to death, andbruised all over and numbwith cold, he succeeded ingripping the thing with histeeth. And out he came

carryingitinfrontofhimandgettinghisfronthoofstangledupinit,foritwasasbigasalarge hearthrug, and it wasvery heavy and cold andslimy.

He flung itdown in frontof Shift and stood drippingand shivering and trying toget his breath back. But theApe never looked at him orasked him how he felt. TheApe was too busy goinground and round the Thing

and spreading it out andpatting it and smelling it.Then a wicked gleam cameintohiseyeandhesaid:

"Itisalion'sskin.""Ee - auh - auh - oh, is

it?"gaspedPuzzle."Now I wonder . . . I

wonder . . . I wonder," saidShift to himself, for he wasthinkingveryhard.

"Iwonderwho killed thepoor lion," said Puzzlepresently. "It ought to be

buried. We must have afuneral."

"Oh, it wasn't a TalkingLion," said Shift. "Youneedn't bother about that.There are no Talking BeastsupbeyondtheFalls,upintheWesternWild.Thisskinmusthave belonged to a dumb,wildlion."

This, by the way, wastrue. A Hunter, a Man, hadkilled and skinned this lionsomewhereupintheWestern

Wild several months before.But that doesn't come intothisstory.

"Allthesame,Shift,"saidPuzzle,"eveniftheskinonlybelonged to a dumb, wildlion, oughtn'twe to give it adecent burial? I mean, aren'tall lions rather - well, rathersolemn? Because of youknowWho.Don'tyousee?"

"Don't you start gettingideasintoyourhead,Puzzle,"said Shift. "Because, you

know, thinking isn't yourstrong point.We'llmake thisskin into a fine warmwintercoatforyou."

"Oh, I don't think I'd likethat," said the Donkey. "Itwould look - I mean, theother Beasts might think -thatistosay,Ishouldn'tfeel-"

"What are you talkingabout?" saidShift, scratchinghimself thewrongwayupasApesdo.

"Idon't think itwouldberespectful to the Great Lion,to Aslan himself, if an asslike me went about dressedup in a lion-skin," saidPuzzle.

"Nowdon'tstandarguing,please," said Shift. "Whatdoes an ass like you knowaboutthingsofthatsort?Youknow you're no good atthinking,Puzzle,sowhydon'tyou let me do your thinkingforyou?Whydon'tyou treat

me as I treat you? I don'tthink I can do everything. Iknow you're better at somethingsthanIam.That'swhyIlet you go into the Pool; Iknew you'd do it better thanme.Butwhycan't Ihavemyturn when it comes tosomething I can do and youcan't? Am I never to beallowed to do anything? Dobefair.Turnandturnabout."

"Oh, well, of course, ifyou put it that way," said

Puzzle."I tell you what," said

Shift. "You'd better take agoodbrisk trotdownriverasfarasChippingfordandseeifthey have any oranges orbananas."

"But I'm so tired, Shift,"pleadedPuzzle.

"Yes, but you are verycold andwet," said the Ape."You want something towarm you up. A brisk trotwould be just the thing.

Besides, it's market day atChippingford today." AndthenofcoursePuzzlesaidhewouldgo.

As soon as he was aloneShift went shambling along,sometimes on two paws andsometimes on four, till hereachedhisowntree.Thenheswung himself up frombranch to branch, chatteringandgrinningallthetime,andwent intohis littlehouse.Hefoundneedleandthreadanda

bigpair of scissors there; forhewas a cleverApe and theDwarfs had taught him howto sew. He put the ball ofthread(itwasverythickstuff,more like cord than thread)into his mouth so that hischeek bulged out as if hewere sucking a big bit oftoffee. He held the needlebetweenhis lipsandtookthescissors inhis leftpaw.Thenhe came down the tree andshambled across to the lion-

skin. He squatted down andgottowork.

He saw at once that thebody of the lion-skin wouldbetoolongforPuzzleanditsneck too short. So he cut agood piece out of the bodyand used it to make a longcollar forPuzzle's longneck.Thenhecutoff theheadandsewed the collar in betweenthe head and the shoulders.He put threads on both sidesoftheskinsothatitwouldtie

up under Puzzle's chest andstomach.Everynowandthena bird would pass overheadand Shift would stop hiswork, looking anxiously up.He did not want anyone tosee what he was doing. ButnoneofthebirdshesawwereTalking Birds, so it didn'tmatter.

Late in the afternoonPuzzle came back. He wasnottrottingbutonlyploddingpatiently along, the way

donkeysdo."There weren't any

oranges," he said, "and thereweren'tanybananas.AndI'mverytired."Helaydown.

"Come and try on yourbeautifulnewlion-skincoat,"saidShift.

"Ohbotherthatoldskin,"said Puzzle. "I'll try it on inthe morning. I'm too tiredtonight."

"Youareunkind,Puzzle,"said Shift. "If you're tired

what do you think I am?Allday long, while you've beenhaving a lovely refreshingwalk down the valley, I'vebeen working hard to makeyou a coat. My paws are sotired I can hardly hold thesescissors. And you won't saythank you -and you won'tevenlookatthecoat-andyoudon'tcare-and-and-"

"My dear Shift," saidPuzzle getting up at once, "Iamsosorry.I'vebeenhorrid.

OfcourseI'dlovetotryiton.Anditlookssimplysplendid.Do try it on me at once.Pleasedo."

"Well, stand still then,"said the Ape. The skin wasveryheavyforhimtolift,butin the end, with a lot ofpulling and pushing andpuffingandblowing,hegotiton to the donkey. He tied itunderneathPuzzle'sbodyandhe tied the legs to Puzzle'slegs and the tail to Puzzle's

tail. A good deal of Puzzle'sgrey nose and face could beseen through theopenmouthof the lion's head. No onewhohadeverseenareallionwouldhavebeentakeninfora moment. But if someonewho had never seen a lionlooked at Puzzle in his lion-skin he just might mistakehim for a lion, if he didn'tcome too close, and if thelightwasnottoogood,andifPuzzle didn't let out a bray

and didn't make any noisewithhishoofs.

"You look wonderful,wonderful," said theApe. "Ifanyone saw you now, they'dthink you were Aslan, theGreatLion,himself."

"Thatwouldbedreadful,"saidPuzzle.

"No it wouldn't," saidShift. "Everyone would dowhateveryoutoldthem."

"But I don't want to tellthemanything."

"But you think of thegood we could do!" saidShift. "You'd have me toadvise you, you know. I'dthink of sensible orders foryou to give. And everyonewould have to obey us, eventhe King himself.We wouldset everything right inNarnia."

"Butisn'teverythingrightalready?"saidPuzzle.

"What!" cried Shift."Everything right?-when

there are no oranges orbananas?"

"Well, you know," saidPuzzle, "there aren't manypeople - in fact, Idon't thinkthere's anyone but yourselfwho wants those sort ofthings."

"There's sugar too," saidShift.

"H'm yes," said the Ass."Itwouldbeniceiftherewasmoresugar."

"Wellthen,that'ssettled,"

said the Ape. "You willpretend to be Aslan, and I'lltellyouwhattosay."

"No,no,no,"saidPuzzle."Don't say such dreadfulthings. It would be wrong,Shift.Imaybenotverycleverbut I know that much.Whatwould become of us if therealAslanturnedup?"

"I expect he'd be verypleased," said Shift."Probablyhesentusthelion-skin on purpose, so that we

could set things to right.Anyway, he never does turnup, you know. Notnowadays."

At that moment therecame a great thunderclaprightoverheadandthegroundtrembled with a smallearthquake.Both the animalslost their balance and wereflungontheirfaces.

"There!" gasped Puzzle,as soon as he had breath tospeak."It'sasign,awarning.

I knew we were doingsomethingdreadfullywicked.Take this wretched skin offmeatonce."

"No, no," said the Ape(whose mind worked veryquickly)."It'sasigntheotherway. I was just going to saythat if the realAslan, as youcall him, meant us to go onwiththis,hewouldsendusathunderclap and an earth-tremor. Itwas just on the tipof my tongue, only the sign

itselfcamebeforeIcouldgetthewords out.You've got todoitnow,Puzzle.Andpleasedon't let us have any morearguing.Youknowyoudon'tunderstandthesethings.Whatcould a donkey know aboutsigns?"

CHAPTERTWOTHE RASHNESS OF

THEKINGAbout three weeks later

the last of the Kings ofNarniasatunderthegreatoak

which grew beside the doorof his little hunting lodge,whereheoftenstayedfor tendays or so in the pleasantspringweather. Itwasa low,thatchedbuildingnotfarfromthe Eastern end of LanternWaste and some way abovethemeetingofthetworivers.Helovedtolivetheresimplyand at ease, away from thestate and pomp of CairParavel, the royal city. HisnamewasKingTirian,andhe

was between twenty andtwenty-five years old; hisshoulderswerealreadybroadand strong and his limbs fullofhardmuscle,buthisbeardwas still scanty.He had blueeyes and a fearless, honestface.

There was no one withhim that spring morningexcept his dearest friend,Jewel the Unicorn. Theylovedeachotherlikebrothersandeachhadsavedtheother's

life in the wars. The lordlybeast stood close beside theKing's chair, with its neckbent round polishing its bluehorn against the creamywhitenessofitsflank.

"I cannot set myself toany work or sport today,Jewel," said theKing. "I canthink of nothing but thiswonderful news. Think youwe shall hear anymore of ittoday?"

"They are the most

wonderful tidings ever heardinour daysor our fathers' orour grandfathers' days, Sire,"saidJewel,"iftheyaretrue."

"Howcantheychoosebutbetrue?"saidtheKing."Itismorethanaweekagothatthefirstbirdscameflyingoverussaying, Aslan is here, Aslanhas come to Narnia again.And after that it was thesquirrels. They had not seenhim, but they said it wascertain hewas in thewoods.

Then came theStag.He saidhehadseenhimwithhisowneyes, a great way off, bymoonlight, inLanternWaste.Then came that dark Manwith the beard, themerchantfrom Calormen. TheCalormenes care nothing forAslan aswedo; but themanspokeof itasa thingbeyonddoubt. And there was theBadger lastnight;he toohadseenAslan."

"Indeed, Sire," answered

Jewel, "I believe it all. If Iseemnotto,itisonlythatmyjoy is too great to let mybeliefsettleitself.Itisalmosttoobeautifultobelieve."

"Yes,"saidtheKingwitha great sigh, almost a shiver,of delight. "It is beyond allthatIeverhopedforinallmylife."

"Listen!" said Jewel,putting his head on one sideandcockinghisearsforward.

"What is it?" asked the

King."Hoofs,Sire,"saidJewel.

"A galloping horse. A veryheavyhorse.ItmustbeoneoftheCentaurs.Andlook,thereheis."

A great, golden beardedCentaur,withman'ssweatonhis forehead and horse'ssweat on his chestnut flanks,dashed up to the King,stopped, and bowed low."Hail, King," it cried in avoiceasdeepasabull's.

"Ho, there!" said theKing, looking over hisshoulder towards the door ofthehuntinglodge."Abowlofwine for the noble Centaur.Welcome, Roonwit. Whenyou have found your breathyoushalltellusyourerrand."

A page came out of thehouse carrying a greatwooden bowl, curiouslycarved, and handed it to theCentaur. The Centaur raisedthebowlandsaid,

"IdrinkfirsttoAslanandtruth, Sire, and secondly toyourMajesty."

He finished the wine(enough for six strong men)atonedraughtandhandedtheemptybowlbacktothepage.

"Now,Roonwit,"said theKing."DoyoubringusmorenewsofAslan?"

Roonwit looked verygrave,frowningalittle.

"Sire," he said. "Youknow how long I have lived

and studied the stars; for weCentaurslivelongerthanyouMen, and even longer thanyourkind,Unicorn.Never inallmydayshave I seensuchterrible things written in theskies as there have beennightlysince thisyearbegan.The stars say nothingof thecoming of Aslan, nor ofpeace,norofjoy.Iknowbymy art that there have notbeen such disastrousconjunctions of the planets

forfivehundredyears.Itwasalready in mymind to comeand warn your Majesty thatsome great evil hangs overNarnia. But last night therumour reached me thatAslan is abroad in Narnia.Sire, do not believe this tale.It cannot be. The stars neverlie,butMenandBeastsdo.IfAslan were really coming toNarnia the sky would haveforetold it. If he were reallycome, all the most gracious

stars would be assembled inhishonour.Itisallalie."

"A lie!" said the Kingfiercely. "What creature inNarniaoralltheworldwoulddaretolieonsuchamatter?"And, without knowing it, helaid his hand on his swordhilt.

"That I know not, LordKing,"saidtheCentaur."ButI know there are liars onearth; there are none amongthestars."

"I wonder," said Jewel,"whether Aslan might notcome though all the starsforetold otherwise. He is nottheslaveofthestarsbuttheirMaker.Isitnotsaidinalltheold stories that He is not atamelion."

"Well said, well said,Jewel," cried the King."Those are the very words:not a tame lion. It comes inmanytales."

Roonwit had just raised

his hand and was leaningforward to say somethingvery earnestly to the Kingwhenallthreeofthemturnedtheir heads to listen to awailing sound that wasquickly drawing nearer. Thewood was so thick to theWestof themthat theycouldnot see the newcomer yet.But they could soonhear thewords.

"Woe, woe, woe!" calledthe voice. "Woe for my

brothersand sisters!Woe fortheholytrees!Thewoodsarelaidwaste.Theaxe is loosedagainst us. We are beingfelled.Great treesarefalling,falling,falling."

Withthelast"falling"thespeaker came in sight. Shewas likeawomanbut so tallthat her headwas on a levelwiththeCentaur'syetshewaslike a tree too. It is hard toexplain if you have neverseen a Dryad but quite

unmistakableonceyouhave-something different in thecolour, the voice, and thehair.KingTirianandthetwoBeastsknewatonce that shewas the nymph of a beechtree.

"Justice, LordKing!" shecried. "Come to our aid.Protectyourpeople.TheyarefellingusinLanternWaste.

Forty great trunks of mybrothers and sisters arealreadyontheground."

"What, Lady! FellingLantern Waste? Murderingthe talking trees?" cried theKing, leaping to his feet anddrawing his sword. "Howdarethey?Andwhodaresit?NowbytheManeofAslan-"

"A-a-a-h," gasped theDryad shuddering as if inpain - shuddering time aftertime as if under repeatedblows. Then all at once shefell sideways as suddenly asif both her feet had been cut

fromunderher.Forasecondthey saw her lying dead onthe grass and then shevanished. They knew whathadhappened.Hertree,milesaway,hadbeencutdown.

For a moment the King'sgriefandangerweresogreatthathecouldnotspeak.Thenhesaid:

"Come, friends.Wemustgo up river and find thevillains who have done this,with all the speedwemay. I

will leave not one of themalive."

"Sire, with a good will,"saidJewel.

But Roonwit said, "Sire,be wary in your just wrath.There are strange doings onfoot.Ifthereshouldberebelsinarmsfurtherupthevalley,we threeare too few tomeetthem. If it would please youtowaitwhile-"

"I will not wait the tenthpart of a second," said the

King."ButwhileJewelandIgo forward,doyougallop ashard as you may to CairParavel. Here is my ring foryourtoken.Getmeascoreofmen-at-arms, all wellmounted, and a score ofTalkingDogs,andtenDwarfs(let them all be fell archers),and a Leopard or so, andStonefoottheGiant.Bringallthese after us as quickly asmaybe."

"With a goodwill, Sire,"

saidRoonwit.AndatonceheturnedandgallopedEastwarddownthevalley.

The King strode on at agreat pace, sometimesmuttering to himself andsometimesclenchinghisfists.Jewel walked beside him,saying nothing; so there wasno sound between them butthe faint jingleofa richgoldchain that hung round theUnicorn's neck and the noiseoftwofeetandfourhoofs.

They soon reached theRiver and turnedup itwheretherewasagrassyroad: theyhadthewaterontheirleftandtheforestontheirright.Soonafter that they came to theplacewhere thegroundgrewrougherandthickwoodcamedowntothewater'sedge.Theroad, what there was of it,nowranontheSouthernbankandtheyhadtofordtheRiverto reach it. It was up toTirian's arm-pits, but Jewel

(who had four legs and wasthereforesteadier)keptonhisright soas tobreak the forceof thecurrent, andTirianputhis strong arm round theUnicorn's strong neck andtheybothgotsafelyover.TheKing was still so angry thathehardlynoticed the coldofthe water. But of course hedriedhisswordverycarefullyon the shoulder of his cloak,which was the only dry partofhim,assoonas theycame

toshore.They were now going

Westward with the River ontheirrightandLanternWastestraight ahead of them. Theyhad not gone more than amilewhen they both stoppedand both spoke at the samemoment. The King said"What have we here?" andJewelsaid"Look!"

"It is a raft," said KingTirian.

And so it was. Half a

dozen splendid tree-trunks,all newly cut and newlyloppedof theirbranches,hadbeenlashedtogethertomakea raft, and were glidingswiftlydowntheriver.Onthefront of the raft there was awater ratwith apole to steerit.

"Hey! Water-Rat! Whatare you about?" cried theKing.

"TakinglogsdowntoselltotheCalormenes,Sire,"said

theRat,touchinghisearashemighthavetouchedhiscapifhehadhadone.

"Calormenes!" thunderedTirian. "What do you mean?Who gave order for thesetreestobefelled?"

The River flows soswiftlyatthattimeoftheyearthat the raft had alreadyglided past the King andJewel. But the Water-Ratlookedbackoveritsshoulderandshoutedout:

"The Lion's orders, Sire.Aslan himself." He addedsomething more but theycouldn'thearit.

TheKingandtheUnicornstaredatoneanotherandbothlooked more frightened thanthey had ever been in anybattle.

"Aslan," said the King atlast, in a very low voice."Aslan. Could it be true?Could he be felling the holytrees and murdering the

Dryads?""Unless the Dryads have

alldonesomethingdreadfullywrong-"murmuredJewel.

"But selling them toCalormenes!" said the King."Isitpossible?"

"Idon'tknow,"saidJewelmiserably. "He's not a tamelion."

"Well," said the King atlast,"wemustgoonandtakethe adventure that comes tous."

"It is the only thing leftfor us to do, Sire," said theUnicorn.Hedidnotseeatthemoment how foolish it wasfor two of them to go onalone;nordidtheKing.Theywere too angry to thinkclearly. But much evil cameoftheirrashnessintheend.

SuddenlytheKingleanedhardonhis friend'sneckandbowedhishead.

"Jewel," he said, "whatlies before us? Horrible

thoughtsarise inmyheart. Ifwehaddiedbefore todayweshouldhavebeenhappy."

"Yes," said Jewel. "Wehave lived too long. Theworst thing in the world hascome upon us." They stoodlike that for aminute or twoandthenwenton.

Before long they couldhear the hack-hack-hack ofaxesfallingontimber,thoughthey could see nothing yetbecause there was a rise of

the ground in front of them.When they had reached thetop of it they could see rightinto Lantern Waste itself.And the King's face turnedwhitewhenhesawit.

Right through themiddleof that ancient forest - thatforestwherethetreesofgoldandofsilverhadoncegrownand where a child from ourworld had once planted theTree of Protection - a broadlanehadalreadybeenopened.

It was a hideous lane like araw gash in the land, full ofmuddyrutswherefelledtreeshadbeendraggeddowntotheriver. There was a greatcrowdofpeopleatwork,anda cracking of whips, andhorses tugging and strainingas they dragged at the logs.Thefirst thingthatstrucktheKing and the Unicorn wasthat about half the people inthe crowd were not TalkingBeasts but Men. The next

thingwasthatthesemenwerenot the fair-haired men ofNarnia: they were dark,beardedmenfromCalormen,that great and cruel countrythat lies beyond Archenlandacrossthedeserttothesouth.There was no reason, ofcourse, why one should notmeet a Calormene or two inNarnia - a merchant or anambassador - for there waspeace between Narnia andCalormen in those days. But

Tirian could not understandwhy there were so many ofthem: nor why they werecutting down a Narnianforest. He grasped his swordtighter and rolled his cloakroundhisleftarm.Theycamequickly down among themen.

Two Calormenes weredriving a horse which washarnessedtoalog.JustastheKing reached them the loghadgotstuckinabadmuddy

place."Get on, son of sloth!

Pull,you lazypig!"cried theCalormenes, cracking theirwhips.Thehorsewasalreadystraining himself as hard ashe could; his eyes were redand he was covered withfoam.

"Work, lazy brute,"shouted one of theCalormenes: andashe spokehe struck the horse savagelywithhiswhip.Itwasthenthat

the really dreadful thinghappened.

Up till now Tirian hadtaken it for granted that thehorseswhich theCalormeneswere driving were their ownhorses;dumb,witlessanimalslike the horses of our ownworld. And though he hatedto see even a dumb horseoverdriven, hewas of coursethinking more about themurder of the Trees. It hadnever crossed his mind that

anyonewoulddaretoharnessone of the free TalkingHorses of Narnia, much lessto use a whip on it. But asthat savage blow fell thehorserearedupandsaid,halfscreaming:

"Fool and tyrant!DoyounotseeIamdoingallIcan?"

When Tirian knew thattheHorsewasoneofhisownNarnians, there came overhim and over Jewel such arage that they did not know

what they were doing. TheKing's sword went up, theUnicorn's horn went down.They rushed forwardtogether. Next moment boththeCalormenes laydead, theone beheaded by Tirian'ssword and the other goredthrough the heart by Jewel'shorn.

CHAPTERTHREETHE APE IN ITS

GLORY"MASTERHorse,Master

Horse," said Tirian as hehastily cut its traces, "howcame these aliens to enslaveyou? Is Narnia conquered?Hastherebeenabattle?"

"No, Sire," panted thehorse,"Aslanishere.It isallby his orders. He hascommanded-"

"'Ware danger, King,"said Jewel. Tirian looked upand saw that Calormenes(mixed with a few TalkingBeasts)werebeginningtorun

towards them from everydirection. The two deadmenhaddiedwithoutacryandsoithadtakenamomentbeforethe rest of the crowd knewwhathadhappened.Butnowthey did. Most of them hadnaked scimitars in theirhands.

"Quick. On my back,"saidJewel.

The King flung himselfastride of his old friendwhoturnedandgallopedaway.He

changed direction twice orthrice as soon as they wereoutof sightof their enemies,crossedastream,andshoutedwithout slackening his pace,"Whitheraway,Sire?ToCairParavel?"

"Hold hard, friend," saidTirian. "Letme off."He slidoff the Unicorn's back andfacedhim.

"Jewel," said the King."We have done a dreadfuldeed."

"We were sorelyprovoked,"saidJewel.

"But to leap on themunawares - without defyingthem while they wereunarmed-faugh!Wearetwomurderers, Jewel. I amdishonouredforever."

Jewel drooped his head.Hetoowasashamed.

"Andthen,"saidtheKing,"the Horse said it was byAslan's orders. The Rat saidthe same.Theyall sayAslan

ishere.Howifitweretrue?""But, Sire, how could

Aslan be commanding suchdreadfulthings?"

"He is not a tame lion,"said Tirian. "How shouldweknowwhathewoulddo?We,who are murderers. Jewel, Iwill go back. I will give upmy sword and put myself inthe hands of theseCalormenesandaskthattheybring me before Aslan. Lethimdojusticeonme."

"You will go to yourdeath,then,"saidJewel.

"Do you think I care ifAslan dooms me to death?"saidtheKing."Thatwouldbenothing,nothingatall.Wouldit not be better to be deadthantohavethishorriblefearthat Aslan has come and isnot like the Aslan we havebelievedinandlongedfor?Itis as if the sun rose one dayandwereablacksun."

"Iknow,"saidJewel."Or

as if you drank water and itwere dry water. You are intheright,Sire.Thisistheendof all things. Let us go andgiveourselvesup."

"Thereisnoneedforbothofustogo."

"If ever we loved oneanother, let me go with younow," said the Unicorn. "Ifyou are dead and ifAslan isnotAslan,whatlifeisleftforme?"

They turned and walked

backtogether,sheddingbittertears.

As soon as they came totheplacewheretheworkwasgoing on the Calormenesraisedacryandcametowardsthem with their weapons inhand. But the King held outhis sword with the hilttowardsthemandsaid:

"I who was King ofNarnia and am now adishonoured knight givemyself up to the justice of

Aslan.Bringmebeforehim.""And I give myself up

too,"saidJewel.Then the dark men came

round them ina thickcrowd,smellingofgarlicandonions,their white eyes flashingdreadfully in their brownfaces. They put a rope halterround Jewel's neck. Theytook the King's sword awayand tiedhishandsbehindhisback.OneoftheCalormenes,whohadahelmetinsteadofa

turban and seemed to be incommand, snatched the goldcirclet off Tirian's head andhastily put it awaysomewhere among hisclothes. They led the twoprisoners uphill to a placewhere there was a bigclearing. And this was whatthe prisoners saw. At thecentre of the clearing, whichwas also the highest point ofthehill, therewasa littlehutlike a stable,with a thatched

roof. Its door was shut. Onthegrass in frontof thedoorthere sat an Ape. Tirian andJewel, who had beenexpecting to see Aslan andhad heard nothing about anApe yet, were verybewilderedwhen theysawit.TheApewas of courseShifthimself, but he looked tentimes uglier than when helivedbyCaldronPool,forhewasnowdress-edup.Hewaswearingascarletjacketwhich

did not fit him very well,having been made for adwarf. He had Jewelledslippers on his hind pawswhich would not stay onproperly because, as youknow, the hind paws of anApearereallylikehands.Hewore what seemed to be apaper crown on his head.Therewasagreatpileofnutsbeside him and he keptcracking nuts with his jawsand spitting out the shells.

And he also kept on pullingupthescarletjackettoscratchhimself. A great number ofTalking Beasts stood facinghim,andnearlyeveryfaceinthat crowd looked miserablyworried and bewildered.When they saw who theprisoners were they allgroanedandwhimpered.

"O Lord Shift,mouthpiece of Aslan," saidthe chief Calormene. "Webring you prisoners. By our

skill and courage and by thepermission of the great godTash we have taken alivethese two desperatemurderers."

"Give me that man'ssword,"saidtheApe.Sotheytook the King's sword andhandedit,withthesword-beltand all, to the monkey. Andhe hung it round his ownneck: and it made him looksillierthanever.

"We'll see about those

two later," said the Ape,spitting out a shell in thedirectionofthetwoprisoners."I got some other businessfirst. They can wait. Nowlisten to me, everyone. Thefirst thing I want to say isaboutnuts.Where'sthatHeadSquirrelgotto?"

"Here, Sir," said a redsquirrel, coming forward andmakinganervouslittlebow.

"Oh you are, are you?"said the Ape with a nasty

look. "Now attend to me. Iwant-Imean,Aslanwants-somemorenuts.Theseyou'vebrought aren't anything likeenough.Youmustbringsomemore,doyouhear?Twiceasmany. And they've got to beherebysunsettomorrow,andtheremustn'tbeanybadonesor any small ones amongthem."

Amurmur of dismay ranthrough the other squirrels,and the Head Squirrel

pluckedupcouragetosay:"Please, would Aslan

himself speak to us about it?Ifwemightbeallowedtoseehim-"

"Wellyouwon't,"saidtheApe. "He may be very kind(though it's a lot more thanmost of you deserve) andcome out for a few minutestonight. Then you can allhave a look at him. But hewill not have you allcrowding round him and

pesteringhimwithquestions.Anything youwant to say tohimwillbepassedonthroughme: if I think it's worthbothering him about. In themeantime all you squirrelshad better go and see aboutthenuts.Andmakesuretheyareherebytomorroweveningor,myword!you'llcatchit."

The poor squirrels allscampered away as if a dogwere after them. This neworder was terrible news for

them. The nuts they hadcarefully hoarded for thewinter had nearly all beeneatenbynow;andofthefewthat were left they hadalready given the Ape farmorethantheycouldspare.

Then a deep voice - itbelonged to a great tuskedandshaggyBoar-spokefromanotherpartofthecrowd.

"But why can't we seeAslan properly and talk tohim?"itsaid."Whenheused

toappearinNarniaintheolddays everyone could talk tohimfacetoface."

"Don't you believe it,"said theApe. "Andeven if itwastrue,timeshavechanged.Aslan says he's been far toosoftwith you before, do yousee?Well,heisn'tgoingtobesoft anymore. He's going tolickyou into shape this time.He'llteachyoutothinkhe'satamelion!"

A low moaning and

whimperingwasheardamongthe Beasts; and, after that, adeadsilencewhichwasmoremiserablestill.

"And now there's anotherthing you got to learn," saidtheApe."Ihearsomeofyouare saying I'm anApe.Well,I'mnot. I'm aMan. If I looklike an Ape, that's becauseI'msoveryold:hundredsandhundreds of years old. Andit'sbecauseI'msooldthatI'msowise.And it'sbecause I'm

sowise that I'm theonlyoneAslan is ever going to speakto. He can't be botheredtalking to a lot of stupidanimals. He'll tell me whatyou've got to do, and I'll tellthe restofyou.And takemyadvice, and see you do it indouble quick time, for hedoesn't mean to stand anynonsense."

Therewas a dead silenceexceptforthenoiseofaveryyoung badger crying and its

mothertryingtomakeitkeepquiet.

"And now here's anotherthing," the Ape went on,fitting a fresh nut into itscheek, "I hear some of thehorsesaresaying,Let'shurryupandget this jobofcartingtimberover asquickly aswecan, and then we'll be freeagain.Well, youcanget thatidea out of your heads atonce. And not only theHorses either. Everybody

whocanwork is going to bemadetoworkinfuture.AslanhasitallsettledwiththeKingofCalormen -TheTisroc,asour dark faced friends theCalormenescallhim.AllyouHorses and Bulls andDonkeysare tobesentdowninto Calormen to work foryour living - pulling andcarrying the way horses andsuch-like do in othercountries. And all youdigging animals like Moles

and Rabbits and Dwarfs aregoing down to work in TheTisroc'smines.And-"

"No, no, no," howled theBeasts."Itcan'tbetrue.Aslanwould never sell us intoslavery to the King ofCalormen."

"Noneof that!Holdyournoise!" said the Ape with asnarl. "Who said anythingabout slavery? You won't beslaves. You'll be paid - verygood wages too. That is to

say, your pay will be paidinto Aslan's treasury and hewilluseitallforeverybody'sgood." Then he glanced, andalmost winked, at the chiefCalormene. The Calormenebowed and replied, in thepompousCalormeneway:

"MostsapientMouthpieceof Aslan, The Tisroc (mayhe-live-forever) is wholly ofone mind with your lordshipinthisjudiciousplan."

"There! You see!" said

the Ape. "It's all arranged.And all for your own good.We'llbeable,withthemoneyyou earn, to make Narnia acountry worth living in.There'll be oranges andbananas pouring in - androads and big cities andschoolsandofficesandwhipsandmuzzles and saddles andcagesandkennelsandprisons-Oh,everything."

"But we don't want allthose things," said an old

Bear. "We want to be free.And we want to hear Aslanspeakhimself."

"Now don't you startarguing," said the Ape, "forit'sathingIwon'tstand.I'maMan:you'reonlyafat,stupidoldBear.Whatdoyouknowabout freedom? You thinkfreedom means doing whatyoulike.Well,you'rewrong.That isn't true freedom. Truefreedommeans doing what Itellyou."

"H-n-n-h," grunted theBearandscratcheditshead;itfound this sort of thing hardtounderstand.

"Please, please," said thehighvoiceof awoolly lamb,who was so young thateveryone was surprised hedaredtospeakatall.

"Whatisitnow?"saidtheApe."Bequick."

"Please," said the Lamb,"I can't understand. Whathave we to do with the

Calormenes? We belong toAslan. They belong to Tash.TheyhaveagodcalledTash.They say he has four armsand the head of a vulture.They killMen on his altar. Idon'tbelieve there'sanysuchperson as Tash. But if therewas, how could Aslan befriendswithhim?"

All the animals cockedtheir heads sideways and alltheir bright eyes flashedtowards theApe.They knew

it was the best questionanyonehadaskedyet.

The Ape jumped up andspatattheLamb.

"Baby!" he hissed. "Sillylittle bleater! Go home toyour mother and drink milk.What do you understand ofsuch things? But the others,listen. Tash is only anothername for Aslan. All that oldideaofusbeingrightandtheCalormenes wrong is silly.We know better now. The

Calormenes use differentwords but we all mean thesame thing. Tash and Aslanare only two different namesfor you know Who. That'swhy there can never be anyquarrel between them. Getthat into your heads, youstupid brutes. Tash is Aslan:AslanisTash."

You know how sad yourown dog's face can looksometimes.Thinkof thatandthen think of all the faces of

those Talking Beasts - allthose honest, humble,bewildered Birds, Bears,Badgers,Rabbits,Moles,andMice-allfarsadderthanthat.Every tail was down, everywhisker drooped. It wouldhave broken your heart withvery pity to see their faces.Therewas only onewho didnotlookatallunhappy.

It was a ginger Cat - agreatbigTomintheprimeoflife - who sat bolt upright

withhis tail curled roundhistoes, in theveryfront rowofall the Beasts. He had beenstaring hard at the Ape andtheCalormenecaptainall thetime and had never onceblinkedhiseyes.

"Excuseme,"saidtheCatvery politely, "but thisinterestsme.Doesyourfriendfrom Calormen say thesame?"

"Assuredly," said theCalormene. "The enlightened

Ape-Man,Imean-isintheright. Aslan means neitherlessnormorethanTash."

"Especially, Aslan meansno more than Tash?"suggestedtheCat.

"Nomoreatall,"saidtheCalormene, looking the Catstraightintheface.

"Is that good enough foryou,Ginger?"saidtheApe.

"Oh certainly," saidGinger coolly. "Thank youverymuch. I only wanted to

be quite clear. I think I ambeginningtounderstand."

Up till now theKingandJewel had said nothing: theywere waiting until the Apeshould bid them speak, forthey thought it was no useinterrupting. But now, asTirian looked round on themiserable faces of theNarnians, and saw how theywould all believe that Aslanand Tash were one and thesame, he could bear it no

longer."Ape," he cried with a

great voice, "you liedamnably. You lie like aCalormene. You lie like anApe."

He meant to go on andaskhowtheterriblegodTashwho fed on the blood of hispeople could possibly be thesame as the good Lion bywhose blood all Narnia wassaved.Ifhehadbeenallowedto speak, the rule of theApe

might have ended that day;the Beasts might have seenthe truthand thrown theApedown. But before he couldsay another word twoCalormenesstruckhiminthemouth with all their force,and a third, from behind,kicked his feet from underhim.And as he fell, theApesquealedinrageandterror.

"Take him away. Takehim away. Take him wherehe cannot hear us, nor we

hear him. There tie him to atree. I will - I mean, Aslanwill-dojusticeonhimlater."

CHAPTERFOURWHAT HAPPENED

THATNIGHTTHE King was so dizzy

from being knocked downthathehardlyknewwhatwashappening until theCalormenes untied his wristsand put his arms straightdownbyhissidesandsethimwith his back against an ash

tree. Then they bound ropesround his ankles and hisknees and his waist and hischestandlefthimthere.Whatworried him worst at themoment - for it isoften littlethings that are hardest tostand - was that his lip wasbleeding where they had hithimandhecouldn'twipe thelittle trickle of blood awayalthoughittickledhim.

From where he was hecouldstillseethelittlestable

on the topof thehill and theApe sitting in front of it. Hecould just hear the Ape'svoice still going on and,every now and then, someanswer from the crowd, buthe could not make out thewords.

"I wonder what they'vedone to Jewel," thought theKing.

Presently the crowd ofbeasts broke up and begangoing away in different

directions.SomepassedclosetoTirian.Theylookedathimas if they were bothfrightened and sorry to seehimtiedupbutnoneofthemspoke.Soontheyhadallgoneand there was silence in thewood. Then hours and hourswent past and Tirian becamefirst very thirsty and thenvery hungry; and as theafternoon dragged on andturned into evening, hebecame cold too. His back

was very sore. The sunwentdown and it began to betwilight.

When it was almost darkTirian heard a light pitter-patter of feet and saw somesmall creatures comingtowardshim.ThethreeontheleftwereMice,andtherewasaRabbitinthemiddle:ontheright were two Moles. Boththesewerecarryinglittlebagson their backs which gavethem a curious look in the

dark so that at first hewonderedwhatkindofbeaststhey were. Then, in amoment, they were allstanding up on their hindlegs, laying their cool pawson his knees and giving hisknees snuffly animal kisses.(They could reach his kneesbecause Narnian TalkingBeastsof that sort arebiggerthan the dumb beasts of thesamekindinEngland.)

"Lord King! dear Lord

King,"saidtheirshrillvoices,"wearesosorryforyou.Wedaren't untie you becauseAslanmightbeangrywithus.But we've brought you yoursupper."

At once the first Mouseclimbednimblyuptillhewasperched on the rope thatboundTirian's chest andwaswrinkling his blunt nose infront of Tirian's face. ThenthesecondMouseclimbedupand hung on just below the

firstMouse.Theotherbeastsstood on the ground andbeganhandingthingsup.

"Drink, Sire, and thenyou'll find you are able toeat,"saidthetopmostMouse,and Tirian found that a littlewooden cup was being heldto his lips. It was only thesizeof aneggcup so thathehadhardly tasted thewine init before it was empty. Butthen the Mouse passed itdown and the others re-filled

it and itwaspassedupagainand Tirian emptied it asecondtime.Inthiswaytheywent on till he had quite agooddrink,whichwasallthebetter for coming in littledoses, for that ismore thirst-quenching than one longdraught.

"Here is cheese, Sire,"saidthefirstMouse,"butnotverymuch, for fear it wouldmake you too thirsty." Andafter thecheese they fedhim

with oat-cakes and freshbutter, and then with somemorewine.

"Nowhandupthewater,"said thefirstMouse,"andI'llwashtheKing'sface.Thereisbloodonit."

Then Tirian feltsomething like a tiny spongedabbing his face, and it wasmostrefreshing.

"Little friends," saidTirian, "howcan I thankyouforallthis?"

"You needn't, youneedn't,"saidthelittlevoices."Whatelsecouldwedo?Wedon't want any other King.We're your people. If it wasonly the Ape and theCalormeneswhowereagainstyouwewouldhavefoughttillwe were cut into piecesbefore we'd let them tie youup. We would, we wouldindeed. But we can't goagainstAslan."

"Doyou think it really is

Aslan?"askedtheKing."Oh yes, yes," said the

Rabbit. "He came out of thestable last night.We all sawhim."

"Whatwas he like?" saidtheKing.

"Like a terrible, greatLion,tobesure,"saidoneoftheMice.

"AndyouthinkitisreallyAslan who is killing theWood-Nymphs and makingyou all slaves to theKing of

Calormen?""Ah, that's bad, isn't it?"

said the second Mouse. "Itwould have been better ifwe'd died before all thisbegan. But there's no doubtabout it. Everyone says it isAslan's orders. And we'veseen him. We didn't thinkAslan would be like that.Why,we-wewantedhimtocomebacktoNarnia."

"He seems to have comeback very angry this time,"

said the first Mouse. "Wemustallhavedonesomethingdreadfully wrong withoutknowing it. He must bepunishing us for something.But I do think we might betoldwhatitwas!"

"I suppose what we'redoing now may be wrong,"saidtheRabbit.

"Idon'tcare if it is,"saidone of the Moles. "I'd do itagain."

But the others said, "Oh

hush," and "Do be careful,"andthentheyallsaid,"We'resorry,dearKing,butwemustgo back now. Itwould neverdoforustobecaughthere."

"Leave me at once, dearBeasts,"saidTirian."IwouldnotforallNarniabringanyofyouintodanger."

"Goodnight, goodnight,"said theBeasts, rubbing theirnoses against his knees. "Wewill come back - ifwe can."Then they all pattered away

and the wood seemed darkerandcolderandlonelierthanithadbeenbeforetheycame.

The stars came out andtime went slowly on -imagine how slowly - whilethatlastKingofNarniastoodstiff and sore and uprightagainst the tree in his bonds.But at last somethinghappened.

Farawaythereappearedaredlight.Thenitdisappearedforamomentandcameback

again, bigger and stronger.Then he could see darkshapes going to and fro onthis side of the light andcarrying bundles andthrowing them down. Heknew now what he waslooking at. It was a bonfire,newly lit, and people werethrowing bundles ofbrushwoodontoit.PresentlyitblazedupandTiriancouldseethatitwasontheverytopofthehill.Hecouldseequite

clearlythestablebehindit,alllit up in the red glow, and agreat crowd of Beasts andMen between the fire andhimself. A small figure,hunched up beside the fire,must be the Ape. It wassaying something to thecrowd, but he could not hearwhat. Then it went andbowed three times to thegroundinfrontofthedoorofthestable.Thenitgotupandopened the door. And

something on four legs -something thatwalked ratherstiffly-cameoutofthestableandstoodfacingthecrowd.

A great wailing orhowlingwentup,soloudthatTiriancouldhearsomeofthewords.

"Aslan! Aslan! Aslan!"criedtheBeasts."Speaktous.Comfortus.Beangrywithusnomore."

FromwhereTirianwashecould not make out very

clearly what the thing was;but he could see that it wasyellow and hairy. He hadneverseentheGreatLion.Hehad never seen a commonlion.Hecouldn'tbe sure thatwhathesawwasnot therealAslan. He had not expectedAslan to look like that stiffthing which stood and saidnothing. But how could onebe sure? For a momenthorrible thoughts wentthrough his mind: then he

remembered the nonsenseabout Tash and Aslan beingthe same and knew that thewholethingmustbeacheat.

The Ape put his headcloseuptotheyellowthing'sheadasifhewerelisteningtosomething it was whisperingto him. Then he turned andspoke to the crowd, and thecrowdwailedagain.Thentheyellow thing turned clumsilyroundandwalked-youmightalmost say, waddled - back

into the stable and the Apeshut thedoorbehindit.Afterthat the fire must have beenputout for the lightvanishedquite suddenly, and Tirianwasoncemorealonewiththecoldandthedarkness.

HethoughtofotherKingswho had lived and died inNarnia in old times and itseemed to him that none ofthem had ever been sounlucky as himself. Hethought of his great-

grandfather's great-grandfather King Rilian whohad been stolen away by aWitch when he was only ayoungprinceandkepthiddenfor years in the dark cavesbeneath the land of theNorthern Giants. But then ithadallcome;rightintheend,for two mysterious childrenhad suddenly appeared fromthe land beyond the world'send and had rescued him sothathecamehome toNarnia

and had a long andprosperousreign."It'snotlikethat with me," said Tirian tohimself.Thenhewentfurtherback and: thought aboutRilian's father, Caspian theSeafarer,whosewickeduncleKing Miraz had tried tomurderhimandhowCaspianhadfledawayintothewoodsand lived among theDwarfs.But that story too had allcome right in the end: forCaspianalsohadbeenhelped

bychildren-only therewerefour of them that time -whocame from somewherebeyond theworld and foughta great battle and set himonhisfather'sthrone."Butitwasall long ago," said Tirian tohimself. "That sort of thingdoesn't happen now." Andthen he remembered (for hehad always been good athistory when he was a boy)howthosesamefourchildrenwho had helpedCaspian had

been in Narnia over athousand years before; and itwas then that they had donethemost remarkable thing ofall. For then they haddefeated the terrible WhiteWitchandendedtheHundredYears of Winter, and afterthattheyhadreigned(allfourof them together) at CairParavel, till they were nolonger children but greatKingsandlovelyQueens,andtheir reign had been the

golden age of Narnia. AndAslan had come into thatstoryalot.Hehadcomeintoall the other stories too, asTirian now remembered."Aslan - and children fromanother world," thoughtTirian. "They have alwayscome inwhen thingswere attheir worst. Oh, if only theycouldnow."

Andhecalledout"Aslan!Aslan!Aslan!Comeandhelpusnow."

But the darkness and thecold and the quietness wentonjustthesame.

"Let me be killed," criedthe King. "I ask nothing formyself.ButcomeandsaveallNarnia."

And still there was nochange in the night or thewood,buttherebegantobeakind of change insideTirian.Without knowing why, hebegan to feel a faint hope.And he felt somehow

stronger. "Oh Aslan, Aslan,"hewhispered."Ifyouwillnotcome yourself, at least sendme the helpers from beyondthe world. Or let me callthem. Let my voice carrybeyond the world." Then,hardly knowing that he wasdoing it, he suddenly criedoutinagreatvoice:

"Children! Children!Friends of Narnia! Quick.Come to me. Across theworlds I call you; I Tirian,

KingofNarnia,LordofCairParavel, and Emperor of theLoneIslands!"

And immediately he wasplunged into a dream (if itwasadream)morevividthananyhehadhadinhislife.

Heseemedtobestandinginalightedroomwheresevenpeople sat round a table. Itlooked as if they had justfinished their meal. Two ofthose people were very old,an old man with a white

beardandanoldwomanwithwise, merry, twinkling eyes.Hewho sat at the right handoftheoldmanwashardlyfullgrown,certainlyyoungerthanTirian himself, but his facehadalreadythelookofakingandawarrior.Andyoucouldalmost say the same of theother youth who sat at therighthandof theoldwoman.FacingTirianacrossthetablesat a fair-haired girl youngerthan either of these, and on

either side of her a boy andgirl who were younger still.Theywerealldressedinwhatseemed to Tirian the oddestkindofclothes.

But he had no time tothink about details like that,for instantly theyoungerboyand both the girls started totheir feet, and one of themgave a little scream. The oldwoman started and drew inher breath sharply. The oldman must have made some

suddenmovementtooforthewineglasswhichstoodathisright handwas swept off thetable: Tirian could hear thetinkling noise as it broke onthefloor.

Then Tirian realized thatthese people could see him;theywerestaringathimasifthey saw a ghost. But henoticedthat theking-likeonewhosatattheoldman'srightnever moved (though heturned pale) except that he

clenched his hand very tight.Thenhesaid:

"Speak, if you're not aphantom or a dream. Youhave a Narnian look aboutyou and we are the sevenfriendsofNarnia."

Tirian was longing tospeak,andhetriedtocryoutaloud that he was Tirian ofNarnia,ingreatneedofhelp.But he found (as I havesometimes found in dreamstoo) that his voice made no

noiseatall.Theonewhohadalready

spokentohimrosetohisfeet."Shadoworspiritorwhateveryou are," he said, fixing hiseyesfulluponTirian."IfyouarefromNarnia,Ichargeyouin the name of Aslan, speakto me. I am Peter the HighKing."

The room began to swimbeforeTirian'seyes.Heheardthe voices of those sevenpeople all speaking at once,

and all getting fainter everysecond,andtheyweresayingthings like, "Look! It'sfading." "It's melting away.""It's vanishing." Nextmoment hewaswide awake,still tied to the tree, colderand stiffer than ever. Thewood was full of the pale,drearylightthatcomesbeforesunrise, and he was soakingwet with dew; it was nearlymorning.

That waking was about

theworstmomenthehadeverhadinhislife.

CHAPTERFIVEHOW HELP CAME TO

THEKINGBurhismiserydidnotlast

long. Almost at once therecame a bump, and then asecond bump, and twochildrenwerestandingbeforehim. The wood in front ofhim had been quite empty asecond before and he knewthey had not come from

behindhis tree, forhewouldhaveheardthem.Theyhadinfact simply appeared fromnowhere.He saw at a glancethat they were wearing thesame queer, dingy sort ofclothes as the people in hisdream; and he saw, at asecondglance,thattheyweretheyoungestboyandgirloutofthatpartyofseven.

"Gosh!" said the boy,"that tookone'sbreathaway!Ithought-"

"Hurry up and get himuntied,"saidthegirl."Wecantalk, afterwards." Then sheadded, turning toTirian,"I'msorrywe'vebeensolong.Wecamethemomentwecould."

While she was speakingthe Boy produced a knifefrom his pocket and wasquickly cutting the King'sbonds: too quickly, in fact,for theKingwas so stiff andnumbthatwhen the lastcordwascuthefellforwardonhis

handsandknees.Hecouldn'tget up again till he hadbrought some life back intohislegsbyagoodrubbing.

"I say," said the girl. "Itwas you, wasn't it, whoappeared to us that nightwhenwewere all at supper?Nearlyaweekago."

"Aweek,fairmaid?"saidTirian. "My dream led meinto your world scarce tenminutessince."

"It's the usual muddle

about times, Pole," said theBoy.

"I remember now," saidTirian."Thattoocomesinalltheoldtales.Thetimeofyourstrange land isdifferent fromours. But if we speak ofTime, 'tis time to be gonefrom here: for my enemiesare close at hand. Will youcomewithme?"

"Ofcourse,"said thegirl."It'syouwe'vecometohelp."

Tirian got to his feet and

led them rapidly down hill,Southwardandawayfromthestable. He knew where hemeant to go but his first aimwas to get to rocky placeswhere they would leave notrail, and his second to crosssome water so that theywould leave no scent. Thistook them about an hour'sscrambling and wading andwhile that was going onnobody had any breath totalk.Butevenso,Tiriankept

on stealing glances at hiscompanions. The wonder ofwalking beside the creaturesfromanotherworldmadehimfeel a little dizzy: but it alsomadeall theoldstoriesseemfar more real than they hadever seemed before . . .anythingmighthappennow.

"Now," said Tirian asthey came to the head of alittle valley which ran downbefore them among youngbirch trees, "we are out of

dangerof thosevillains for aspace and may walk moreeasily." The sun had risen,dew-dropswere twinklingoneverybranch, andbirdsweresinging.

"Whataboutsomegrub?-I mean for you, Sir, we twohavehadour breakfast," saidtheBoy.

Tirian wondered verymuch what he meant by"grub", but when the Boyopenedabulgysatchelwhich

he was carrying and pulledout a rather greasy andsquashy packet, heunderstood. He wasravenouslyhungry,thoughhehadn'tthoughtaboutittillthatmoment. There were twohard-boiled egg sandwiches,and two cheese sandwiches,and two with some kind ofpaste in them. If he hadn'tbeen so hungry he wouldn'thave thought much of thepaste,forthatisasortoffood

nobodyeatsinNarnia.Bythetime he had eaten all sixsandwichestheyhadcometothe bottom of the valley andtheretheyfoundamossycliffwithalittlefountainbubblingout of it. All three stoppedand drank and splashed theirhotfaces.

"And now," said the girlas she tossed her wet hairback from her forehead,"aren't you going to tell uswho you are and why you

were tiedupandwhat it's allabout?"

"With a good will,damsel,"saidTirian."Butwemustkeepon themarch."Sowhile they went on walkinghetoldthemwhohewasandall the things that hadhappenedtohim."Andnow,"he said at the end, "I amgoing to a certain tower, oneofthreethatwerebuiltinmygrandsire's time to guardLanternWasteagainstcertain

perilousoutlawswhodwelledthere in his day. By Aslan'sgoodwillIwasnotrobbedofmy keys. In that tower weshall find stores of weaponsand mail and some victualsalso, though no better thandrybiscuit.Therealsowecanlie safe while we make ourplans. And now, prithee, tellmewho you two are and allyourstory."

"I'm Eustace Scrubb andthisisJillPole,"saidtheBoy.

"And we were here oncebefore, ages and ages ago,more than a year ago by ourtime, and there was a chapcalledPrinceRilian,andtheywere keeping this chapunderground, andPuddleglumputhisfootin-"

"Ha!" cried Tirian, "areyouthenthatEustaceandthatJill who rescuedKing Rilianfromhislongenchantment?"

"Yes, that's us," said Jill."So he'sKingRilian now, is

he? Oh of course he wouldbe.Iforgot-"

"Nay," said Tirian, "I amthe seventh in descent fromhim. He has been dead overtwohundredyears."

Jill made a face. "Ugh!"she said. "That's the horridpart about coming back toNarnia." But Eustace wenton.

"Wellnowyouknowwhoweare,Sire,"hesaid."Anditwas like this. The Professor

andAuntPollyhadgotallusfriendsofNarniatogether-"

"I knownot thesenames,Eustace,"saidTirian.

"They're the two whocame intoNarnia at the verybeginning, the day all theanimalslearnedtotalk."

"By the Lion's Mane,"criedTirian."Thosetwo!TheLord Digory and the LadyPolly! From the dawn of theworld! And still in yourplace? The wonder and the

glory of it! But tell me, tellme."

"She isn't reallyouraunt,you know," said Eustace."She'sMissPlummer,butwecall her Aunt Polly. Wellthose two got us all togetherpartlyjustforfun,sothatwecould all have a good jawabout Narnia (for of coursethere's no one else we canever talk to about things likethat) but partly because theProfessor had a feeling that

we were somehow wantedover here. Well then youcame in like a ghost orgoodness-knows-what andnearlyfrightenedthelivesoutof us and vanished withoutsayingaword.After that,weknew for certain there wassomethingup.

The next question washowtogethere.Youcan'tgojust by wanting to. So wetalked and talked and at lastthe Professor said the only

way would be by the MagicRings. Itwas by thoseRingsthat he and Aunt Polly gothere long, long ago whenthey were only kids, yearsbeforeweyoungeroneswereborn. But the Rings had allbeenburiedinthegardenofahouse in London (that's ourbigtown,Sire)andthehousehad been sold. So then theproblem was how to get atthem.You'llneverguesswhatwe did in the end! Peter and

Edmund - that's the HighKing Peter, the one whospoke to you - went up toLondontogetintothegardenfrom the back, early in themorning before people wereup. They were dressed likeworkmen so that if anyonedidseethemitwouldlookasif they'd come to dosomethingabout thedrains. Iwish I'd been with them: itmust havebeenglorious fun.And they must have

succeeded for next day Petersentusawire-that'sasortofmessage, Sire, I'll explainabout it someother time - tosay he'd got the Rings. AndthedayafterthatwasthedayPole and I had to go back toschool - we're the only twowho are still at school andwe're at the same one. SoPeter and Edmund were tomeetusataplaceonthewaydowntoschoolandhandovertheRings.Ithadtobeustwo

who were to go to Narnia,you see, because the olderonescouldn't comeagain.Sowe got into the train that's akindof thingpeopletravel ininourworld:alotofwagonschained together - and theProfessorandAuntPollyandLucy came with us. Wewanted to keep together aslong aswe could.Well therewewereinthetrain.Andwewerejustgettingtothestationwheretheothersweretomeet

us, and I was looking out ofthewindow to see if I couldseethemwhensuddenlytherecameamostfrightfuljerkandanoise:andtherewewereinNarnia and there was yourMajestytieduptothetree."

"So you never used theRings?"saidTirian.

"No," said Eustace."Neverevensawthem.Aslandid it all for us in his ownwaywithoutanyRings."

"But theHighKingPeter

hasthem,"saidTirian."Yes," said Jill. "But we

don't think he can use them.When the two otherPevensies - King Edmundand Queen Lucy - were lasthere, Aslan said they wouldnever come to Narnia again.Andhesaidsomethingofthesame sort to the High King,onlylongerago.Youmaybesure he'll come like a shot ifhe'sallowed."

"Gosh!"saidEustace."It's

gettinghotinthissun.Arewenearlythere,Sire?"

"Look," said Tirian andpointed. Not many yardsaway grey battlements roseabove the tree-tops, andafteraminute'smorewalkingtheycame out in an open grassyspace.A stream ran across itand on the far side of thestream stood a squat, squaretower with very few andnarrow windows and oneheavy-looking door in the

wallthatfacedthem.Tirian lookedsharply this

way and that to make surethatnoenemieswereinsight.Then he walked up to thetower and stood still for amoment fishinguphisbunchofkeyswhichheworeinsidehishunting-dressonanarrowsilver chain that went roundhisneck.Itwasanicebunchof keys that he brought out,for two were golden andmany were richly

ornamented:youcouldseeatonce that they were keysmadeforopeningsolemnandsecret rooms in palaces, orchests and caskets of sweet-smellingwood thatcontainedroyal treasures. But the keywhich he now put into thelockof thedoorwasbigandplain andmore rudelymade.The lock was stiff and for amoment Tirian began to beafraid that he would not beable to turn it: but at last he

didand thedoorswungopenwithasullencreak.

"Welcome friends," saidTirian. "I fear this is thebestpalacethattheKingofNarniacannowoffertohisguests."

Tirianwas pleased to seethat the two strangers hadbeen well brought up. Theyboth said not to mention itand that they were sure itwouldbeverynice.

Asamatteroffact itwasnot particularly nice. It was

rather dark and smelled verydamp. There was only oneroominitandthisroomwentright up to the stone roof: awooden staircase in onecorner led up to a trap doorby which you could get outon the battlements. Therewere a few rude bunks tosleep in, and a great manylockers and bundles. Therewas also a hearth whichlookedas ifnobodyhad lit afire in it for a great many

years."We'd better go out and

gather some firewood firstthing,hadn'twe?"saidJill.

"Not yet, comrade," saidTirian. He was determinedthattheyshouldnotbecaughtunarmed, and begansearching the lockers,thankfully remembering thathehadalwaysbeencarefultohave these garrison towersinspected once a year and tomake sure that they were

stocked with all thingsneedful. The bow stringswere there in their coveringsof oiled silk, the swords andspears were greased againstrust,andthearmourwaskeptbright in its wrappings. Butthere was something evenbetter. "Look you!" saidTirian as he drew out a longmailshirtofacuriouspatternand flashed it before thechildren'seyes.

"That's funny-looking

mail,Sire,"saidEustace."Aye, lad," said Tirian.

"NoNarnian Dwarf smithiedthat. 'Tis mail of Calormen,outlandish gear. I have everkept a few suits of it inreadiness, for I never knewwhen I or my friends mighthavereasontowalkunseeninThe Tisroc's land. And lookon this stone bottle. In thisthere is a juice which, whenwe have rubbed it on ourhandsandfaces,willmakeus

brownasCalormenes.""Oh hurrah!" said Jill.

"Disguise!Ilovedisguises."Tirian showed them how

topouroutalittleofthejuiceinto the palms of their handsandthenrubitwellovertheirfaces and necks, right downto the shoulders, and thenontheir hands, right up to theelbows. He did the samehimself.

"After this has hardenedon us," he said, "we may

wash inwater and itwillnotchange. Nothing but oil andashes will make us whiteNarnians again. And now,sweet Jill, let us go see howthis mail shirt becomes you.'Tis something too long, yetnot so much as I feared.Doubtless it belonged to apage in the train of one oftheirTarkaans."

After themail shirts theyput on Calormene helmets,which are little round ones

fitting tight to the head andhaving a spike on top. ThenTiriantooklongrollsofsomewhite stuff out of the lockerand wound them over thehelmets till they becameturbans: but the little steelspike still stuck up in themiddle.He andEustace tookcurved Calormene swordsandlittleroundshields.Therewas no sword light enoughfor Jill, but he gave her along, straight hunting knife

whichmightdoforaswordatapinch.

"Hast any skill with thebow,maiden?"saidTirian.

"Nothing worth talkingof," said Jill, blushing."Scrubb'snotbad."

"Don't you believe her,Sire," said Eustace. "We'veboth been practising archeryever since we got back fromNarnia last time, and she'saboutasgoodasmenow.Notthateitherofusismuch."

Then Tirian gave Jill abow and a quiver full ofarrows. The next businesswas to light a fire, for insidethat tower it still felt morelikeacavethanlikeanythingindoorsandsetoneshivering.But they gotwarm gatheringwood-thesunwasnowatitshighest - and once the blazewas roaring up the chimneythe place began to lookcheerful. Dinner was,however,adullmeal, for the

best they could do was topound up some of the hardbiscuitwhichtheyfoundinalockerandpouritintoboilingwater,withsalt,soastomakea kind of porridge. And ofcourse there was nothing todrinkbutwater.

"I wish we'd brought apacketoftea,"saidJill.

"Or a tin of cocoa," saidEustace.

"A firkin or so of goodwine in each of these towers

would not have been amiss,"saidTirian.

CHAPTERSIXA GOOD NIGHT'S

WORKABOUT four hours later

Tirian flung himself into oneof thebunkstosnatcha littlesleep.The two childrenwerealreadysnoring:hehadmadethemgo tobedbeforehedidbecause they would have tobe up most of the night andheknewthatattheiragethey

couldn't do without sleep.Also, he had tired them out.First he had given Jill somepracticeinarcheryandfoundthat,thoughnotuptoNarnianstandards, shewas really nottoo bad. Indeed she hadsucceeded in shooting arabbit (not a Talking rabbit,ofcourse:therearelotsoftheordinary kind about inWestern Narnia) and it wasalreadyskinned,cleaned,andhanging up. He had found

that both the children knewall about this chilly andsmelly job; they had learnedthat kind of thing on theirgreat journey through Giant-Land in the days of PrinceRilian. Then he had tried toteachEustacehow tousehisswordandshield.Eustacehadlearned quite a lot aboutsword fighting on his earlieradventures but that had beenall with a straight Narniansword.Hehadneverhandled

a curved Calormene scimitarand that made it hard, formanyof thestrokesarequitedifferent and some of thehabitshehadlearnedwiththelong sword had now to beunlearned again. But Tirianfoundthathehadagoodeyeand was very quick on hisfeet. Hewas surprised at thestrength of both children: infact they both seemed to bealready much stronger andbigger and more grown-up

than they had been when hefirst met them a few hoursago. It is one of the effectswhich Narnian air often hasonvisitorsfromourworld.

All three of them agreedthat the very first thing theymust do was to go back toStable Hill and try to rescueJeweltheUnicorn.Afterthat,iftheysucceeded,theywouldtrytogetawayEastwardandmeet the little army whichRoonwit the Centaur would

be bringing from CairParavel.

An experienced warriorandhuntsman likeTiriancanalwayswakeupatthetimehewants.Sohegavehimselftillnine o'clock that night andthenputallworriesoutofhishead and fell asleep at once.It seemed only a momentlater when he woke but heknew by the light and theveryfeelofthingsthathehadtimed his sleep exactly. He

gotup,putonhishelmet-and-turban (he had slept in hismail shirt), and then shookthe other two till they wokeup. They looked, to tell thetruth,verygreyanddismalasthey climbed out of theirbunks and there was a gooddealofyawning.

"Now," said Tirian, "wego dueNorth fromhere - bygoodfortune'tisastarrynight- and itwill bemuch shorterthan our journey this

morning, for then we wentround-aboutbutnowweshallgo straight. If we arechallenged, then do you twoholdyourpeaceandIwilldomy best to talk like a curst,cruel, proud lord ofCalormen. If I draw mysword then thou, Eustace,must do likewise and let Jillleapbehindusandstandwithanarrowonthestring.ButifIcry`Home', thenflyfor theTower both of you. And let

nonetrytofighton-notevenone stroke after I have giventhe retreat: such false valourhas spoiled many notableplans in the wars. And now,friends, inthenameofAslanletusgoforward."

Out they went into thecold night. All the greatNorthern stars were burningabove the tree-tops. TheNorth-Star of that world iscalled the Spear-Head: it isbrighterthanourPoleStar.

For a time they could gostraight towards the Spear-Headbutpresentlytheycametoadensethicketsothattheyhad to go out of their coursetogetroundit.Andafterthat-for they were stillovershadowed by branches -it was hard to pick up theirbearings. It was Jill who setthem right again: she hadbeen an excellent Guide inEngland. And of course sheknew her Narnian stars

perfectly, having travelled somuch in the wild NorthernLands, and could work outthedirection fromother starseven when the Spear-Headwashidden.AssoonasTiriansaw that she was the bestpathfinder of the three ofthemheputherinfront.Andthenhewasastonishedtofindhow silently and almostinvisiblysheglidedonbeforethem.

"By the Mane!" he

whispered to Eustace. "Thisgirl is a wondrous wood-maid. If she had Dryad'sbloodinhershecouldscarcedoitbetter."

"She's so small, that'swhat helps," whisperedEustace.ButJillfrominfrontsaid:"S-s-s-h,lessnoise."

All round them thewoodwasveryquiet.Indeeditwasfar too quiet.On an ordinaryNarnia night there ought tohave been noises - an

occasional cheery"Goodnight" from aHedgehog, thecryofanOwloverhead, perhaps a flute inthe distance to tell of Faunsdancing, or some throbbing,hammering noises fromDwarfsunderground.Allthatwassilenced:gloomandfearreignedoverNarnia.

Afteratimetheybegantogosteeplyuphillandthetreesgrew further apart. Tiriancould dimly make out the

wellknown hill-top and thestable. Jill was now goingwithmore andmore caution:she kept on making signs totheotherswithherhandtodothe same. Then she stoppeddead still andTirian saw hergradually sink down into thegrassanddisappearwithoutasound. A moment later sherose again, put her mouthclosetoTirian'sear,andsaidin the lowest possiblewhisper, "Get down. Thee

better." She said thee for seenotbecauseshehadalispbutbecausesheknewthehissingletter S is the part of awhisper most likely to beoverheard. Tirian at once laydown, almost as silently asJill,butnotquite, forhewasheavier and older. And oncetheyweredown,hesawhowfrom that position you couldsee theedgeof thehill sharpagainst the star-strewn sky.Two black shapes rose

againstit:onewasthestable,and the other, a few feet infront of it, was a Calormenesentry. He was keeping veryillwatch:notwalkingorevenstanding but sitting with hisspear over his shoulder andhis chin on his chest. "Welldone,"saidTiriantoJill.Shehad shown him exactly whatheneededtoknow.

They got up and Tiriannow took the lead. Veryslowly, hardly daring to

breathe, theymade theirwayup to a little clump of treeswhich was not more thanforty feet away from thesentinel.

"Wait here till I comeagain," he whispered to theothertwo."IfImiscarry,fly."Thenhesaunteredoutboldlyin full view of the enemy.Themanstartedwhenhesawhim and was just going tojump to his feet: he wasafraidTirianmightbeoneof

his own officers and that hewould get into trouble forsitting down. But before hecould get up Tirian haddropped on one knee besidehim,saying:

"ArtthouawarrioroftheTisroc's, may he live forever? It cheers my heart tomeet thee among all thesebeastsanddevilsofNarnians.Givemethyhand,friend."

BeforehewellknewwhatwashappeningtheCalormene

sentry found his right handseizedinamightygrip.Nextinstantsomeonewaskneelingonhis legsandadaggerwaspressedagainsthisneck.

"One noise and thou artdead," said Tirian in his ear."TellmewheretheUnicornisandthoushaltlive."

"B - behind the stable,OMy Master," stammered theunfortunateman.

"Good. Rise up and leadmetohim."

As the man got up thepointof thedaggernever lefthis neck. It only travelledround (cold and ratherticklish) asTirian got behindhim and settled it at aconvenient place under hisear.Tremblinghewentroundtothebackofthestable.

ThoughitwasdarkTiriancould see the white shape ofJewelatonce.

"Hush!" he said. "No, donotneigh.Yes, Jewel, it is I.

Howhavetheytiedthee?""Hobbledbyall four legs

andtiedwithabridletoaringin the stable wall," cameJewel'svoice.

"Stand here, sentry, withyour back to the wall. So.Now, Jewel: set the point ofyour horn against thisCalormene'sbreast."

"With a goodwill, Sire,"saidJewel.

"Ifhemoves, rivehim tothe heart." Then in a few

seconds Tirian cut the ropes.With the remains of themhebound the sentry hand andfoot. Finally he made himopenhismouth,stuffeditfullofgrassandtiedhimupfromscalptochinsothathecouldmake no noise, lowered theman into a sitting positionandsethimagainstthewall.

"I have done thee somediscourtesy, soldier," saidTirian. "But such was myneed.IfwemeetagainImay

happen to do thee a betterturn. Now, Jewel, let us gosoftly."

Heputhis leftarmroundthebeast'sneckandbentandkissed its nose and both hadgreat joy.Theywentbackasquietly as possible to theplace where he had left thechildren. It was darker inthere under the trees and henearlyranintoEustacebeforehesawhim.

"All's well," whispered

Tirian."Agoodnight'swork.Nowforhome."

Theyturnedandhadgonea few paces when Eustacesaid, "Where are you, Pole?"Therewasnoanswer."IsJillon the other side of you,Sire?"heasked.

"What?" said Tirian. "Isshe not on the other side ofyour"

Itwas a terriblemoment.Theydarednotshoutbuttheywhispered her name in the

loudest whisper they couldmanage.Therewasnoreply.

"Did she go from youwhile I was away?" askedTirian.

"I didn't see or hear hergo," said Eustace. "But shecould have gone without myknowing.Shecanbeasquietas a cat; you've seen foryourself."

At that moment a far offdrum beat was heard. Jewelmoved his ears forward.

"Dwarfs,"hesaid."AndtreacherousDwarfs,

enemies, as likely as not,"mutteredTirian.

"And here comessomething on hoofs, muchnearer,"saidJewel.

The two humans and theUnicorn stood dead still.There were now so manydifferent things to worryabout that they didn't knowwhat to do. The noise ofhoofs came steadily nearer.

Andthen,quiteclosetothem,avoicewhispered:

"Hallo! Are you allthere?"

Thank heaven, it wasJill's.

"Where the devil haveyoubeento?"saidEustaceina furiouswhisper, forhehadbeenveryfrightened.

"In the stable," gaspedJill,butitwasthesortofgaspyou give when you'restruggling with suppressed

laughter."Oh," growled Eustace,

"you think it funny, do you?WellallIcansayis-"

"Have you got Jewel,Sire?"askedJill.

"Yes.Herehe is.What isthatbeastwithyou?"

"That's him," said Jill."But let'sbeoffhomebeforeanyonewakesup."Andagaintherecamelittleexplosionsoflaughter.

Theothersobeyedatonce

for they had already lingeredlong enough in thatdangerous place and theDwarfdrumsseemedtohavecome a little nearer. It wasonly after they had beenwalking Southward forseveral minutes that Eustacesaid:

"Got him? What do youmean?"

"The false Aslan," saidJill.

"What?" said Tirian.

"Wherehaveyoubeen?Whathaveyoudone?"

"Well,Sire,"saidJill."Assoon as I saw that you'd gotthe sentry out of the way Ithoughthadn'tIbetterhavealookinsidethestableandseewhat really is there? So Icrawledalong.Itwasaseasyasanythingtodrawthebolt.

Of course it was pitchblack insideand smelled likeany other stable. Then Istruckalightand-wouldyou

believeit?-therewasnothingat all there but this olddonkeywithabundleoflion-skin tiedon tohisback.SoIdrew my knife and told himhe'dhavetocomealongwithme. As a matter of fact Ineedn't have threatened himwith the knife at all.Hewasvery fed up with the stableand quite ready to come -weren'tyou,Puzzledear?"

"Great Scott!" saidEustace."WellI'm-jiggered.

Iwas jolly angrywith you amomentago,and I still thinkitwasmean of you to sneakoffwithouttherestofus:butImustadmit-well,Imeantosay - well it was a perfectlygorgeous thing to do. If shewas a boy she'd have to beknighted,wouldn'tshe,Sire?"

"If she was a boy," saidTirian,"she'dbewhippedfordisobeying orders." And inthe dark no one could seewhether he said this with a

frownorasmile.Nextminutetherewas a soundof raspingmetal.

"What are you doing,Sire?"askedJewelsharply.

"Drawing my sword tosmite off the head of theaccursedAss," said Tirian ina terriblevoice. "Standclear,girl."

"Oh don't, please don't,"saidJill."Really,youmustn't.It wasn't his fault. It was alltheApe.Hedidn't knowany

better. And he's very sorry.And he's a niceDonkey.Hisname's Puzzle. And I've gotmyarmsroundhisneck."

"Jill," said Tirian, "youare the bravest and mostwoodwiseofallmysubjects,but also the most malapertanddisobedient.Well: let theAss live. What have you tosayforyourself,Ass?"

"Me, Sire?" came theDonkey'svoice."I'msureI'mverysorryifI'vedonewrong.

The Ape said Aslan wantedmetodressuplikethat.AndI thought he'd know. I'm notclever like him. I only didwhatIwastold.Itwasn'tanyfun for me living in thatstable. I don't even knowwhat'sbeengoingonoutside.He never let me out exceptfor aminute or two at night.Somedaystheyforgottogivemeanywatertoo."

"Sire,"saidJewel."ThoseDwarfs are coming nearer

and nearer. Do we want tomeetthem?"

Tirian thought for amoment and then suddenlygave a great laugh out loud.Then he spoke, not this timein a whisper. "By the Lion,"he said, "I am growing slowwitted!Meet them?Certainlywe will meet them.We willmeet anyone now. We havethis Ass to show them. Letthem see the thing they havefearedandbowedto.Wecan

show them the truth of theApe's vile plot. His secret'sout. The tide's turned.TomorrowweshallhangthatApe on the highest tree inNarnia. No more whisperingand skulking and disguises.Where are these honestDwarfs?Wehavegoodnewsforthem."

When you have beenwhisperingforhoursthemeresound of anyone talking outloud has a wonderfully

stirring effect. The wholeparty began talking andlaughing: even Puzzle lifteduphisheadandgaveagrandHaw-hee-haw-hee-hee; athing theApe hadn't allowedhimtodofordays.Thentheysetoff in thedirectionof thedrumming. It grew steadilylouder and soon they couldsee torchlight as well. Theycame out on one of thoserough roads (we shouldhardly call them roads at all

in England) which ranthrough Lantern Waste. Andthere, marching sturdilyalong, were about thirtyDwarfs, all with their littlespades and mattocks overtheir shoulders. Two armedCalormenes led the columnand twomorebroughtup therear.

"Stay!" thundered Tirianashesteppedoutontheroad."Stay, soldiers. Whither doyou lead these Narnian

Dwarfs and by whoseorders?"

CHAPTERSEVENMAINLY ABOUT

DWARFSTHE two Calormene

soldiers at the head of thecolumn, seeing what theytook for a Tarkaan or greatlord with two armed pages,cametoahaltandraisedtheirspearsinsalute.

"OMyMaster," said oneof them, "we lead these

manikins to Calormen towork in the mines of TheTisroc,may-he-live-forever."

"By the great god Tash,they are very obedient," saidTirian. Then suddenly heturned to the Dwarfsthemselves.About one in sixofthemcarriedatorchandbythat flickering light he couldsee their bearded faces alllookingathimwithgrimanddogged expressions. "HasThe Tisroc fought a great

battle,Dwarfs,andconqueredyour land?" he asked, "thatthusyougopatientlytodieinthesalt-pitsofPugrahan?"

Thetwosoldiersglaredathim in surprise but theDwarfsallanswered,"Aslan'sorders, Aslan's orders. He'ssold us. What can we doagainsthim?"

"Tisroc indeed!" addedone and spat. "I'd like to seehimtryit!"

"Silence, dogs!" said the

chiefsoldier."Look!" said Tirian,

pulling Puzzle forward intothelight."Ithasallbeenalie.AslanhasnotcometoNarniaatall.Youhavebeencheatedby theApe.This is the thinghebroughtoutofthestabletoshowyou.Lookatit."

What the Dwarfs saw,now that they could see itclose,wascertainlyenoughtomake themwonderhow theyhad ever been taken in. The

lion-skin had got prettyuntidyalreadyduringPuzzle'simprisonment in the stableand it had been knockedcrooked during his journeythrough thedarkwood.Mostofitwasinabiglumpononeshoulder. The head, besidesbeing pushed sideways, hadsomehowgotveryfarbacksothatanyonecouldnowseehissilly, gentle, donkeyish facegazing out of it. Some grassstuckoutofonecornerofhis

mouth, forhe'dbeendoingalittle quiet nibbling as theybrought him along. And hewasmuttering, "Itwasn'tmyfault, I'm not clever. I neversaidIwas."

For one second all theDwarfswerestaringatPuzzlewith wide open mouths andthen one of the soldiers saidsharply, "Are you mad, MyMaster?What are you doingto the slaves?" and the othersaid, "And who are you?"

Neitheroftheirspearswasatthe salute now - both weredownandreadyforaction.

"Givethepassword,"saidthechiefsoldier.

"This is my password,"said theKing as he drewhissword."Thelightisdawning,the lie broken. Now guardthee, miscreant, for I amTirianofNarnia."

He flew upon the chiefsoldier like lightning.Eustace, who had drawn his

swordwhenhesawtheKingdraw his, rushed at the otherone:hisfacewasdeadlypale,but Iwouldn't blamehim forthat.Andhehadtheluckthatbeginnerssometimesdohave.He forgot all that Tirian hadtried to teach him thatafternoon, slashed wildly(indeed I'mnot sure his eyesweren't shut) and suddenlyfound, to his own greatsurprise, that the Calormenelay dead at his feet. And

thoughthatwasagreatrelief,itwas, at themoment, ratherfrightening. The King's fightlastedasecondortwolonger:thenhetoohadkilledhismanand shouted to Eustace,"'Waretheothertwo."

But the Dwarfs hadsettled the two remainingCalormenes. There was noenemyleft.

"Well struck, Eustace!"criedTirian,clappinghimontheback."Now,Dwarfs,you

arefree.TomorrowIwillleadyou to free allNarnia. ThreecheersforAslan!"

But the result whichfollowed was simplywretched.Therewasa feebleattempt from a few Dwarfs(aboutfive)whichdiedawayall at once: from severalothers there were sulkygrowls.Manysaidnothingatall.

"Don't they understand?"said Jill impatiently. "What's

wrong with all you Dwarfs?Don'tyouhearwhattheKingsays? It's all over. The Apeisn'tgoingtoruleNarniaanylonger.Everyonecangobacktoordinarylife.Youcanhavefunagain.Aren'tyouglad?"

After a pause of nearly aminute a not-very-nice-looking Dwarf with hair andbeard as black as soot said:"And who might you be,Missie?"

"I'm Jill," she said. "The

same Jill who rescued KingRilian from the enchantmentandthisisEustacewhodidittoo - and we've come backfrom another world afterhundredsofyears.Aslansentus."

The Dwarfs all looked atone another with grins;sneering grins, not merryones.

"Well," said the BlackDwarf (whose name wasGriffle), "I don't know how

all you chaps feel, but I feelI've heard as much aboutAslanasIwanttofortherestofmylife."

"That'sright, that'sright,"growled the other Dwarfs."It'sallaplant,allabloomingplant."

"What do you mean?"said Tirian.He had not beenpalewhenhewasfightingbuthe was pale now. He hadthoughtthiswasgoingtobeabeautifulmoment, but it was

turning out more like a baddream.

"You must think we'reblooming soft in the head,that you must," said Griffle."We've been taken in onceandnowyouexpectus tobetaken in again the nextminute. We've no more usefor stories about Aslan, see!Look at him! An old mokewithlongears!"

"Byheaven,youmakememad," saidTirian. "Whichof

us said thatwasAslan?Thatis the Ape's imitation of thereal Aslan. Can't youunderstand?"

"And you've got a betterimitation, I suppose!" saidGriffle. "No thanks. We'vebeen fooled once and we'renotgoingtobefooledagain."

"I have not," said Tirianangrily, "I serve the realAslan."

"Where's he? Who's he?Showhimtous!"saidseveral

Dwarfs."DoyouthinkIkeephim

in my wallet, fools?" saidTirian. "Who am I that Icould make Aslan appear atmybidding?He's not a tamelion."

Themoment thosewordswere out of his mouth herealized that he had made afalse move. The Dwarfs atonce began repeating "not atamelion,notatamelion,"ina jeering sing-song. "That's

what the other lot kept ontellingus,"saidone.

"Do you mean you don'tbelieve in the real Aslan?"said Jill. "But I've seen him.And he has sent us two hereoutofadifferentworld."

"Ah," said Griffle with abroad smile. "So you say.They'vetaughtyouyourstuffallright.Sayingyourlessons,ain'tyou?"

"Churl," cried Tirian,"willyougivealadythelieto

herveryface?""You keep a civil tongue

inyourhead,Mister,"repliedthe Dwarf. "I don't think wewantanymoreKings-ifyouare Tirian, which you don'tlook likehim-nomore thanwe want any Aslans. We'regoing to look after ourselvesfrom now on and touch ourcapstonobody.See?"

"That's right," said theother Dwarfs. "We're on ourownnow.NomoreAslan,no

more Kings, no more sillystories about other worlds.The Dwarfs are for theDwarfs." And they began tofall into their places and toget ready for marching backto wherever they had comefrom.

"Little beasts!" saidEustace. "Aren't you evengoing to say thank you forbeing saved from the salt-mines?"

"Oh, we know all about

that," said Griffle over hisshoulder. "You wanted tomake use of us, that's whyyou rescued us. You'replaying some game of yourown.Comeonyouchaps."

AndtheDwarfsstruckupthequeerlittlemarchingsongwhich goes with the drum-beat, and off they trampedintothedarkness.

Tirian and his friendsstared after them. Then hesaidthesingleword"Come,"

and they continued theirjourney.

Theywere a silent party.Puzzle felt himself tobe stillindisgrace,andalsohedidn'treally quite understand whathad happened. Jill, besidesbeing disgusted with theDwarfs, was very impressedwith Eustace's victory overtheCalormeneandfeltalmostshy.AsforEustace,hisheartwas still beating ratherquickly. Tirian and Jewel

walked sadly together in therear.TheKinghadhisarmonthe Unicorn's shoulder andsometimes the UnicornnuzzledtheKing'scheekwithhissoftnose.Theydidnottryto comfort one another withwords. Itwasn't very easy tothink of anything to say thatwould be comforting. Tirianhad never dreamed that oneof the results of an Ape'ssetting up as a false Aslanwouldbetostoppeoplefrom

believing in the real one.Hehad felt quite sure that theDwarfswouldrallytohissidethemoment he showed themhow theyhadbeendeceived.Andthennextnighthewouldhave led them to Stable Hilland shown Puzzle to all thecreaturesandeveryonewouldhave turned against the Apeand, perhaps after a scufflewith the Calormenes, thewholethingwouldhavebeenover.But now, it seemed, he

couldcountonnothing.Howmany other Narnians mightturn the same way as theDwarfs?

"Somebody'scomingafterus, I think," said Puzzlesuddenly.

They stopped andlistened. Sure enough, therewas a thump-thump of smallfeetbehindthem.

"Who goes there!"shoutedtheKing.

"Only me, Sire," came a

voice. "Me, Poggin theDwarf.I'veonlyjustmanagedto get away from the others.I'monyourside,Sire:andonAslan's. If you can put aDwarfishswordinmyfist,I'dgladly strike a blow on therightsidebeforeall'sdone."

Everyone crowded roundhim and welcomed him andpraised him and slapped himon the back. Of course onesingleDwarfcouldnotmakeaverygreatdifference,but it

was somehow very cheeringtohave evenone.Thewholeparty brightened up. But JillandEustacedidn'tstaybrightfor very long, for they werenow yawning their heads offand too tired to think aboutanythingbutbed.

Itwasat thecoldesthourofthenight,justbeforedawn,that they got back to theTower. If there had been ameal ready for them theywouldhavebeengladenough

to eat, but the bother anddelay of getting onewas notto be thought of.They drankfroma stream, splashed theirfaceswithwater,andtumbledinto their bunks, except forPuzzle and Jewel who saidthey'd be more comfortableoutside.Thisperhapswasjustas well, for a Unicorn and afat, full-grown Donkeyindoors alwaysmake a roomfeelrathercrowded.

Narnian Dwarfs, though

less than four feet high, arefor their size about thetoughest and strongestcreatures there are, so thatPoggin, in spite of a heavyday and a late night, wokefully refreshed before any ofthe others. He at once tookJill'sbow,wentoutandshotacouple of wood pigeons.Thenhesatpluckingthemonthe doorstep and chatting toJewel and Puzzle. Puzzlelooked and felt a good deal

better this morning. Jewel,beingaUnicornandthereforeone of the noblest anddelicatestofbeasts,hadbeenvery kind to him, talking tohim about things of the sortthey could both understandlike grass and sugar and thecareofone'shoofs.WhenJilland Eustace came out of theTower yawning and rubbingtheir eyes at almost half pastten, the Dwarf showed themwhere they could gather

plenty of a Narnian weedcalled Wild Fresney, whichlooks rather like our wood-sorrel but tastes a good dealnicerwhen cooked. (It needsa little butter and pepper tomake it perfect, but theyhadn'tgotthese.)Sothatwhatwith one thing and another,they had the makings of acapital stew for theirbreakfast or dinner,whicheveryouchoose tocallit.Tirianwent a little further

offintothewoodwithanaxeand brought back somebranches for fuel. While themeal was cooking - whichseemed a very long time,especially as it smelled nicerandnicertheneareritcametobeingdone-theKingfoundacomplete Dwarfish outfit forPoggin: mail shirt, helmet,shield, sword, belt, anddagger. Then he inspectedEustace's sword and foundthatEustacehadputitbackin

the sheath all messy fromkilling the Calormene. Hewas scolded for that andmadetocleanandpolishit.

All thiswhileJillwent toand fro, sometimes stirringthe pot and sometimeslooking out enviously at theDonkeyandtheUnicornwhowere contentedly grazing.How many times thatmorning she wished shecouldeatgrass!

But when the meal came

everyone felt it had beenworth waiting for, and therewere second helpings allround. When everyone hadeaten as much as he could,the three humans and theDwarf came and sat on thedoorstep,thefour-footedoneslay down facing them, theDwarf (with permission bothfrom Jill and fromTirian) lithispipe,andtheKingsaid:

"Now,friendPoggin,youhave more news of the

enemy, belike, than we. Tellus all you know. And first,what tale do they tell of myescape?"

"As cunning a tale, Sire,as ever was devised," saidPoggin. "It was the Cat,Ginger,whotoldit,andmostlikely made it up too. ThisGinger, Sire - oh, he's aslyboots if ever a cat was -said hewaswalking past thetree to which those villainsbound yourMajesty.And he

said (saving your reverence)that you were howling andswearing and cursing Aslan:`language I wouldn't like torepeat' were the words heused, looking ever so primandproperyouknowthewaya Cat can when it pleases.Andthen,saysGinger,Aslanhimself suddenlyappeared ina flash of lightning andswallowedyourMajestyupatonemouthful.All theBeaststrembled at this story and

somefaintedrightaway.AndofcoursetheApefolloweditup. There, he says, see whatAslandoestothosewhodon'trespect him. Let that be awarning to you all. And thepoor creatures wailed andwhined and said, it will, itwill. So that in the upshotyourMajesty'sescapehasnotset them thinking whetheryoustillhaveloyalfriendstoaid you, but onlymade themmore afraid and more

obedienttotheApe.""What devilish policy!"

said Tirian. "This Ginger,then, is close in the Ape'scounsels."

"It's more a question bynow,Sire,iftheApeisinhiscounsels," replied theDwarf."The Ape has taken todrinking, you see. My beliefis that theplot isnowmostlycarried on by Ginger orRishda-that'stheCalormenecaptain. And I think some

words that Ginger hasscattered among the Dwarfsare chiefly to blame for thescurvyreturn theymadeyou.AndI'll tellyouwhy.Oneofthose dreadful midnightmeetings had just broken upthe night before last and I'dgone a bit of the way homewhenIfoundI'dleftmypipebehind.Itwasarealgood'un,an old favourite, so I wentbacktolookforit.ButbeforeI got to the place where I'd

been sitting (it was black aspitch there) I heard a cat'svoice say Mew and aCalormenevoicesay`here. ..speaksoftly,'soIjuststoodasstillasifIwasfrozen.Andthese two were Ginger andRishda Tarkaan as they callhim. `Noble Tarkaan,' saidtheCat in that silkyvoiceofhis, `I just wanted to knowexactly what we both meanttoday about Aslan meaningno more than Tash.'

`Doubtless,mostsagaciousofcats,' says the other, `youhave perceivedmymeaning.'`You mean,' says Ginger,`thatthere'snosuchpersonaseither." "All who areenlightened know that,' saidthe Tarkaan. `Then we canunderstandoneanother,'purrsthe Cat. `Do you, like me,grow a little weary of theApe?' `A stupid, greedybrute,'saystheother,`butwemustusehimfor thepresent.

Thou and Imust provide forall things in secret andmaketheApedoourwill.' `And itwould be better, wouldn't it,'said Ginger, `to let some ofthe more enlightenedNarnians into our counsels:one by one as we find themapt.FortheBeastswhoreallybelieve in Aslanmay turn atanymoment: andwill, if theApe'sfollybetrayshissecret.But those who care neitherfor Tash nor Aslan but have

only an eye to their ownprofitandsuchrewardasTheTisroc may give them whenNarnia is a Calormeneprovince, will be firm.'`Excellent Cat,' said theCaptain. `But choose whichonescarefully."'

WhiletheDwarfhadbeenspeaking the day seemed tohave changed. It had beensunny when they sat down.Now Puzzle shivered. Jewelshiftedhis headuneasily. Jill

lookedup."It's clouding over," she

said."And it's so cold," said

Puzzle."Cold enough, by the

Lion!" said Tirian, blowingon his hands. "And faugh!Whatfoulsmellisthis?"

"Phew!" gasped Eustace."It's like something dead. Isthere a dead bird somewhereabout? And why didn't wenoticeitbefore?"

With a great upheavalJewel scrambled to his feetandpointedwithhishorn.

"Look!" he cried. "Lookatit!Look,look!"

Thenallsixof themsaw;and over all their faces therecame an expression ofuttermostdismay.

CHAPTEREIGHTWHAT NEWS THE

EAGLEBROUGHTINtheshadowofthetrees

onthefarsideoftheclearing

something was moving. Itwas gliding very slowlyNorthward. At a first glanceyou might have mistaken itforsmoke,foritwasgreyandyou could see things throughit.But the deathly smellwasnotthesmellofsmoke.Also,this thing kept its shapeinstead of billowing andcurlingassmokewouldhavedone. It was roughly theshapeofamanbutithadthehead of a bird; some bird of

prey with a cruel, curvedbeak. It had four armswhichit held high above its head,stretching them outNorthward as if it wanted tosnatch all Narnia in its grip;anditsfingers-all twentyofthem - were curved like itsbeak and had long, pointed,bird-like claws instead ofnails. It floated on the grassinstead of walking, and thegrass seemed to witherbeneathit.

AfteronelookatitPuzzlegave a screaming bray anddarted into the Tower. AndJill (who was no coward, asyouknow)hidherfaceinherhandstoshutoutthesightofit. The others watched it forperhaps a minute, until itstreamed away into thethickertreesontheirrightanddisappeared. Then the suncameoutagain,andthebirdsoncemorebegantosing.

Everyone started

breathing properly again andmoved. They had all beenstillasstatueswhileitwasinsight.

"What was it?" saidEustaceinawhisper.

"I have seen it oncebefore,"saidTirian."Butthattime it was carved in stoneand overlaid with gold andhad solid diamonds for eyes.It was when I was no olderthan thou, andhadgoneas aguest toTheTisroc'scourt in

Tashbaan.Hetookmeintothegreat

temple of Tash. There I sawit,carvedabovethealtar."

"Then that - that thing -wasTash?"saidEustace.

But instead of answeringhim Tirian slipped his armbehind Jill's shoulders andsaid, "How is it with you,Lady?"

"A-all right," said Jill,taking her hands away fromher pale face and trying to

smile. "I'm all right. It onlymademe feela little sick foramoment."

"It seems, then," said theUnicorn, "that there is a realTash,afterall."

"Yes," said the Dwarf."AndthisfoolofanApe,whodidn't believe in Tash, willget more than he bargainedfor!HecalledforTash:Tashhascome."

"Where has it - he - theThing-goneto?"saidJill.

"North into the heart ofNarnia," said Tirian. "It hascome to dwell among us.Theyhavecalleditandithascome."

"Ho, ho, ho!" chuckledthe Dwarf, rubbing his hairyhands together. "It will be asurprise for the Ape. Peopleshouldn't call for demonsunless they reallymeanwhattheysay."

"Whoknows ifTashwillbe visible to the Ape?" said

Jewel."Where has Puzzle got

to?"saidEustace.They all shouted out

Puzzle's name and Jill wentroundtotheothersideof theTower to see if he had gonethere.

They were quite tired oflooking for himwhen at lasthis large grey head peeredcautiouslyoutofthedoorwayand he said, "Has it goneaway?"Andwhenatlastthey

got him to comeout, hewasshivering the way a dogshivers before athunderstorm.

"I see now," said Puzzle,"thatIreallyhavebeenaverybaddonkey. I oughtnever tohavelistenedtoShift.Ineverthoughtthingslikethiswouldbegintohappen."

"If you'd spent less timesayingyouweren'tcleverandmore time trying to be asclever as you could -" began

Eustace but Jill interruptedhim.

"OhleavepooroldPuzzlealone,"shesaid."Itwasallamistake; wasn't it, Puzzledear?"Andshekissedhimonthenose.

Though rather shaken bywhattheyhadseen,thewholepartynowsatdownagainandwentonwiththeirtalk.

Jewel had little to tellthem. While he was aprisoner he had spent nearly

allhistimetiedupatthebackof the stable, and had ofcourse heard none of theenemies' plans. He had beenkicked (he'd done somekicking back too) and beatenand threatened with deathunless he would say that hebelieved it was Aslan whowasbroughtoutandshowntothembyfirelighteverynight.In fact he was going to beexecutedthisverymorningifhe had not been rescued. He

didn't know what hadhappenedtotheLamb.

The question they had todecide was whether theywouldgotoStableHillagainthatnight,showPuzzletotheNarnians and try to makethem see how they had beentricked, or whether theyshould steal away Eastwardto meet the help whichRoonwit the Centaur wasbringingupfromCairParaveland return against the Ape

and his Calormenes in force.Tirian would verymuch liketo have followed the firstplan: he hated the idea ofleaving the Ape to bully hispeople one moment longerthan need be. On the otherhand,thewaytheDwarfshadbehaved last night was awarning. Apparently onecouldn't be sure how peoplewould take it even if heshowed them Puzzle. Andthere were the Calormene

soldiers to be reckonedwith.Poggin thought there wereabout thirty of them. Tirianfelt sure that if the Narniansall rallied to his side, he andJewel and the children andPoggin (Puzzle didn't countformuch)wouldhaveagoodchance of beating them. Buthow if half the Narnians -includingalltheDwarfs-justsat and looked on? or evenfought against him? The riskwastoogreat.Andtherewas,

too,thecloudyshapeofTash.Whatmightitdo?

And then, as Pogginpointed out, there was noharm in leaving the Ape todealwithhisowndifficultiesfor a day or two. He wouldhave no Puzzle to bring outandshownow.Itwasn'teasyto see what story he - orGinger could make up toexplain that. If the Beastsaskednightafternight to seeAslan, and no Aslan was

brought out, surely even thesimplest of them would getsuspicious.

Intheendtheyallagreedthat the best thingwas to gooffandtrytomeetRoonwit.

As soon as they haddecidedthis,itwaswonderfulhow much more cheerfuleveryone became. I don'thonestly think that this wasbecause any of them wasafraid of a fight (exceptperhapsJillandEustace).But

I daresay that each of them,deep down inside, was verygladnottogoanynearer-ornotyet-tothathorriblebird-headedthingwhich,visibleorinvisible, was now probablyhaunting Stable Hill.Anyway, one always feelsbetterwhenonehasmadeupone'smind.

Tiriansaidtheyhadbetterremove their disguises, asthey didn't want to bemistaken forCalormenesand

perhapsattackedbyanyloyalNarnians they might meet.TheDwarfmadeupahorrid-looking mess of ashes fromthe hearth and grease out ofthe jar of grease which waskept for rubbing on swordsand spear-heads. Then theytook off their Calormenearmourandwentdowntothestream. The nasty mixturemade a lather just like softsoap: it was a pleasant,homely sight to see Tirian

andthetwochildrenkneelingbeside the water andscrubbing the backs of theirnecksorpuffingandblowingas they splashed the latheroff. Then they went back tothe Tower with red, shinyfaces, like people who havebeen given an extra goodwashbeforeaparty.Theyre-armed themselves in trueNarnian style, with straightswords and three-corneredshields. "Body of me," said

Tirian."Thatisbetter.Ifeelatruemanagain."

Puzzle begged very hardtohavethelion-skintakenoffhim. He said it was too hotandthewayitwasruckedupon his back wasuncomfortable: also, it madehim look so silly. But theytold him he would have towear it a bit longer, for theystill wanted to show him inthat get-up to the otherBeasts, even though they

were now going to meetRoonwitfirst.

What was left of thepigeon-meat and rabbit-meatwasnotworthbringingawaybut they took some biscuits.Then Tirian locked the dooroftheTowerandthatwastheendoftheirstaythere.

Itwasa littleafter twointhe afternoon when they setout,anditwasthefirstreallywarmdayof thatspring.Theyoung leaves seemed to be

much further out thanyesterday: the snow-dropswere over, but they sawseveral primroses. Thesunlight slanted through thetrees, birds sang, and always(though usually out of sight)therewasthenoiseofrunningwater.ItwashardtothinkofhorriblethingslikeTash.Thechildren felt, "This is reallyNarnia at last." EvenTirian'sheart grew lighter as hewalked ahead of them,

humming an old Narnianmarchingsongwhichhadtherefrain:

Ho, rumble, rumble,rumble, Rumble drumbelaboured.

After the King cameEustace and Poggin theDwarf. Poggin was tellingEustace the names of all theNarnian trees, birds, andplants which he didn't knowalready. Sometimes Eustacewould tellhimaboutEnglish

ones.After them came Puzzle,

and after him Jill and Jewelwalking very close together.Jill had, as you might say,quite fallen in love with theUnicorn. She thought- andshewasn'tfarwrong-thathewastheshiningest,delicatest,mostgracefulanimalshehadever met: and he was sogentleandsoftofspeechthat,if you hadn't known, youwould hardly have believed

how fierce and terrible hecouldbeinbattle.

"Oh, this is nice!" saidJill. "Just walking along likethis. I wish there could bemore of this sort ofadventure. It's a pity there'salwayssomuchhappeninginNarnia."

ButtheUnicornexplainedto her that she was quitemistaken. He said that theSonsandDaughtersofAdamandEvewere brought out of

their own strange world intoNarnia only at times whenNarniawas stirredandupset,but she mustn't think it wasalways like that. In betweentheir visits there werehundreds and thousands ofyears when peaceful Kingfollowed peaceful King tillyou could hardly remembertheir names or count theirnumbers,andtherewasreallyhardly anything to put intothe History Books. And he

wentontotalkofoldQueensand heroes whom she hadnever heard of. He spoke ofSwanwhite the Queen whohad lived before the days ofthe White Witch and theGreat Winter, who was sobeautiful that when shelooked into any forest poolthe reflection of her faceshoneout of thewater like astarbynightforayearandaday afterwards. He spoke ofMoonwoodtheHarewhohad

suchears thathecouldsitbyCaldron Pool under thethunderof thegreatwaterfalland hear what men spoke inwhispers at Cair Paravel. HetoldhowKingGale,whowasninth in descent from Frankthe first of all Kings, hadsailed far away into theEasternseasanddeliveredtheLoneIslandersfromadragonand how, in return, they hadgivenhimtheLoneIslandstobe part of the royal lands of

Narnia forever.He talkedofwhole centuries in which allNarnia was so happy thatnotable dances and feasts, oratmosttournaments,weretheonly things that could beremembered, and every dayand week had been betterthanthelast.Andashewenton, the picture of all thosehappyyears,allthethousandsof them, piled up in Jill'smind till it was rather likelookingdownfromahighhill

on toa rich, lovelyplain fullof woods and waters andcornfields, which spreadawayandawaytillitgotthinandmistyfromdistance.Andshesaid:

"Oh, I do hope we cansoon settle the Ape and getback to those good, ordinarytimes.AndthenIhopethey'llgo on for ever and ever andever. Our world is going tohave an end some day.Perhaps this one won't. Oh

Jewelwouldn't itbe lovely ifNarnia justwentonandon -like what you said it hasbeen?"

"Nay, sister," answeredJewel,"allworldsdrawtoanend, except Aslan's owncountry."

"Well, at least," said Jill,"Ihopetheendofthisoneismillions of millions ofmillions of years away -hallo! what are we stoppingfor?"

TheKingandEustaceandtheDwarfwereallstaringupat the sky. Jill shuddered,remembering what horrorsthey had seen already.But itwas nothing of that sort thistime.Itwassmall,andlookedblackagainsttheblue.

"I dare swear," said theUnicorn,"fromitsflight, thatitisaTalkingbird."

"So think I," said theKing."But is itafriend,oraspyoftheApe's?"

"To me, Sire," said theDwarf, "it has a lookofFar-sighttheEagle."

"Ought we to hide underthetrees?"saidEustace.

"Nay," said Tirian, "beststandstillasrocks.Hewouldsee us for certain if wemoved."

"Look!Hewheels,hehasseen us already," said Jewel."He is coming down inwidecircles."

"Arrow on string, Lady,"

saidTiriantoJill."ButbynomeansshoottillIbidyou.Hemaybeafriend."

If one had known whatwas going to happen next itwould have been a treat towatchthegraceandeasewithwhich the huge bird glideddown.Healightedonarockycrag a few feet from Tirian,bowed his crested head, andsaid in his strange eagle's-voice,"Hail,King."

"Hail, Farsight," said

Tirian. "And since you callmeKing, Imaywell believeyouarenot a followerof theApeandhisfalseAslan.Iamrightgladofyourcoming."

"Sire," said the Eagle,"when you have heard mynews you will be sorrier ofmy coming than of thegreatest woe that ever befellyou."

Tirian's heart seemed tostop beating at these words,but he set his teeth and said,

"Tellon.""TwosightshaveIseen,"

said Farsight. "OnewasCairParavel filled with deadNarnians and livingCalormenes: The Tisroc'sbanner advanced upon yourroyal battlements: and yoursubjectsflyingfromthecity-this way and that, into thewoods. Cair Paravel wastaken from the sea. Twentygreat ships of Calormen putin there in the dark of the

nightbeforelastnight."Noonecouldspeak."And theothersight, five

leagues nearer than CairParavel, was Roonwit theCentaur lying dead with aCalormene arrow in his side.I was with him in his lasthour and he gave me thismessage to your Majesty: toremember that all worldsdrawtoanendandthatnobledeath is a treasure which nooneistoopoortobuy."

"So," said theKing, aftera long silence, "Narnia is nomore."

CHAPTERNINETHEGREATMEETING

ONSTABLEHILLFop, a long time they

couldnotspeaknorevensheda tear. Then the Unicornstamped the ground with hishoof, and shook his mane,andspoke.

"Sire," he said, "there isnow no need of counsel.We

see that theApe'splanswerelaid deeper thanwe dreamedof. Doubtless he has beenlonginsecrettrafficwithTheTisroc,andassoonashehadfound the lion-skin he senthim word to make ready hisnavy for the taking of CairParavel and all Narnia.Nothing now remains for ussevenbuttogobacktoStableHill, proclaim the truth, andtake theadventure thatAslansends us. And if, by a great

marvel,wedefeatthosethirtyCalormeneswhoarewiththeApe, then to turn again anddie in battle with the fargreaterhostof themthatwillsoon march from CairParavel."

Tirian nodded. But heturned to the children andsaid:"Now,friends,itistimeforyoutogohenceintoyourown world. Doubtless youhave done all that you weresenttodo."

"B - but we've donenothing," said Jill who wasshivering, not with fearexactly but becauseeverythingwassohorrible.

"Nay," said the King,"youloosedmefromthetree:you glided before me like asnake last night in the woodand took Puzzle: and you,Eustace,killedyourman.Butyouaretooyoungtoshareinsuch a bloody end as weothersmustmeettonightor,it

may be, three days hence. Ientreatyou-nay,Icommandyou - to return to your ownplace. I should be put toshame if I let such youngwarriors fall in battle on myside."

"No, no, no," said Jill(very white when she beganspeaking and then suddenlyvery red and then whiteagain.) "We won't, I don'tcare what you say. We'regoing to stick to you

whatever happens, aren't we,Eustace?"

"Yes, but there's no needtogetsoworkedupaboutit,"said Eustace who had stuckhis hands in his pockets(forgettinghowveryoddthatlookswhenyouarewearingamail shirt). "Because, yousee, we haven't any choice.What's the good of talkingabout our going back! How?We'vegotnomagicfordoingit!"

Thiswasverygoodsensebut,at themoment,JillhatedEustaceforsayingit.Hewasfond of being dreadfullymatter-of-fact when otherpeoplegotexcited.

WhenTirian realized thatthe two strangers could notget home (unless Aslansuddenly whisked themaway), he next wanted themto go across the Southernmountains into Archenlandwheretheymightpossiblybe

safe. But they didn't knowtheir way and there was noone to sendwith them.Also,as Poggin said, once theCalormenes had Narnia theywould certainly takeArchenland in the nextweekorso:TheTisrochadalwayswanted to have theseNorthern countries for hisown. In the end Eustace andJillbeggedsohardthatTiriansaid they could come withhim and take their chance -

or,ashemuchmoresensiblycalled it, "the adventure thatAslanwouldsendthem".

TheKing's first ideawasthat they should not go backtoStableHill-theyweresickoftheverynameofitbynowtill after dark.But theDwarftold them that if they arrivedthere by daylight theywouldprobably find the placedeserted,exceptperhapsforaCalormenesentry.TheBeastswere far too frightened by

what the Ape (and Ginger)had told themabout thisnewangryAslan-orTashlan- togo near it except when theywerecalledtogetherforthesehorrible midnight meetings.And Calormenes are nevergood woodsmen. Pogginthoughtthatevenbydaylighttheycouldeasilygetroundtosomewhere behind the stablewithout being seen. Thiswould be much harder to dowhenthenighthadcomeand

theApemight be calling theBeasts together and all theCalormenes were on duty.And when the meeting didbegintheycouldleavePuzzleat the back of the stable,completely out of sight, tillthe moment at which theywanted to produce him. Thiswas obviously a good thing:for their only chance was togive the Narnians a suddensurprise.

Everyone agreed and the

wholeparty setoffonanewline - North-West - towardsthe hated Hill. The Eaglesometimes flew to and froabovethem,sometimeshesatperchedonPuzzle'sback.Noone - not even the Kinghimself except in some greatneed-woulddreamofridingonaUnicorn.

ThistimeJillandEustacewalked together. They hadbeenfeelingverybravewhenthey were begging to be

allowed to come with theothers, but now they didn'tfeelbraveatall.

"Pole," said Eustace in awhisper. "I may as well tellyouI'vegotthewindup."

"Oh you're all right,Scrubb," said Jill. "You canfight.ButI-I'mjustshaking,if you want to know thetruth."

"Oh shaking's nothing,"saidEustace."I'mfeelingI'mgoingtobesick."

"Don't talkaboutthat,forgoodness'sake,"saidJill.

They went on in silenceforaminuteortwo.

"Pole," said Eustacepresently.

"What?"saidshe."What'llhappen ifweget

killedhere?""Well we'll be dead, I

suppose.""But I mean, what will

happen in our own world?Shall we wake up and find

ourselves back in that train?Or shall we just vanish andnever be heard of anymore?Or shall we be dead inEngland?"

"Gosh.Ineverthoughtofthat."

"It'llberumforPeterandthe others if they saw mewaving out of the windowand then when the traincomesinwe'renowheretobefound!Oriftheyfoundtwo-I mean, if we're dead over

thereinEngland.""Ugh!" said Jill. "What a

horrididea.""Itwouldn't be horrid for

us," said Eustace. "Weshouldn'tbethere."

"I almost wish - no Idon't,though,"saidJill.

"Whatwereyougoing tosay?"

"I was going to say Iwishedwe'dnevercome.ButIdon't,Idon't,Idon't.Evenifwe are killed. I'd rather be

killedfightingforNarniathangrowold and stupid at homeand perhaps go about in abath-chairandthendieintheendjustthesame."

"Or be smashed up byBritishRailways!"

"Whyd'yousaythat?""Well when that awful

jerk came - the one thatseemed to throw us intoNarnia - I thought itwas thebeginning of a railwayaccident. So Iwas jolly glad

to find ourselves hereinstead."

While Jill and Eustacewere talking about this, theothers were discussing theirplans and becoming lessmiserable. That was becausethey were now thinking ofwhatwastobedonethisverynightandthethoughtofwhathadhappened toNarnia - thethought that all her gloriesand joys were over - waspushed away into the back

part of their minds. Themoment they stopped talkingitwould come out andmakethem wretched again: butthey kept on talking. Pogginwas really quite cheerfulabout the night's work theyhad to do. He was sure thatthe Boar and the Bear, andprobably all the Dogs wouldcome over to their side atonce.Andhecouldn'tbelievethat all the other Dwarfswould stick to Griffle. And

fighting by firelight and inandoutamongtreeswouldbean advantage to the weakerside.And then, if they couldwin tonight, need they reallythrow their lives away bymeeting themain Calormenearmyafewdayslater?

Why not hide in thewoods, or even up in theWestern Waste beyond thegreat waterfall and live likeoutlaws?Andthentheymightgradually get stronger and

stronger, for Talking Beastsand Archenlanders would bejoining them every day.Andat last they'd come out ofhiding and sweep theCalormenes(whowouldhavegot careless by then) out ofthecountryandNarniawouldbe revived. After all,something very like that hadhappenedinthetimeofKingMiraz!

And Tirian heard all thisand thought "Butwhat about

Tash?" and felt in his bonesthat none of it was going tohappen.Buthedidn'tsayso.

When they got nearer toStable Hill of courseeveryonebecamequiet.Thenthe real wood-work began.From the moment at whichthey first saw theHill to themoment at which they allarrived at the back of thestable, it took themover twohours. It's the sort of thingonecouldn'tdescribeproperly

unless one wrote pages andpages about it. The journeyfromeachbitof cover to thenext was a separateadventure, and there werevery long waits in between,and several false alarms. Ifyou are a good Scout or agood Guide you will knowalready what it must havebeen like. By about sunsettheywereallsafe inaclumpof holly trees about fifteenyardsbehindthestable.They

allmunchedsomebiscuitandlaydown.

Thencametheworstpart,the waiting. Luckily for thechildren they slept for acoupleofhours,butofcoursetheywokeupwhen thenightgrew cold, and what wasworse, woke up very thirstyandwithnochanceofgettinga drink. Puzzle just stood,shivering a little withnervousness, and saidnothing. But Tirian, with his

head against Jewel's flank,sleptassoundlyasifhewerein his royal bed at CairParavel, till the sound of agong beating awoke him andhe sat up and saw that therewasfirelightonthefarsideofthe stable and knew that thehourhadcome.

"Kissme,Jewel,"hesaid."For certainly this is our lastnight on earth.And if ever Ioffended against you in anymattergreatorsmall, forgive

menow.""Dear King," said the

Unicorn,"Icouldalmostwishyou had, so that I mightforgiveit.Farewell.Wehaveknowngreat joys together. IfAslan gave me my choice Iwould choose no other lifethan the life I have had andno other death than the onewegoto."

Then they woke upFarsight,whowasasleepwithhis head under his wing (it

madehimlookasifhehadnoheadatall),andcreptforwardtothestable.TheyleftPuzzle(notwithoutakindword,forno one was angry with himnow) just behind it, tellinghimnottomovetillsomeonecame to fetch him, and tookuptheirpositionatoneendofthestable.

The bonfire had not beenlit for long and was justbeginning toblazeup. Itwasonly a few feet away from

them, and thegreat crowdofNarniancreatureswereontheothersideofit,sothatTiriancould not at first see themvery well, though of coursehesawdozensofeyesshiningwiththereflectionofthefire,as you've seen a rabbit's orcat'seyesintheheadlightsofacar.AndjustasTiriantookhis place, the gong stoppedbeating and from somewhereon his left three figuresappeared. One was Rishda

Tarkaan the CalormeneCaptain. The secondwas theApe. He was holding on tothe Tarkaan's hand with onepaw and kept whimperingand muttering, "Not so fast,don'tgosofast,I'mnotatallwell. Oh my poor head!Thesemidnight meetings aregetting too much for me.Apesaren'tmeanttobeupatnight:It'snotasifIwasarator abat - ohmypoorhead."OntheothersideoftheApe,

walkingverysoftandstately,withhistailstraightupintheair, came Ginger the Cat.They were heading for thebonfire and were so close toTirian that they would haveseen him at once if they hadlooked in the right direction.Fortunately theydidnot.ButTirian heard Rishda say toGingerinalowvoice:

"Now, Cat, to thy post.Seethouplaythypartwell."

"Miaow, miaow. Count

onme!"saidGinger.Thenhestepped away beyond thebonfire and sat down in thefront row of the assembledBeasts: in the audience, asyoumightsay.

Forreally,asithappened,the whole thing was ratherlike a theatre. The crowd ofNarnianswerelikethepeoplein the seats; the little grassyplace just in front of thestable, where the bonfireburned and the Ape and the

Captain stood to talk to thecrowd,waslikethestage;thestable itself was like thescenery at the back of thestage; and Tirian and hisfriends were like peoplepeering round from behindthescenery.Itwasasplendidposition. If any of themstepped forward into the fullfirelight, all eyes would befixed on him at once: on theother hand, so long as theystood still in the shadow of

the end-wall of the stable, itwasahundred tooneagainsttheirbeingnoticed.

Rishda Tarkaan draggedthe Ape up close to the fire.The pair of them turned toface the crowd, and this ofcoursemeant that theirbackswere towards Tirian and hisfriends.

"Now, Monkey," saidRishda Tarkaan in a lowvoice. "Say the words thatwiserheadshaveputintothy

mouth. And hold up thyhead." As he spoke he gavethe Ape a little prod or kickfrombehindwiththepointofhistoe.

"Do leave me alone,"mutteredShift.Buthe sat upstraighter and began, in aloudervoice-"Nowlisten,allof you. A terrible thing hashappened. A wicked thing.Thewickedestthingthateverwas done in Narnia. AndAslan-"

"Tashlan, fool,"whisperedRishdaTarkaan.

"Tashlan I mean, ofcourse," said the Ape, "isveryangryaboutit."

There was a terriblesilence while the Beastswaited to hear what newtroublewasinstoreforthem.The little party by the end-wall of the stable also heldtheir breath. What on earthwascomingnow?

"Yes," said the Ape. "At

this very moment, when theTerrible One himself isamongus-thereinthestablejust behindme - onewickedBeast has chosen to dowhatyou'd think no one woulddare todoeven ifHewereathousand miles away. It hasdresseditselfupinalion-skinand is wandering about inthese very woods pretendingtobeAslan."

Jill wondered for amoment if theApehad gone

mad.Washegoingtotellthewholetruth?Aroarofhorrorand rage went up from theBeasts. "Grrr!" came thegrowls."Whoishe?Whereishe? Just letme getmy teethintohim!"

"It was seen last night,"screamedtheApe,"butitgotaway. It's a Donkey! Acommon, miserable Ass! IfanyofyouseethatAss-"

"Grrr!" growled theBeasts. "We will, we will.

He'd better keep out of ourway."

JilllookedattheKing:hismouthwasopenandhis facewas full of horror. And thenshe understood the devilishcunningoftheenemies'plan.Bymixingalittletruthwithitthey had made their lie farstronger.Whatwasthegood,now,oftellingtheBeaststhatanasshadbeendressedupasa lion to deceive them? TheApe would only say, "That's

justwhatI'vesaid."Whatwasthe good of showing themPuzzle inhis lion-skin?Theywould only tear him inpieces."That'stakenthewindout of our sails," whisperedEustace."Thegroundistakenfrom under our feet," saidTirian. "Cursed, cursedcleverness!"saidPoggin."I'llbe sworn that this new lie isofGinger'smaking."

CHAPTERTENWHO WILL GO INTO

THESTABLE?JILL felt something

ticklingher ear. Itwas Jewelthe Unicorn, whispering toherwith thewidewhisperofa horse's mouth. As soon assheheardwhathewassayingshenoddedandtip-toedbacktowherePuzzlewasstanding.Quickly and quietly she cutthe last cords that bound thelion-skin to him. It wouldn'tdo forhim tobecaughtwiththat on, after what the Ape

had said! She would like tohave hidden the skinsomewhereveryfaraway,butitwastooheavy.Thebestshecould do was to kick it inamong the thickest bushes.Then she made signs toPuzzletofollowherandtheybothjoinedtheothers.

The Ape was speakingagain.

"And after a horrid thinglikethat,Aslan-Tashlan-isangrier than ever. He says

he's been a great deal toogood to you, coming outevery night to be looked at,see! Well, he's not comingoutanymore."

Howls and mewings andsqueals and grunts were theAnimals' answer to this, butsuddenly a quite differentvoice broke in with a loudlaugh.

"Hark what the monkeysays," it shouted. "We knowwhy he isn't going to bring

hispreciousAslanout.I'lltellyou why: because he hasn'tgot him. He never hadanything except an olddonkeywithalion-skinonitsback. Now he's lost that andhedoesn'tknowwhattodo."

Tirian could not see thefaceson theothersideof thefireverywellbutheguessedthis was Griffle the ChiefDwarf. And he was quitecertain of it when, a secondlater, all the Dwarfs' voices

joined in, singing: "Don'tknowwhattodo!Don'tknowwhattodo!Don'tknowwhattodo-o-o!"

"Silence!" thunderedRishda Tarkaan. "Silence,children of mud! Listen tome,youotherNarnians,lestIgivecommandtomywarriorstofalluponyouwiththeedgeof the sword.TheLordShifthas already told you of thatwicked Ass. Do you think,because of him that there is

norealTashlan in thestable!Doyou?Beware,beware."

"No,no,"shoutedmostofthe crowd. But the Dwarfssaid, "That's right, Darkie,you've got it. Come on,Monkey, show us what's inthe stable, seeing isbelieving."

When next there was amoment'squiet theApesaid:"You Dwarfs think you'revery clever, don't you? Butnot so fast. I never said you

couldn't seeTashlan.Anyonewholikescanseehim."

The whole assemblybecame silent. Then, afternearly a minute, the Bearbegan in a slow, puzzledvoice:

"I don't quite understandall this," it grumbled, "Ithoughtyousaid-"

"You thought!" repeatedtheApe."Asifanyonecouldcall what goes on in yourhead thinking. Listen, you

others. Anyone can seeTashlan.Buthe'snotcomingout. You have to go in andseehim."

"Oh, thank you, thankyou, thank you," said dozensof voices. "That's what wewanted!Wecangoinandseehim face to face. And nowhe'llbekindanditwillallbeas it used to be." And theBirdschattered,andtheDogsbarked excitedly. Thensuddenly, there was a great

stirring and a noise ofcreatures rising to their feet,andinasecondthewholelotof them would have beenrushingforwardandtryingtocrowdintothestabledooralltogether. But the Apeshouted:

"Get back!Quiet!Not sofast."

TheBeastsstopped,manyof themwith one paw in thewithtailswagging,andallofthemwithheadsononeside.

"I thought you said,"began the Bear, but Shiftinterrupted.

"Anyone can go in," hesaid. "But, one at a time.Who'llgofirst?Hedidn'tsayhewasfeelingverykind.He'sbeen licking his lips a lotsince he swallowed up thewickedKing the other night.He's been growling a gooddeal thismorning. Iwouldn'tmuch like to go into thatstablemyselftonight.Butjust

as you please.Who'd like togoinfirst?Don'tblamemeifhe swallows you whole orblasts you into a cinder withthe mere terror of his eyes.That'syouraffair.Now then!Who's first?What about oneofyouDwarfs?"

"Dilly,dilly,comeandbekilled!" sneered Griffle."How do we know whatyou'vegotinthere?"

"Ho-ho!" cried the Ape."Soyou'rebeginningtothink

there's something there, eh?Well, all you Beasts weremaking noise enough aminute ago. What's struckyoualldumb?Who'sgoinginfirst?"

But the Beasts all stoodlooking at one another andbeganbackingawayfromthestable. Very few tails werewagging now. The Apewaddled toand fro jeeringatthem. "Ho-ho-ho!" hechuckled."Ithoughtyouwere

all so eager to see Tashlanface to face! Changed yourmind,eh?"

Tirian bent his head tohear something that Jill wastrying to whisper in his ear."What do you think is reallyinside the stable?" she said."Who knows?" said Tirian."TwoCalormeneswithdrawnswords, as likely as not, oneon each side of the door.""Youdon'tthink,"saidJill,"itmight be . . . you know . . .

that horrid thing we saw?""Tash himself?" whisperedTirian. "There's no knowing.Butcourage,child:weareallbetween thepawsof the trueAslan."

Then a most surprisingthing happened. Ginger theCatsaidinacool,clearvoice,notatallasifhewasexcited,"I'llgoin,ifyoulike."

Everycreatureturnedandfixed its eyes on the Cat."Mark their subtleties, Sire,"

said Poggin to the King."Thiscursedcatisintheplot,in the very centre of it.Whateverisinthestablewillnot hurt him, I'll be bound.Then Ginger will come outagainandsaythathehasseensomewonder."

ButTirianhadnotimetoanswer him. The Ape wascalling the Cat to comeforward. "Ho-ho!" said theApe. "So you, a pert Puss,would lookuponhimface to

face.Comeon,then!I'llopenthedoorforyou.Don'tblameme if he scares the whiskersoff your face. That's youraffair."

And the Cat got up andcame out of its place in thecrowd, walking primly anddaintily, with its tail in theair, not one hair on its sleekcoatoutofplace. It cameontill it hadpassed the fire andwassoclosethatTirian,fromwhere he stood with his

shoulder against the end-wallofthestable,couldlookrightinto its face. Its big greeneyesneverblinked.("Coolasa cucumber," mutteredEustace. "It knows it hasnothing to fear.") The Ape,chuckling and making faces,shuttled across beside theCat:putuphispaw:drewthebolt and opened the door.Tirian thought he could hearthe Cat purring as it walkedintothedarkdoorway.

"Aii-aii-aouwee! -" Themost horrible caterwaul youever heard made everyonejump. You have beenwakened yourself by catsquarrellingormakingloveonthe roof in themiddle of thenight:youknowthesound.

Thiswasworse.TheApewasknockedheadoverheelsbyGingercomingbackoutofthestableattopspeed.Ifyouhad not knownhewas a cat,you might have thought he

was a ginger-coloured streakof lightning. He shot acrossthe open grass, back into thecrowd.Noonewantstomeetacat in that state.Youcouldseeanimalsgettingoutofhisway to left and right. Hedashed up a tree, whiskedaround, and hung headdownwards. His tail wasbristled out till it was nearlyas thick as his whole body:his eyeswere like saucers ofgreen fire: along his back

every single hair stood onend.

"I'd give my beard,"whispered Poggin, "to knowwhether that brute is onlyactingorwhetherithasreallyfoundsomethingintherethatfrightenedit!"

"Peace, friend," saidTirian, for the Captain andtheApewerealsowhisperingand he wanted to hear whattheysaid.Hedidnotsucceed,except that he heard theApe

once more whimpering "Myhead, my head," but he gotthe idea that those two werealmostaspuzzledbythecat'sbehaviourashimself.

"Now, Ginger," said theCaptain. "Enough of thatnoise. Tell them what thouhastseen."

"Aii - Aii - Aaow -Awah,"screamedtheCat.

"Art thou not called aTalking Beast?" said theCaptain. "Then hold thy

devilishnoiseandtalk."Whatfollowedwasrather

horrible. Tirian felt quitecertain(andsodidtheothers)thattheCatwastryingtosaysomething: but nothing cameout of his mouth except theordinary, ugly cat-noises youmighthearfromanyangryorfrightened old Tom in abackyardinEngland.Andthelongerhecaterwauledthelesslike a Talking Beast helooked. Uneasy whimperings

and littlesharpsquealsbrokeout from among the otherAnimals.

"Look, look!" said thevoice of the Bear. "It can'ttalk. It has forgotten how totalk! It has gone back tobeing a dumb beast. Look atitsface."Everyonesawthatitwas true. And then thegreatestterrorofallfelluponthoseNarnians.Foreveryoneof them had been taught -whenitwasonlyachickora

puppyoracub-howAslanatthe beginning of the worldhad turned the beasts ofNarnia into Talking Beastsandwarned them that if theyweren't good they might onedaybeturnedbackagainandbe like the poor witlessanimals one meets in othercountries. "And now it iscoming upon us," theymoaned.

"Mercy! Mercy!" wailedthe Beasts. "Spare us, Lord

Shift, stand between us andAslan,youmustalwaysgoinand speak to him for us.Wedaren't,wedaren't."

Ginger disappearedfurther up into the tree. Nooneeversawhimagain.

Tirianstoodwithhishandonhissword-hiltandhisheadbowed. He was dazed withthe horrors of that night.Sometimes he thought itwould be best to draw hisswordat once and rushupon

the Calormenes: then nextmoment he thought it wouldbebettertowaitandseewhatnew turn affairs might take.Andnowanewturncame.

"My Father," came aclear, ringing voice from theleftofthecrowd.TirianknewatoncethatitwasoneoftheCalormenes speaking, for inThe Tisroc's army thecommon soldiers call theofficers "MyMaster" but theofficers call their senior

officers"MyFather".JillandEustace didn't know this but,after looking this way andthat,theysawthespeaker,forof course people at the sidesof the crowd were easier toseethanpeopleinthemiddlewhere the glare of the firemadeallbeyonditlookratherblack.Hewasyoungandtalland slender, and even ratherbeautifulinthedark,haughty,Calormeneway.

"My Father," he said to

theCaptain, "I also desire togoin."

"Peace, Emeth," said theCaptain, "Who called thee tocounsel? Does it become aboytospeak?"

"MyFather," saidEmeth."Truly I am younger thanthou, yet I also am of thebloodoftheTarkaansevenasthou art, and I also am theservantofTash.Therefore . .."

"Silence," said Rishda

Tarkaan. "Am not I thyCaptain? Thou hast nothingtodowiththisstable.ItisfortheNarnians."

"Nay, my Father,"answered Emeth. "Thou hastsaid that their Aslan and ourTash are all one.And if thatisthetruth,thenTashhimselfis in yonder. And how thensayest thou that I havenothing to do with him? ForgladlywouldIdieathousanddeathsifImightlookonceon

thefaceofTash.""Thou art a fool and

understandest nothing," saidRishda Tarkaan. "These behighmatters."

Emeth'sfacegrewsterner."Is it then not true that Tashand Aslan are all one?" heasked. "Has the Ape lied tous?"

"Of course they're allone,"saidtheApe.

"Swear it, Ape," saidEmeth.

"Oh dear!" whimperedShift, "I wish you'd all stopbotheringme.My head doesache.Yes,yes,Iswearit."

"Then, my Father," saidEmeth, "I am utterlydeterminedtogoin."

"Fool," began RishdaTarkaan, but at once theDwarfs began shouting:"Come along, Darkie. Whydon'tyoulethimin?Whydoyou letNarnians in andkeepyour own people out? What

haveyougotintherethatyoudon't want your ownmen tomeet?"

Tirian and his friendscould only see the back ofRishda Tarkaan, so theynever knew what his facelookedlikeasheshruggedhisshoulders and said, "Bearwitnessall thatIamguiltlessof this young fool's blood.Get thee in, rash boy, andmakehaste."

Then, just as Ginger had

done, Emeth came walkingforwardintotheopenstripofgrassbetweenthebonfireandthe stable. His eyes wereshining,hisfaceverysolemn,his hand was on his sword-hilt, and he carried his headhigh.Jillfeltlikecryingwhenshe looked at his face. AndJewelwhisperedintheKing'sear, "By the Lion's Mane, Ialmost love this youngwarrior,Calormenethoughhebe. He is worthy of a better

godthanTash.""Idowishweknewwhat

is really inside there," saidEustace.

Emeth opened the doorand went in, into the blackmouth of the stable. Heclosed the door behind him.Onlyafewmomentspassed-but it seemed longer beforethe door opened again. Afigure in Calormene armourreeled out, fell on its back,and lay still: the door closed

behindit.TheCaptainleapedtowards it and bent down tostare at its face. He gave astart of surprise. Then herecovered himself and turnedtothecrowd,cryingout:

"Therashboyhashadhiswill. He has looked on Tashandisdead.Takewarning,allofyou."

"We will, we will," saidthe poor Beasts. But Tirianand his friends stared at thedead Calormene and then at

one another. For they, beingso close, could see what thecrowd, being further off andbeyond the fire, could notsee: this dead man was notEmeth. He was quitedifferent: an older man,thickerandnotsotall,withabigbeard.

"Ho-ho-ho," chuckled theApe. "Any more? Anyoneelse want to go in?Well, asyou're all shy, I'll choose thenext.You,youBoar!Onyou

come. Drive him up,Calormenes. He shall seeTashlanfacetoface."

"O-o-mph," grunted theBoar, rising heavily to hisfeet."Comeon,then.Trymytusks."

When Tirian saw thatbrave Beast getting ready tofight for its life - andCalormenesoldiersbeginningto close in on it with theirdrawnscimitars -andnoonegoing to its help - something

seemed to burst inside him.Henolongercaredifthiswasthe best moment to interfereornot.

"Swords out," hewhispered to the others."Arrowonstring.Follow."

Next moment theastonished Narnians sawseven figures leap forth infront of the stable, four ofthem in shining mail. TheKing's sword flashed in thefirelightashewaveditabove

his head and cried in a greatvoice:

"Here stand I, Tirian ofNarnia, in Aslan's name, toprovewithmybodythatTashis a foul fiend, the Ape amanifold traitor, and theseCalormenesworthy of death.Tomyside,alltrueNarnians.Wouldyouwaittillyournewmasters have killed you allonebyone?"

CHAPTERELEVENTHEPACEQUICKENS

QUICK as lightning,Rishda Tarkaan leaped backout of reach of the King'ssword. He was no coward,and would have foughtsingle-handed against Tirianand the Dwarf if need were.But he could not take on theEagle and the Unicorn aswell. He knew how Eaglescan fly into your face andpeck at your eyes and blindyouwiththeirwings.Andhehad heard from his father

(who had met Narnians inbattle) that no man, exceptwith arrows, or a long spear,can match a Unicorn, for itrears on its hind legs as itfalls upon you and then youhave its hoofs and its hornanditsteethtodealwithallatonce. So he rushed into thecrowdandstoodcallingout:

"To me, to me, warriorsof The Tisroc, may-he-liveforever. To me, all loyalNarnians, lest the wrath of

Tashlanfalluponyou!"Whilethiswashappening

twoother thingshappenedaswell. The Ape had notrealizedhisdangerasquicklyas theTarkaan. For a secondor so he remained squattingbeside the fire staring at thenewcomers. Then Tirianrushed upon the wretchedcreature, picked it up by thescruffoftheneck,anddashedback to the stable shouting,"Open the door!" Poggin

openedit."Goanddrinkyourown medicine, Shift!" saidTirian and hurled the Apethroughintothedarkness.ButastheDwarfbangedthedoorshut again, a blindinggreenish-blue light shone outfrom the inside of the stable,the earth shook, and therewas a strange noise - aclucking and screaming as ifit was the hoarse voice ofsome monstrous bird. TheBeasts moaned and howled

andcalledout"Tashlan!Hideus from him!" andmany felldown, and many hid theirfaces in theirwings or paws.No one except Farsight theEagle,whohas the best eyesof all living things, noticedthefaceofRishdaTarkaanatthatmoment.And fromwhatFarsightsawthereheknewatonce that Rishda was just assurprised, and nearlyfrightened, as everyone else."There goes one," thought

Farsight, "who has called ongods he does not believe in.How will it be with him iftheyhavereallycome?"

The third thing - whichalso happened at the samemoment-wastheonlyreallybeautiful thing that night.Every single Talking Dog inthe whole meeting (therewere fifteen of them) camebounding and barkingjoyously to the King's side.They were mostly great big

dogswiththickshouldersandheavy jaws. Their comingwas like the breaking of agreatwaveontheseabeach:itnearly knocked you down.ForthoughtheywereTalkingDogstheywerejustasdoggyastheycouldbe:andtheyallstood up and put their frontpawson the shoulders of thehumans and licked theirfaces, all saying at once:"Welcome! Welcome! We'llhelp, we'll help, help, help.

Show us how to help, showus how, how. How-how-how?"

It was so lovely that itmade you want to cry. This,at last, was the sort of thingthey had been hoping for.And when, a moment later,several little animals (miceand moles and a squirrel orso) came pattering up,squealing with joy, andsaying"See,see.We'rehere,"andwhen,afterthat,theBear

and the Boar came too,Eustace began to feel thatperhaps, after all, everythingmightbegoingtocomeright.But Tirian gazed round andsaw how very few of theanimalshadmoved.

"To me! to me!" hecalled. "Have you all turnedcowards since I was yourKing?"

"We daren't," whimpereddozens of voices. "Tashlanwould be angry. Shield us

fromTashlan.""Where are all the

Talking Horses?" said TiriantotheBoar.

"We'veseen,we'veseen,"squealed theMice. "TheApehasmadethemwork.They'reall tied - downat the bottomofthehill."

"Thenallyoulittleones,"saidTirian,"younibblersandgnawers and nutcrackers,awaywithyouas fastasyoucan scamper and see if the

Horsesareonourside.Andifthey are, get your teeth intothe ropes and gnaw till theHorses are free and bringthemhither."

"With a goodwill, Sire,"came the small voices, andwith a whisk of tails thosesharp-eyed and sharp-toothedfolk were off. Tirian smiledformereloveashesawthemgo.Butitwasalreadytimetobe thinking of other things.Rishda Tarkaan was giving

hisorders."Forward,"hesaid."Take

all of them alive if you canandhurl them into the stableor drive them into it. Whentheyareallinwewillputfireto it and make them anoffering to the great godTash."

"Ha!" said Farsight tohimself. "So that is how hehopes to win Tash's pardonforhisunbelief."

The enemy line - about

half of Rishda's force - wasnow moving forward, andTirianhadbarelytimetogivehisorders.

"Out on the left, Jill, andtry to shoot all you maybefore they reach us. BoarandBear next to her. Pogginon my left, Eustace on myright. Hold the right wing,Jewel. Stand by him, Puzzle,and use your hoofs. Hoverand strike, Farsight. YouDogs, just behind us. Go in

among them after the sword-play has begun.Aslan to ouraid!"

Eustace stood with hisheart beating terribly, hopingand hoping that hewould bebrave. He had never seenanything(thoughhehadseenboth a dragon and aseaserpent) that made hisbloodrunsocoldas that lineof dark-faced bright-eyedmen. There were fifteenCalormenes, a Talking Bull

of Narnia, Slinkey the Fox,andWraggle the Satyr. Thenhe heard twang-and-zipp onhis left and one Calormenefell: then twang-andzippagain and the Satyr wasdown. "Oh, well done,daughter!" came Tirian'svoice; and then the enemywereuponthem.

Eustace could neverremember what happened inthe next twominutes. It wasall likeadream(thesortyou

have when your temperatureis over 100) until he heardRishda Tarkaan's voicecallingoutfromthedistance:

"Retire. Back hither andre-form."

ThenEustacecametohissenses and saw theCalormenes scampering backtotheirfriends.Butnotallofthem. Two lay dead, piercedby Jewel's horn, one byTirian's sword. The Fox laydead at his own feet, and he

wondered if it was he whohad killed it. The Bull alsowas down, shot through theeyebyanarrowfromJillandgashed in his side by theBoar's tusk.Butour sidehadits losses too. Three dogswere killed and a fourthwashobbling behind the line onthree legs and whimpering.The Bear lay on the ground,moving feebly. Then itmumbledinits throatyvoice,bewildered to the last, "I - I

don'tunderstand,"laiditsbighead down on the grass asquietly as a child going tosleep, and never movedagain.

Infact,thefirstattackhadfailed. Eustace didn't seemable to be glad about it: hewassoterriblythirstyandhisarmachedso.

As the defeatedCalormenes went back totheir commander, theDwarfsbeganjeeringatthem.

"Had enough, Darkies?"they yelled. "Don't you likeit? Why doesn't your greatTarkaangoand fighthimselfinstead of sending you to bekilled?PoorDarkies!"

"Dwarfs," cried Tirian."Come here and use yourswords, not your tongues.There is still time.DwarfsofNarnia!Youcanfightwell, Iknow. Come back to yourallegiance."

"Yah!" sneered the

Dwarfs. "Not likely. You'rejust as big humbugs as theother lot.We don'twant anyKings.TheDwarfsarefortheDwarfs.Boo!"

ThentheDrumbegan:notaDwarfdrumthistime,butabig bull's hide Calormenedrum. The children from thevery first hated the sound.Boom-boom-ba-ba-boomitwent. But they would havehated it farworse if theyhadknown what it meant. Tirian

did. It meant that there wereother Calormene troopssomewhere near and thatRishda Tarkaan was callingthem to his aid. Tirian andJewel looked at one anothersadly.Theyhadjustbeguntohopethattheymightwinthatnight:butitwouldbealloverwith them if new enemiesappeared.

Tirian gazed despairinglyround.SeveralNarnianswerestanding with the

Calormenes,whether throughtreacheryor inhonest fearof"Tashlan".Othersweresittingstill,staring,notlikelytojoineither side. But there werefewer animals now: thecrowd was much smaller.Clearly, several of them hadjustcreptquietlyawayduringthefighting.

Boom - boom - ba-ba-boomwentthehorribledrum.Thenanother soundbegan tomix with it. "Listen!" said

Jewel: and then "Look!" saidFarsight. A moment laterthere was no doubt what itwas.Withathunderofhoofs,with tossing heads, widenednostrils, and waving manes,over a score of TalkingHorses of Narnia camecharging up the hill. Thegnawers and nibblers haddonetheirwork.

PoggintheDwarfandthechildren opened theirmouthsto cheer but that cheer never

came. Suddenly the air wasfullof thesoundof twangingbow-strings and hissingarrows. It was the Dwarfswhowereshootingand-foramoment Jill could hardlybelieve her eyes - they wereshooting the Horses. Dwarfsare deadly archers. Horseafter Horse rolled over. Notone of those noble BeastseverreachedtheKing.

"Little Swine," shriekedEustace, dancing in his rage.

"Dirty, filthy, treacherouslittle brutes." Even Jewelsaid, "Shall I run after thoseDwarfs, Sire, and spit ten ofthem on my horn at eachplunge?" But Tirian with hisface as stern as stone, said,"Stand fast, Jewel. If youmust weep, sweetheart (thiswas to Jill), turn your faceaside and see you wet notyour bow-string. And peace,Eustace.Donot scold, like akitchen-girl. No warrior

scolds. Courteous words orelsehardknocksarehisonlylanguage."

But the Dwarfs jeeredbackatEustace. "Thatwas asurprise for you, little boy,eh?Thoughtwewereonyourside, did you? No fear. Wedon't want any TalkingHorses.Wedon'twantyoutowin anymore than the othergang. You can't take us in.The Dwarfs are for theDwarfs."

Rishda Tarkaan was stilltalking to hismen, doubtlessmaking arrangements for thenext attack and probablywishinghehadsenthiswholeforceintothefirst.Thedrumboomed on. Then, to theirhorror,Tirian andhis friendsheard,farfainteras iffromalong way off, an answeringdrum. Another body ofCalormenes had heardRishda's signal and werecoming to support him. You

would not have known fromTirian's face thathehadnowgivenupallhope.

"Listen," hewhispered ina matter-of-fact voice, "wemust attack now, beforeyonder miscreants arestrengthened by theirfriends."

"Bethink you, Sire," saidPoggin, "that here we havethe goodwoodenwall of thestable at our backs. If weadvance, shall we not be

encircled and get sword-points between ourshoulders?"

"I would say as you do,Dwarf," saidTirian. "Were itnottheirveryplantoforceusinto the stable? The furtherwe are from its deadly door,thebetter."

"The King is right," saidFarsight. "Away from thisaccursedstable,andwhatevergoblin lives inside it, at allcosts."

"Yes, do let's," saidEustace. "I'm coming to hatetheverysightofit."

"Good," said Tirian."Nowlookyondertoourleft.You see a great rock thatgleams white like marble inthefirelight.FirstwewillfalluponthoseCalormenes.You,maiden, shall move out onour left and shoot as fast aseveryoumayintotheirranks:and you, Eagle, fly at theirfaces from the right.

Meanwhileweotherswillbecharging them.Whenwe aresoclose,Jill, thatyoucannolonger shoot at them for fearof strikingus,goback to thewhite rock and wait. Youothers, keep your ears wideeveninthefighting.Wemustput them to flight in a fewminutesorelsenotatall, forwe are fewer than they. AssoonasIcallBack,thenrushto join Jill at thewhite rock,where we shall have

protection behind us and canbreathe awhile. Now, be off,Jill."

Feelingterriblyalone,Jillranoutabouttwentyfeet,putherrightlegbackandherleftlegforward,andsetanarrowto her string. Shewished herhands were not shaking so."'That's a rotten shot!" shesaid as her first arrow spedtowards the enemy and flewovertheirheads.Butshehadanother on the string next

moment:sheknewthatspeedwas what mattered. She sawsomething big and blackdarting into the faces of theCalormenes. 'that wasFarsight. First one man, andthen another, dropped hissword and put up both hishands to defend his eyes.Then one of her own arrowshit a man, and another hit aNarnian wolf, who had, itseemed, joined the enemy.But she had been shooting

only for a few secondswhenshehad to stop.Witha flashof swords and of the Boar'stusks and Jewel's horn, andwith deep baying from thedogs, Tirian and his partywere rushing on theirenemies, like men in ahundred yards' race. Jill wasastonished to see howunprepared the Calormenesseemed to be. She did notrealizethatthiswastheresultof her work and the Eagle's.

Very few troopscankeeponlookingsteadilytothefrontifthey are getting arrows intheir faces fromonesideandbeing pecked by an eagle ontheother.

"Oh well done. Welldone!" shouted Jill. TheKing's party were cuttingtheir way right into theenemy. The Unicorn wastossingmenasyou'dtosshayon a fork. Even Eustaceseemed to Jill (who after all

didn'tknowverymuchaboutswordsmanship) to befightingbrilliantly.TheDogswere at the Calormenes'throats.Itwasgoingtowork!Itwasvictoryatlast-Withahorrible, cold shock Jillnoticed a strange thing.Though Calormenes werefalling at each Narniansword-stroke, they neverseemed to get any fewer. Infact,therewereactuallymoreof them now than when the

fightbegan.Thereweremoreevery second. They wererunning up from every side.They were new Calormenes.These new ones had spears.There was such a crowd ofthem that she could hardlyseeherownfriends.ThensheheardTirian'svoicecrying:

"Back!Totherock!"The enemy had been

reinforced. The drum haddoneitswork.

CHAPTERTWELVE

THROUGH THESTABLEDOOR

JILL ought to have beenbackatthewhiterockalreadybut she had quite forgottenthat part of her orders in theexcitement of watching thefight. Now she remembered.Sheturnedatonceandrantoit, and arrived there barely asecond before the others. Itthus happened that all ofthem,foramoment,hadtheirbacks to the enemy.Theyall

wheeled round the momenttheyhadreachedit.Aterriblesightmettheireyes.

ACalormenewasrunningtowards the stable doorcarrying something thatkicked and struggled. As hecame between them and thefire they could see clearlyboththeshapeofthemanandthe shapeofwhathe carried.ItwasEustace.

Tirian and the Unicornrushedouttorescuehim.But

the Calormene was now farnearer to the door then they.Before theyhadcoveredhalfthe distance he had flungEustace in and shut the dooron him. Half a dozen moreCalormenes had run upbehind him. They formed alineontheopenspacebeforethe stable. There was nogettingatitnow.

Even then Jillremembered tokeepher faceturnedaside,well away from

herbow."EvenifIcan'tstopblubbing, I won't get mystringwet,"shesaid.

"'Ware arrows," saidPogginsuddenly.

Everyone ducked andpulled his helmet well overhis

nose.TheDogs crouchedbehind. But though a fewarrowscametheirwayitsoonbecame clear that they werenotbeingshotat.Griffleandhis Dwarfs were at their

archeryagain.This time theywere coolly shooting at theCalormenes.

"Keep it up, boys!" cameGriffle's voice. "All together.Carefully. We don't wantDarkies any more than wewantMonkeys-orLions-orKings.TheDwarfsarefortheDwarfs."

Whatever else you maysayaboutDwarfs,noonecansay they aren't brave. Theycouldeasilyhavegotawayto

some safe place. Theypreferred to stay and kill asmany of both sides as theycould,exceptwhenbothsideswere kind enough to savethem trouble by killing oneanother.TheywantedNarniafortheirown.

What perhaps they hadnot taken into account wasthat the Calormenes weremail-cladand theHorseshadhad no protection. Also theCalormenes had a leader.

Rishda Tarkaan's voice criedout:

"Thirtyofyoukeepwatchon those fools by the whiterock. The rest, afterme, thatwe may teach these sons ofearthalesson."

Tirianandhisfriends,stillpanting from their fight andthankful for a few minutes'rest, stood and looked onwhiletheTarkaanledhismenagainst the Dwarfs. It was astrange scene by now. The

firehadsunk lower: the lightitgavewasnowlessandofadarker red. As far as onecouldsee, thewholeplaceofassembly was now emptyexcept for theDwarf and theCalormenes. In that lightonecouldn't make out much ofwhat was happening. Itsounded as if the Dwarfswereputtingupagoodfight.Tirian could hear Griffleusing dreadful language, andevery now and then the

Tarkaan calling, "Take allyou can alive! Take themalive!"

Whatever that fight mayhavebeenlike, itdidnot lastlong. The noise of it diedaway. Then Jill saw theTarkaan coming back to thestable: eleven men followedhim, dragging eleven boundDwarfs. (Whether the othershad all been killed, orwhether some of them hadgotaway,wasneverknown.)

"Throw them into theshrine of Tash," said RishdaTarkaan.

And when the elevenDwarfs, one after the other,hadbeenflungorkickedintothat dark doorway and thedoor had been shut again, hebowed low to the stable andsaid:

"These also are for thyburntoffering,LordTash."

And all the Calormenesbanged the flats of their

swords on their shields andshouted, "Tash! Tash! Thegreat god Tash! InexorableTash!" (There was nononsense about "Tashlan"now.)

The little party by thewhite rock watched thesedoings andwhispered to oneanother. They had found atrickleofwatercomingdownthe rock and all had drunkeagerly - Jill andPoggin andtheKingintheirhands,while

the four-footed ones lappedfrom the little pool which ithad made at the foot of thestone. Such was their thirstthat it seemed the mostdeliciousdrink theyhadeverhad in their lives, and whiletheyweredrinkingtheywereperfectlyhappyandcouldnotthinkofanythingelse.

"Ifeel inmybones,"saidPoggin,"thatweshallall,onebyone,passthroughthatdarkdoor before morning. I can

think of a hundred deaths Iwouldratherhavedied."

"Itisindeedagrimdoor,"saidTirian."It ismore likeamouth."

"Oh,can'twedoanythingto stop it?" said Jill in ashakenvoice.

"Nay, fair friend," saidJewel, nosing her gently. "Itmay be for us the door toAslan's country andwe shallsupathistabletonight."

RishdaTarkaanturnedhis

backonthestableandwalkedslowly to a place in front ofthewhiterock.

"Hearken,"hesaid."IftheBoar and the Dogs and theUnicornwillcomeovertomeand put themselves in mymercy, their lives shall bespared.TheBoarshallgotoacage in The Tisroc's garden,the Dogs to The Tisroc'skennels, and the Unicorn,when I have sawn his hornoff,shalldrawacart.Butthe

Eagle, the children, and hewho was the King shall beofferedtoTashthisnight."

The only answer wasgrowls.

"Get on, warriors," saidtheTarkaan. "Kill thebeasts,but take the two-legged onesalive."

AndthenthelastbattleofthelastKingofNarniabegan.

What made it hopeless,even apart from the numbersoftheenemy,wasthespears.

The Calormenes who hadbeen with the Ape almostfrom the beginning had hadno spears: that was becausetheyhadcomeintoNarniabyones and twos, pretending tobepeacefulmerchants,andofcourse they had carried nospears for a spear is not athing you can hide. The newonesmusthavecomeinlater,after the Ape was alreadystrong and they could marchopenly. The spears made all

the difference. With a longspear you can kill a boarbeforeyouareinreachofhistusks and a unicorn beforeyou are in reach of his horn;if you are very quick andkeepyourhead.Andnowthelevelled spears were closingin on Tirian and his lastfriends. Next minute theywere all fighting for theirlives.

Inawayitwasn'tquitesobadasyoumightthink.

Whenyouareusingeverymuscle to the full - duckingunder a spear-point here,leapingover it there, lungingforward, drawing back,wheelinground-youhaven'tmuch time to feel eitherfrightened or sad. Tirianknewhecoulddonothingfortheothersnow; theywerealldoomedtogether.HevaguelysawtheBoargodownononeside of him, and Jewelfighting furiously on the

other. Out of the corner ofoneeyehesaw,butonlyjustsaw,abigCalormenepullingJill away somewhere by herhair. But he hardly thoughtaboutanyofthesethings.Hisonly thoughtnowwas to sellhislifeasdearlyashecould.The worst of it was that hecouldn't keep to the positioninwhichhehadstarted,underthewhiterock.Amanwhoisfighting a dozen enemies atonce must take his chances

whereverhecan;mustdartinwherever he sees an enemy'sbreast or neck unguarded. Ina very few strokes this maygetyouquiteadistancefromthe spot where you began.Tiriansoonfoundthathewasgetting further and further totheright,nearertothestable.He had a vague idea in hismind that there was somegoodreasonforkeepingawayfrom it. But he couldn't nowremember what the reason

was.Andanyway,hecouldn'thelpit.

All at once everythingcamequiteclear.Hefoundhewas fighting the Tarkaanhimself. The bonfire (whatwas leftof it)wasstraight infront.Hewasinfactfightingin the very doorway of thestable,forithadbeenopenedand two Calormenes wereholding the door, ready toslam it shut the moment hewas inside. He remembered

everything now, and herealized that the enemy hadbeenedginghimtothestableon purpose ever since thefight began. And while hewas thinking thishewasstillfighting the Tarkaan as hardashecould.

A new idea came intoTirian'shead.Hedroppedhissword, darted forward, inunder the sweep of theTarkaan's scimitar, seizedhisenemy by the belt with both

hands, and jumped back intothestable,shouting:

"Come in andmeet Tashyourself!"

There was a deafeningnoise. As when the Ape hadbeenflungin,theearthshookand there was a blindinglight.

The Calormene soldiersoutside screamed. "Tash,Tash!" and banged the door.If Tash wanted their ownCaptain,Tashmusthavehim.

They, at any rate, did notwanttomeetTash.

For a moment or twoTiriandidnotknowwherehewas or even who he was.Then he steadied himself,blinked,andlookedaround.Itwasnotdarkinsidethestable,ashehadexpected.Hewasinstrong light: thatwaswhyhewasblinking.

He turned to look atRishda Tarkaan, but Rishdawas not looking at him.

Rishdagaveagreatwailandpointed;thenheputhishandsbefore his face and fell flat,face downwards, on theground. Tirian looked in thedirection where the Tarkaanhad pointed. And then heunderstood.

A terrible figure wascoming towards them. Itwasfar smaller than the shapethey had seen from theTower, though still muchbiggerthanaman,anditwas

the same. It had a vulture'shead and four arms. Its beakwasopenanditseyesblazed.A croaking voice came fromitsbeak.

"ThouhastcalledmeintoNarnia,RishdaTarkaan.HereIam.Whathastthoutosay?"

But the Tarkaan neitherlifted his face from theground nor said a word. Hewasshakinglikeamanwithabad hiccup. He was braveenough inbattle: buthalf his

courage had left him earlierthatnightwhenhefirstbegantosuspectthattheremightbearealTash.Therestofithadlefthimnow.

Withasuddenjerk-likeahen stooping to pick up aworm -Tashpouncedon themiserable Rishda and tuckedhim under the upper of histwo right arms. Then Tashturned his head sidewise tofix Tirian with one of histerrible eyes: for of course,

having a bird's head, hecouldn'tlookatyoustraight.

But immediately, frombehindTash,strongandcalmas the summer sea, a voicesaid:

"Begone, Monster, andtakeyourlawfulpreytoyourown place: in the name ofAslan and Aslan's greatFather the Emperor-over-the-Sea."

The hideous creaturevanished, with the Tarkaan

stillunderitsarm.AndTirianturned to see who hadspoken.

Andwhathesawthensethis heart beating as it hadneverbeateninanyfight.

Seven Kings and Queensstood before him, all withcrownsontheirheadsandallin glittering clothes, but theKingswore finemailaswellandhadtheirswordsdrawnintheir hands. Tirian bowedcourteouslyandwasabout to

speak when the youngest ofthe Queens laughed. Hestared hard at her face, andthengaspedwithamazement,for he knew her. It was Jill:butnotJillashehadlastseenher,withherfacealldirtandtears and an old drill dresshalfslippingoffoneshoulder.Now she looked cool andfresh, as fresh as if she hadjust come frombathing.Andatfirsthethoughtshelookedolder, but then didn't, and he

couldnevermakeuphismindon that point. And then hesaw that the youngest of theKings was Eustace: but healsowas changed as Jillwaschanged.

Tirian suddenly feltawkward about comingamong these people with thebloodanddustandsweatofabattle still on him. Nextmoment he realized that hewasnotinthatstateatall.Hewasfreshandcoolandclean,

anddressedinsuchclothesashe would have worn for agreat feast at Cair Paravel.(But in Narnia your goodclothes were never youruncomfortable ones. Theyknewhowtomakethingsthatfelt beautiful as well aslooking beautiful in Narnia:and there was no such thingas starchor flannelor elasticto be found from one end ofthecountrytotheother.)

"Sire," said Jill coming

forward and making abeautiful curtsey, "let memakeyouknowntoPetertheHigh King over all Kings inNarnia."

TirianhadnoneedtoaskwhichwastheHighKing,forhe remembered his face(though here it was farnobler) from his dream. Hesteppedforward,sankononekneeandkissedPeter'shand.

"High King," he said."Youarewelcometome."

AndtheHighKingraisedhim and kissed him on bothcheeks as a High Kingshould. Then he led him totheeldestoftheQueens-buteven she was not old, andthere were no grey hairs onher head and nowrinkles onhercheek-andsaid,"Sir,thisis thatLadyPollywho cameintoNarniaon theFirstDay,when Aslan made the treesgrowandtheBeaststalk."Hebrought him next to a man

whose golden beard flowedover his breast and whoseface was full of wisdom."And this," he said, "is theLord Digory who was withher on that day. And this ismy brother, King Edmund:andthismysister, theQueenLucy."

"Sir," said Tirian, whenhehadgreetedall these."IfIhave read the chroniclearight, there should beanother. Has not your

Majestytwosisters?WhereisQueenSusan?"

"My sister Susan,"answered Peter shortly andgravely,"isnolongerafriendofNarnia."

"Yes," saidEustace, "andwhenever you've tried to gether to come and talk aboutNarnia or do anything aboutNarnia, she says, `Whatwonderful memories youhave! Fancy your stillthinkingaboutallthosefunny

gamesweused toplaywhenwewerechildren.'"

"Oh Susan!" said Jill."She's interested in nothingnowadays except nylons andlipstick and invitations. Shealways was a jolly sight tookeenonbeinggrown-up."

"Grown-up, indeed," saidthe Lady Polly. "I wish shewould grow up. She wastedallherschooltimewantingtobe the age she is now, andshe'llwastealltherestofher

life trying to stay that age.Herwhole idea is to race ontothesilliesttimeofone'slifeas quick as she can and thenstopthereaslongasshecan."

"Well, don't let's talkabout that now," said Peter."Look!Here are lovely fruit-trees.Letustastethem."

And then, for the firsttime,Tirianlookedabouthimand realized how very queerthisadventurewas.

CHAPTERTHIRTEEN

HOW THE DWARFSREFUSED TO BE TAKENIN

TIRIANhad thought - orhe would have thought if hehad time to thinkatall - thatthey were inside a littlethatched stable, about twelvefeetlongandsixfeetwide.Inreality they stood on grass,the deep blue sky wasoverhead, and the air whichblew gently on their faceswas that of a day in early

summer. Not far away fromthem rose a grove of trees,thickly leaved, but underevery leaf there peeped outthe gold or faint yellow orpurple or glowing red offruitssuchasnoonehasseenin ourworld. The fruitmadeTirian feel that it must beautumn but there wassomething in the feel of theair that told him it could notbe later than June. They allmovedtowardsthetrees.

Everyone raised his handtopick thefruithebest likedthe look of, and theneveryonepausedforasecond.This fruit was so beautifulthat each felt "It can't bemeant forme... surelywe'renotallowedtopluckit."

"It's all right," said Peter."I know what we're allthinking. But I'm sure, quitesure, we needn't. I've afeeling we've got to thecountry where everything is

allowed.""Here goes, then!" said

Eustace. And they all begantoeat.

What was the fruit like?Unfortunately no one candescribeataste.AllIcansayis that, compared with thosefruits, the freshest grapefruityou've ever eaten was dull,and the juiciest orange wasdry, and the most meltingpear was hard and woody,and the sweetest wild

strawberry was sour. Andtherewerenoseedsorstones,and no wasps. If you hadonce eaten that fruit, all thenicest things in this worldwould taste like medicinesafterit.ButIcan'tdescribeit.You can't find out what it islikeunlessyoucangettothatcountry and taste it foryourself.

When they had eatenenough,Eustacesaid toKingPeter, "You haven't yet told

us how you got here. Youwere just going to, whenKingTirianturnedup."

"There'snotmuchtotell,"said Peter. "Edmund and Iwerestandingontheplatformandwesawyourtraincomingin. I remember thinking itwas taking the bend far toofast. And I rememberthinking how funny it wasthatourpeoplewereprobablyinthesametrainthoughLucydidn'tknowaboutit-"

"Your people, HighKing?"saidTirian.

"I mean my Father andMother - Edmund's andLucy'sandmine."

"Why were they?" askedJill. "You don't mean to saytheyknowaboutNarnia?"

"Ohno, it hadnothing todowithNarnia.Theywereontheir way to Bristol. I'd onlyheard they were going thatmorning. But Edmund saidthey'd be bound to be going

by that train." (Edmund wasthesortofpersonwhoknowsaboutrailways.)

"And what happenedthen?"saidJill.

"Well,it'snotveryeasytodescribe,isit,Edmund?"saidtheHighKing.

"Notvery,"saidEdmund."Itwasn'tatalllikethatothertimewhenwewerepulledoutof our ownworld byMagic.Therewasafrightfulroarandsomething hit me with a

bang,butitdidn'thurt.AndIfelt not so much scared as -well,excited.Oh-andthisisonequeerthing.

I'dhadarathersoreknee,from a hack at rugger. Inoticedithadsuddenlygone.And I felt very light. Andthen-herewewere."

"Itwasmuchthesameforus in the railway carriage,"said theLordDigory,wipingthe last traces of the fruitfromhisgoldenbeard."Only

I think you and I, Polly,chiefly felt that we'd beenunstiffened. You youngsterswon't understand. But westoppedfeelingold."

"Youngsters, indeed!"said Jill. "I don't believe youtwo really are much olderthanwearehere."

"Well if we aren't, wehave been," said the LadyPolly.

"And what has beenhappening since you got

here?"askedEustace."Well," said Peter, "for a

longtime(atleastIsupposeitwas a long time) nothinghappened. Then the dooropened-"

"Thedoor?"saidTirian."Yes," said Peter. "The

door you came in - or cameout - by. Have youforgotten?"

"Butwhereisit?""Look," said Peter and

pointed.

Tirianlookedandsawthequeerest and most ridiculousthing you can imagine. Onlyafewyardsaway,cleartobeseen in the sunlight, therestood up a rough woodendoor and, round it, theframework of the doorway:nothing else, no walls, noroof. He walked towards it,bewildered, and the othersfollowed, watching to seewhathewoulddo.Hewalkedroundtotheothersideof the

door. But it looked just thesame from the other side: hewasstill intheopenair,onasummer morning. The doorwas simply standing up byitselfas if ithadgrowntherelikeatree.

"Fair Sir," said Tirian totheHighKing,"thisisagreatmarvel."

"It is the door you camethrough with that Calormenefiveminutes ago," said Petersmiling.

"ButdidInotcomeinoutof the wood into the stable?Whereas this seems to be adoorleadingfromnowheretonowhere."

"It looks like that if youwalk round it," said Peter."But put your eye to thatplace where there is a crackbetween two of the planksandlookthrough."

Tirian put his eye to thehole. At first he could seenothing but blackness. Then,

athiseyesgrewusedtoit,hesaw the dull red glow of abonfirethatwasnearlygoingout,andabovethat,inablacksky, stars.Thenhe could seedarkfiguresmovingaboutorstandingbetweenhimandthefire: he could hear themtalking and their voiceswerelike those ofCalormenes. Sohe knew that hewas lookingout through the stable doorinto the darkness of LanternWaste where he had fought

his last battle.Themenwerediscussing whether to go inand look for Rishda Tarkaan(but none of themwanted todo that) or to set fire to thestable.

He looked round againand could hardly believe hiseyes.Therewas theblue skyoverhead, andgrassycountryspreading as far as he couldseeineverydirection,andhisnew friends all round himlaughing.

"It seems, then," saidTirian, smiling himself, "thatthe stable seen from withinand the stable seen fromwithout are two differentplaces."

"Yes," said the LordDigory. "Its inside is biggerthanitsoutside."

"Yes," said Queen Lucy."In our world too, a stableonce had something inside itthat was bigger than ourwholeworld."Itwasthefirst

time she had spoken, andfrom the thrill in her voice,Tirian now knew why. Shewas drinking everything ineven more deeply than theothers. She had been toohappytospeak.Hewantedtohear her speak again, so hesaid:

"Of your courtesy,Madam,tellon.Tellmeyourwholeadventure."

"After the shock and thenoise," saidLucy, "we found

ourselves here. And wewonderedat thedoor, asyoudid.Thenthedooropenedforthe first time (we sawdarknessthroughthedoorwaywhen it did) and there camethrough a big man with anaked sword.We sawby hisarms that he was aCalormene.Hetookhisstandbeside the door with hissword raised, resting on hisshoulder, ready to cut downanyone who came through.

Wewenttohimandspoketohim,butwethoughthecouldneither see nor hear us. Andheneverlookedroundonthesky and the sunlight and thegrass: I think he couldn't seethem either. So then wewaited a long time. Thenweheardtheboltbeingdrawnontheothersideofthedoor.Butthe man didn't get ready tostrike with his sword till hecouldseewhowascomingin.Sowe supposedhehadbeen

told to strike someand spareothers. But at the verymoment when the dooropened, all of a suddenTashwas there,on this sideof thedoor; none of us saw wherehe came from. And throughthedoortherecameabigCat.It gaveone look atTash andran for its life: just in time,for he pounced at it and thedoor hit his beak as it wasshut. The man could seeTash.Heturnedverypaleand

bowed down before theMonster: but it vanishedaway.

"Then we waited a longtime again. At last the dooropenedfor thethirdtimeandthere came in a youngCalormene. I liked him. Thesentinel at the door started,and looked very surprised,whenhesawhim.Ithinkhe'dbeenexpectingsomeonequitedifferent-"

"I see it all now," said

Eustace(hehadthebadhabitof interrupting stories). "TheCatwastogoinfirstandthesentry had orders to do himnoharm.ThentheCatwastocome out and say he'd seentheir beastly Tashlan andpretendtobefrightenedsoasto scare the other Animals.ButwhatShiftneverguessedwas that the realTashwouldturn up; so Ginger came outreally frightened. And afterthat, Shift would send in

anyone he wanted to get ridof and the sentry would killthem.

And-""Friend," said Tirian

softly,"youhindertheladyinhertale."

"Well," said Lucy, "thesentry was surprised. Thatgave the otherman just timeto get on guard. They had afight.Hekilledthesentryandflung him outside the door.Thenhecamewalkingslowly

forward to where we were.He could see us, andeverything else. We tried totalk tohimbuthewas ratherlike a man in a trance. Hekept on saying Tash, Tash,where isTash? I go toTash.Sowegaveitupandhewentawaysomewhere-overthere.I likedhim.Andafter that ...ugh!"Lucymadeaface.

"After that," saidEdmund, "someone flung amonkey through the door.

And Tash was there again.Mysisterissotender-heartedshe doesn't like to tell youthatTashmadeonepeckandtheMonkeywasgone!"

"Serve him right!" saidEustace."Allthesame,Ihopehe'lldisagreewithTashtoo."

"And after that," saidEdmund, "came about adozen Dwarfs: and then Jill,and Eustace, and last of allyourself."

"I hope Tash ate the

Dwarfs too," said Eustace."Littleswine."

"No, he didn't," saidLucy. "And don't be horrid.Thery'restillhere.Infactyoucansee themfromhere.AndI've tried and tried to makefriends with them but it's nouse."

"Friends with them!"cried Eustace. "If you knewhow thoseDwarfs have beenbehaving!"

"Ohstopit,Eustace,"said

Lucy. "Do come and seethem. King Tirian, perhapsyoucoulddosomethingwiththem."

"I can feel no great lovefor Dwarfs today," saidTirian. "Yet at your asking,Lady, I would do a greaterthingthanthis."

Lucy led the way andsoon they could all see theDwarfs.Theyhadaveryoddlook. They weren't strollingaboutor enjoying themselves

(although the cords withwhich they had been tiedseemedtohavevanished)norwere they lying down andhaving a rest. They weresittingveryclosetogetherinalittle circle facing oneanother. They never lookedround or took any notice ofthe humans till Lucy andTirian were almost nearenough to touch them. Thenthe Dwarfs all cocked theirheads as if they couldn't see

anyone but were listeninghard and trying to guess bythe sound what washappening.

"Look out!" said one ofthem in a surlyvoice. "Mindwhere you're going. Don'twalkintoourfaces!"

"All right!" said Eustaceindignantly."We'renotblind.We'vegoteyesinourheads."

"Theymustbedarngoodones if you can see in here,"said the same Dwarf whose

namewasDiggle."In where?" asked

Edmund."Why you bone-head, in

here of course," said Diggle."In this pitch-black, poky,smellylittleholeofastable."

"Are you blind?" saidTirian.

"Ain't we all blind in thedark!"saidDiggle.

"But it isn't dark, youpoor stupid Dwarfs," saidLucy. "Can't you see? Look

up! Look round! Can't yousee the skyand the trees andthe flowers? Can't you seeme?"

"How in the name of allHumbug can I seewhat ain'tthere?AndhowcanIseeyouany more than you can seemeinthispitchdarkness?"

"But I can see you," saidLucy. "I'll prove I can seeyou. You've got a pipe inyourmouth."

"Anyone that knows the

smell of baccy could tellthat,"saidDiggle.

"Ohthepoorthings!Thisisdreadful," saidLucy.Thenshehadan idea.She stoppedandpickedsomewildviolets."Listen, Dwarf," she said."Evenifyoureyesarewrong,perhapsyournoseisallright:can you smell that?" Sheleaned across and held thefresh, damp flowers toDiggle's ugly nose. But shehad to jump back quickly in

order to avoid a blow fromhishardlittlefist.

"None of that!" heshouted. "How dare you!What do you mean byshovinga lotof filthystable-litterinmyface?Therewasathistle in it too. It's likeyoursauce! And who are youanyway?"

"Earth-man," said Tirian,"she is theQueenLucy, senthither by Aslan out of thedeep past. And it is for her

sakealone that I,Tirianyourlawful King, do not cut allyour heads from yourshoulders, proved and twice-provedtraitorsthatyouare."

"Well if that doesn't beateverything!" exclaimedDiggle. "Howcanyougoontalking all that rot? Yourwonderful Lion didn't comeand help you, did he?Thoughtnot.Andnow-evennow - when you've beenbeaten and shoved into this

black hole, just the same asthe rest of us, you're still atyouroldgame.Startinganewlie!Tryingtomakeusbelievewe'renoneofusshutup,andit ain't dark, and heavenknowswhat."

"There is no black hole,saveinyourownfancy,fool,"criedTirian."Comeoutofit."And, leaning forward, hecaughtDigglebythebeltandthehoodandswunghimrightout of the circle of Dwarfs.

But the moment Tirian puthim down, Diggle dartedback to his place among theothers, rubbing his nose andhowling:

"Ow!Ow!Whatd'youdothat for! Banging my faceagainst the wall. You'venearlybrokenmynose."

"Oh dear!" said Lucy,"What are we to do forthem?"

"Let 'em alone," saidEustace: but as he spoke the

earth trembled.Thesweetairgrew suddenly sweeter. Abrightness flashed behindthem. All turned. Tirianturned last because he wasafraid.Therestoodhisheart'sdesire, huge and real, thegolden Lion, Aslan himself,and already the others werekneelinginacircleroundhisforepaws and burying theirhands and faces in his maneas he stooped his great headto touch them with his

tongue. Then he fixed hiseyes upon Tirian, and Tiriancame near, trembling, andflung himself at the Lion'sfeet,andtheLionkissedhimand said, "Well done, last ofthe Kings of Narnia whostood firm at the darkesthour."

"Aslan," said Lucythroughher tears,"couldyou-willyou-dosomethingforthesepoorDwarfs?"

"Dearest," said Aslan, "I

will show you both what Ican, and what I cannot, do."Hecameclose to theDwarfsand gave a low growl: low,but it set all the air shaking.But the Dwarfs said to oneanother, "Hear that? That'sthe gang at the other end ofthe stable. Trying to frightenus.Theydoitwithamachineof somekind.Don't takeanynotice.Theywon't takeus inagain!"

Aslanraisedhisheadand

shook his mane. Instantly agloriousfeastappearedontheDwarfs' knees: pies andtongues and pigeons andtrifles and ices, and eachDwarf had a goblet of goodwine inhis righthand.But itwasn'tmuchuse.Theybeganeating and drinking greedilyenough, but it was clear thattheycouldn'ttasteitproperly.They thought they wereeating and drinking only thesort of thingsyoumight find

in a stable. One said he wastrying to eathay andanothersaid he had a bit of an oldturnip and a third said he'dfound a raw cabbage leaf.And they raised goldengoblets of rich red wine totheir lips and said "Ugh!Fancy drinking dirty waterout of a trough that adonkey's been at! Neverthought we'd come to this."But very soon every Dwarfbegan suspecting that every

other Dwarf had foundsomething nicer than he had,andtheystartedgrabbingandsnatching, and went on toquarrelling, till in a fewminutestherewasafreefightand all the good food wassmeared on their faces andclothesortroddenunderfoot.But when at last they satdown to nurse their blackeyesandtheirbleedingnoses,theyallsaid:

"Well, at any rate there's

noHumbughere.Wehaven'tlet anyone take us in. TheDwarfsarefortheDwarfs."

"You see, " said Aslan."They will not let us helpthem. They have chosencunning instead of belief.Their prison is only in theirown minds, yet they are inthat prison; and so afraid ofbeing taken in that theycannot be taken out. Butcome, children. I have otherworktodo."

Hewent to theDoor andthey all followed him. Heraised his head and roared,"Nowitistime!"thenlouder,"Time!"; then so loud that itcould have shaken the stars,"TIME."TheDoorflewopen.

CHAPTERFOURTEENNIGHT FALLS ON

NARNIATHEY all stood beside

Aslan, on his right side, andlooked through the opendoorway.

Thebonfirehadgoneout.On the earth all wasblackness: in fact you couldnot have told that you werelooking into a wood if youhad not seen where the darkshapesofthetreesendedandthe stars began. But whenAslan had roared yet again,out on their left they sawanother black shape. That is,theysawanotherpatchwherethere were no stars: and thepatch rose up higher and

higher and became the shapeof a man, the hugest of allgiants.They all knewNarniawell enough to work outwhere he must be standing.He must be on the highmoorlands that stretch awaytotheNorthbeyondtheRiverShribble. Then Jill andEustace remembered howonce long ago, in the deepcaves beneath those moors,they had seen a great giantasleep and been told that his

name was Father Time, andthat he would wake on thedaytheworldended.

"Yes,"saidAslan,thoughthey had not spoken. "WhilehelaydreaminghisnamewasTime. Now that he is awakehewillhaveanewone."

Then the great giantraised a horn to his mouth.They could see this by thechangeof theblackshapehemade against the stars. Afterthat-quiteabitlater,because

soundtravelssoslowly-theyheard the sound of the horn:high and terrible, yet of astrange,deadlybeauty.

Immediately the skybecamefullofshootingstars.Even one shooting star is afine thing to see; but theseweredozens,andthenscores,and thenhundreds, till itwaslikesilverrain:anditwentonandon.Andwhenithadgoneonforsomewhile,oneortwoof them began to think that

therewasanotherdark shapeagainst theskyaswellas thegiant's. It was in a differentplace, right overhead, up inthe very roof of the sky asyoumight call it. "Perhaps itisacloud," thoughtEdmund.At any rate, there were nostars there: just blackness.Butallaround,thedownpourofstarswenton.Andthenthestarless patchbegan to grow,spreading further and furtheroutfromthecentreofthesky.

Andpresentlyaquarterofthewhole sky was black, andthenahalf,andatlasttherainof shooting stars was goingon only low down near thehorizon.

With a thrill of wonder(andtherewassometerrorinit too) they all suddenlyrealizedwhatwashappening.The spreading blacknesswasnot a cloud at all: it wassimply emptiness. The blackpartoftheskywasthepartin

whichtherewerenostarsleft.All the stars were falling:Aslanhadcalledthemhome.

The last few secondsbefore the rain of stars hadquite ended were veryexciting. Stars began fallingall round them. But stars inthat world are not the greatflaming globes they are inours. They are people(Edmund andLucy had oncemetone).Sonowtheyfoundshowers of glittering people,

allwithlonghairlikeburningsilver and spears like white-hot metal, rushing down tothem out of the black air,swifter than falling stones.Theymadeahissingnoiseasthey landed and burnt thegrass. And all these starsglided past them and stoodsomewherebehind, a little totheright.

This was a greatadvantage, becauseotherwise, now that there

were no stars in the sky,everything would have beencompletely dark and youcould have seen nothing. Asit was, the crowd of starsbehind them cast a fierce,white light over theirshoulders. They could seemile upon mile of Narnianwoods spread out beforethem,lookingasiftheywerefloodlit. Every bush andalmost every blade of grasshad its black shadow behind

it. The edge of every leafstoodout so sharp that you'dthink you could cut yourfingeronit.

On the grass before themlay their own shadows. Butthe great thing was Aslan'sshadow. It streamed away totheir left, enormous andveryterrible. And all this wasunder a sky that would nowbestarlessforever.

The light from behindthem (and a little to their

right)wassostrongthat it litup even the slopes of theNorthern Moors. Somethingwasmoving there.Enormousanimals were crawling andsliding down into Narnia:great dragons and giantlizards and featherless birdswith wings like bats' wings.They disappeared into thewoodsandfora fewminutestherewas silence.Then therecame - at first from very faroff - sounds of wailing and

then, from every direction, arustlingandapatteringandasound of wings. It camenearer and nearer. Soon onecoulddistinguishthescamperoflittlefeetfromthepaddingof big paws, and the clack-clackoflightlittlehoofsfromthe thunder of great ones.And then one could seethousands of pairs of eyesgleaming.And at last, out ofthe shadow of the trees,racingupthehillfordearlife,

bythousandsandbymillions,came all kinds of creatures -Talking Beasts, Dwarfs,Satyrs, Fauns, Giants,Calormenes, men fromArchenland, Monopods, andstrangeunearthly thingsfromthe remote islands of theunknownWesternlands.Andall these ran up to thedoorwaywhereAslanstood.

Thispartoftheadventurewas the only one whichseemedratherlikeadreamat

the time and rather hard toremember properlyafterwards. Especially, onecouldn't say how long it hadtaken. Sometimes it seemedto have lasted only a fewminutes,butatothersitfeltasif it might have gone on foryears. Obviously, unlesseither the Door had grownvery much larger or thecreatureshadsuddenlygrownas small as gnats, a crowdlike that couldn't ever have

triedtogetthroughit.Butnoonethoughtaboutthatsortofthingatthetime.

The creatures camerushingon,theireyesbrighterand brighter as they drewnearer and nearer to thestanding Stars. But as theycamerightuptoAslanoneorotherof two thingshappenedto each of them. They alllooked straight in his face, Idon't think they had anychoice about that. Andwhen

some looked, the expressionoftheirfaceschangedterribly- it was fear and hatred:except that, on the faces ofTalking Bears, the fear andhatred lasted only for afraction of a second. Youcould see that they suddenlyceased to theTalkingBeasts.They were just ordinaryanimals.Andallthecreatureswho looked at Aslan in thatway swerved to their right,his left, and disappeared into

hishugeblackshadow,which(asyouhaveheard)streamedaway to the left of thedoorway. The children neversawthemagain.Idon'tknowwhatbecameofthem.Buttheothers looked in the face ofAslan and lovedhim, thoughsome of them were veryfrightened at the same time.And all these came in at theDoor, in on Aslan's right.There were some queerspecimens among them.

Eustace even recognized oneofthoseveryDwarfswhohadhelped to shoot the Horses.Buthehadnotimetowonderabout that sort of thing (andanywayitwasnobusinessofhis) for a great joy puteverything else out of hishead. Among the happycreatures who now camecrowding round Tirian andhis friends were all thosewhomtheyhadthoughtdead.There was Roonwit the

Centaur and Jewel theUnicorn and the good Boarand the good Bear, andFarsight the Eagle, and thedear Dogs and the Horses,andPoggintheDwarf.

"Further in and higherup!" cried Roonwit andthunderedawayinagalloptothe West. And though theydid not understand him, thewords somehow set themtingling all over. The Boargrunted at them cheerfully.

The Bear was just going tomutter that he still didn'tunderstand, when he caughtsightof the fruit-treesbehindthem. He waddled to thosetrees as fast as he could andthere, no doubt, foundsomethingheunderstoodverywell.ButtheDogsremained,wagging their tails, andPoggin remained, shakinghands with everyone andgrinning all over his honestface. And Jewel leaned his

snowy white head over theKing'sshoulderand theKingwhispered in Jewel's ear.Then everyone turned hisattentionagain towhatcouldbeseenthroughtheDoorway.

The Dragons and GiantLizards now had Narnia tothemselves.Theywenttoandfrotearingupthetreesbytheroots and crunching them upas if they were sticks ofrhubarb. Minute by minutethe forests disappeared. The

whole country became bareandyoucouldseeallsortsofthingsaboutitsshape-allthelittle humps and hollowswhich you had never noticedbefore. The grass died. SoonTirian found that he waslooking at a world of barerock and earth. You couldhardly believe that anythinghad ever lived there. Themonstersthemselvesgrewoldandlaydownanddied.Theirflesh shrivelled up and the

bones appeared: soon theywereonlyhugeskeletonsthatlayhereandthereonthedeadrock, looking as if they haddied thousands of years ago.For a long time everythingwasstill.

At last somethingwhite -along,levellineofwhitenessthat gleamed in the light ofthe standing stars - camemoving towards them fromtheEasternendoftheworld.

Awidespreadnoisebroke

the silence: first a murmurthen a rumble, then a roar.Andnowtheycouldseewhatit was that was coming, andhow fast it came. It was afoaming wall of water. Thesea was rising. In that tree-less world you could see itvery well. You could see allthe rivers getting wider andthe lakes getting larger, andseparate lakes joining intoone, and valleys turning intonew lakes, and hills turning

into islands, and then thoseislands vanishing. And thehigh moors to their left andthe highermountains to theirright crumbled and slippeddownwitharoarandasplashinto themountingwater; andthewatercameswirlinguptothe very threshold of theDoorway (but never passedit) so that the foam splashedabout Aslan's forefeet. Allnow was level water fromwheretheystoodtowherethe

watersmetthesky.Andout there it began to

growlight.Astreakofdrearyand disastrous dawn spreadalong the horizon, andwidened and grew brighter,till in the end they hardlynoticed the light of the starswho stood behind them. Atlastthesuncameup.Whenitdid, theLordDigory and theLady Polly looked at oneanotherandgavealittlenod:those two, in a different

world,hadonceseenadyingsun,andsotheyknewatoncethat this sun also was dying.It was three times - twentytimes - as big as it ought tobe, and very dark red.As itsraysfelluponthegreatTime-giant, he turned red too: andin the reflection of that sunthe whole waste of shorelesswaterslookedlikeblood.

Then theMoon came up,quite in her wrong position,veryclosetothesun,andshe

also looked red. And at thesight of her the sun beganshooting out great flames,like whiskers or snakes ofcrimsonfire,towardsher.Itisas if he were an octopustrying todrawher tohimselfin his tentacles.And perhapshe did draw her.At any rateshe came to him, slowly atfirst,butthenmoreandmorequickly, till at last his longflames licked round her andthe two ran together and

became one huge ball like aburning coal.Great lumps offire came dropping out of itinto the sea and clouds ofsteamroseup.

Then Aslan said, "Nowmakeanend."

The giant threw his horninto the sea. Then hestretched out one arm - veryblack it looked, andthousands of miles long -across the sky till his handreached theSun.He took the

Sun and squeezed it in hishand as you would squeezeanorange.Andinstantlytherewastotaldarkness.

Everyone except Aslanjumped back from the ice-cold air which now blewthrough the Doorway. Itsedges were already coveredwithicicles.

"Peter, High King ofNarnia,"saidAslan."ShuttheDoor."

Peter,shiveringwithcold,

leaned out into the darknessand pulled the Door to. Itscrapedover iceashepulledit. Then, rather clumsily (foreven in that moment hishands had gone numb andblue) he took out a goldenkeyandlockedit.

They had seen strangethings enough through thatDoorway.Butitwasstrangerthan any of them to lookroundand find themselves inwarm daylight, the blue sky

above them, flowers at theirfeet, and laughter in Aslan'seyes.

He turned swiftly round,crouched lower, lashedhimselfwithhis tailandshotawaylikeagoldenarrow.

"Come further in! Comefurther up!" he shouted overhis shoulder. But who couldkeep up with him at thatpace? They set out walkingWestwardtofollowhim.

"So," said Peter, "night

falls onNarnia.What, Lucy!You're not crying? WithAslan ahead, and all of ushere?"

"Don't try to stop me,Peter," saidLucy, "IamsureAslanwouldnot.Iamsureitis not wrong to mourn forNarnia. Think of all that liesdead and frozen behind thatdoor."

"YesandIdidhope,"saidJill, "that it might go on forever. I knew our world

couldn't. I did think Narniamight."

"I saw it begin," said theLordDigory."Ididnot thinkIwouldlivetoseeitdie."

"Sirs," said Tirian. "Theladiesdowelltoweep.See,Idosomyself.Ihaveseenmymother's death. What worldbut Narnia have I everknown?Itwerenovirtue,butgreat discourtesy, if we didnotmourn."

They walked away from

the Door and away from theDwarfswhostillsatcrowdedtogether in their imaginarystable.Andastheywenttheytalked to one another aboutold wars and old peace andancient Kings and all thegloriesofNarnia.

The Dogs were still withthem. They joined in theconversation but not muchbecause they were too busyracing on ahead and racingback and rushing off to sniff

atsmellsinthegrasstilltheymade themselves sneeze.Suddenly they picked up ascentwhichseemed toexcitethem very much. They allstartedarguingaboutit-"Yesit is -No it isn't -That's justwhat I said - anyone cansmellwhatthatis-Takeyourgreatnoseoutofthewayandletsomeoneelsesmell."

"Whatisit,cousins?"saidPeter.

"ACalormene,Sire,"said

severalDogsatonce."Lead on to him, then,"

saidPeter."Whetherhemeetsusinpeaceorwar,heshallbewelcome."

TheDogsdartedonaheadand came back a momentlater, runningas if their livesdepended on it, and barkingloudlytosaythatitreallywasaCalormene. (TalkingDogs,just like the common ones,behave as if they thoughtwhatevertheyaredoingatthe

moment immenselyimportant.)

The others followedwheretheDogsledthemandfound a young Calormenesitting under a chestnut treebeside a clear stream ofwater. ItwasEmeth.Heroseatonceandbowedgravely.

"Sir," he said to Peter, "Iknownotwhetheryouaremyfriendormyfoe,butIshouldcount it my honour to haveyouforeither.Hasnotoneof

the poets said that a noblefriend is the best gift and anobleenemythenextbest?"

"Sir,"saidPeter,"Idonotknow that there need be anywarbetweenyouandus."

"Do tell us who you areandwhat'shappenedtoyou,"saidJill.

"If there's going to be astory, let's all have a drinkand sit down," barked theDogs."We'requiteblown."

"Well of course you will

be if you keep tearing aboutthewayyouhavedone,"saidEustace.

So the humans sat downon the grass. And when theDogshadallhadaverynoisydrink out of the stream theyall sat down, bolt upright,panting, with their tongueshanging out of their heads alittle on one side to hear thestory. But Jewel remainedstanding, polishing his hornagainsthisside.

CHAPTERFIFTEENFURTHER UP AND

FURTHERIN"KNOW, O Warlike

Kings," said Emeth, "andyou, O ladies whose beautyilluminates the universe, thatI am Emeth the seventh sonofHarphaTarkaanofthecityof Tehishbaan, Westwardbeyond the desert. I camelately into Narnia with nineand twenty others under thecommand of Rishda Tarkaan

Now when I first heard thatweshouldmarchuponNarniaI rejoiced; for I had heardmanythingsofyourLandanddesiredgreatlytomeetyouinbattle.Butwhen I found thatweweretogoindisguisedasmerchants (which is ashameful dress for a warriorandthesonofaTarkaan)andto work by lies and trickery,then my joy departed fromme. And most of all when Ifound we must wait upon a

Monkey, and when it begantobesaidthatTashandAslanwere one, then the worldbecamedark inmyeyes.Foralways since I was a boy Ihave served Tash and mygreat desire was to knowmoreofhim,ifitmightbe,tolook upon his face. But thenameofAslanwashatefultome.

"And, as you have seen,we were called togetheroutside the straw-roofed

hovel, night after night, andthe firewas kindled, and theApe brought forth out of thehovel something upon fourlegsthatIcouldnotwellsee.And the people and theBeasts bowed down and didhonour to it. But I thought,the Tarkaan is deceived bythe Ape: for this thing thatcomes out of the stable isneither Tash nor any othergod.Butwhen Iwatched theTarkaan's face, and marked

everywordthathesaidtotheMonkey, then I changed mymind: for I saw that theTarkaan did not believe in ithimself. And then Iunderstood that he did notbelieveinTashatall:forifhehad, how could he dare tomockhim?

"When I understood this,agreatragefelluponmeandIwonderedthatthetrueTashdid not strike down both theMonkeyandtheTarkaanwith

fire from heaven.Nevertheless I hid my angerand held my tongue andwaited to see how it wouldend. But last night, as someof you know, the Monkeybrought not forth the yellowthing but said that all whodesired to lookuponTashlan- for so they mixed the twowords to pretend that theywere all one -must pass oneby one into the hovel.And Isaidtomyself,Doubtlessthis

is some other deception. ButwhentheCathadfollowedinand had come out again in amadnessofterror,thenIsaidto myself, Surely the trueTash, whom they called onwithout knowledge or belief,hasnowcomeamongus,andwill avenge himself. Andthough my heart was turnedintowater insideme becauseof thegreatnessand terrorofTash, yet my desire wasstronger than my fear, and I

put force upon my knees tostay them from trembling,and on my teeth that theyshould not chatter, andresolvedtolookuponthefaceofTashthoughheshouldslayme.SoIofferedmyselftogointo the hovel; and theTarkaan, though unwillingly,letmego.

"AssoonasIhadgoneinat the door, the first wonderwas that I found myself inthis great sunlight (as we all

arenow)thoughtheinsideofthe hovel had looked darkfrom outside. But I had notime to marvel at this, forimmediately I was forced tofightformyheadagainstoneofourownmen.AssoonasIsawhimIunderstoodthattheMonkeyandtheTarkaanhadsethimtheretoslayanywhocameinifhewerenotintheirsecrets: so that thisman alsowas a liar and amocker andnotrueservantofTash.Ihad

the better will to fight him;andhavingslainthevillain,Icast him out behind methroughthedoor.

"Then I looked aboutmeandsawtheskyandthewidelands, and smelled thesweetness.AndIsaid,BytheGods,thisisapleasantplace:itmaybethatIamcomeintothe country of Tash. And Ibegan to journey into thestrange country and to seekhim.

"So I went over muchgrass and many flowers andamong all kinds ofwholesome and delectabletreestilllo!inanarrowplacebetween two rocks therecame to meet me a greatLion. The speed of him waslike the ostrich, and his sizewas an elephant's; his hairwas like pure gold and thebrightness of his eyes likegold that is liquid in thefurnace.Hewasmoreterrible

thantheFlamingMountainofLagour, and in beauty hesurpassed all that is in theworld even as the rose inbloom surpasses the dust ofthe desert. Then I fell at hisfeet and thought, Surely thisis the hour of death, for theLion (who is worthy of allhonour)willknowthatIhaveservedTash allmy days andnot him. Nevertheless, it isbettertoseetheLionanddiethantobeTisrocoftheworld

andliveandnottohaveseenhim. But the Glorious Onebent down his golden headand touched my foreheadwithhistongueandsaid,Son,thouartwelcome.But Isaid,Alas, Lord, I am no son ofthinebuttheservantofTash.He answered, Child, all theservice thou hast done toTash, I account as servicedone tome.Thenby reasonsofmygreatdesireforwisdomand understanding, I

overcame my fear andquestioned the Glorious Oneandsaid,Lord,isitthentrue,astheApesaid,thatthouandTash are one? The Liongrowled so that the earthshook (buthiswrathwasnotagainst me) and said, It isfalse. Not because he and Iare one, but because we areopposites, I take to me theserviceswhichthouhastdoneto him. For I and he are ofsuch different kinds that no

service which is vile can bedone tome, and nonewhichisnotvilecanbedonetohim.Therefore if any man swearbyTashandkeephisoathforthe oath's sake, it is by methat he has truly sworn,thoughheknowitnot,anditis I who reward him. And ifany man do a cruelty in myname, then, though he saysthe name Aslan, it is TashwhomheservesandbyTashhis deed is accepted. Dost

thou understand, Child? Isaid,Lord,thouknowesthowmuchIunderstand.ButIsaidalso(forthetruthconstrainedme),YetIhavebeenseekingTash all my days. Beloved,saidtheGloriousOne,unlessthy desire had been for methouwouldstnothavesoughtso long and so truly. For allfindwhattheytrulyseek.

"Then he breathed uponme and took away thetremblingfrommylimbsand

causedme to stand uponmyfeet. And after that, he saidnotmuch,but thatweshouldmeet again, and I must gofurther up and further in.Thenheturnedhimaboutinastorm and flurry of gold andwasgonesuddenly.

"Andsincethen,OKingsand Ladies, I have beenwandering to find him andmyhappiness is sogreat thatit even weakens me like awound.Andthisisthemarvel

ofmarvels, thathecalledmeBeloved,mewhoambutasadog-"

"Eh? What's that?" saidoneoftheDogs.

"Sir," said Emeth. "It isbutafashionofspeechwhichwehaveinCalormen."

"Well,Ican'tsayit'soneIlike very much," said theDog.

"He doesn't mean anyharm,"saidanolderDog.

"After all, we call our

puppiesBoyswhentheydon'tbehaveproperly."

"Sowedo," said the firstDog."Orgirls."

"S-s-sh!" said the OldDog. "That's not anicewordtouse.Rememberwhereyouare."

"Look!" said Jillsuddenly. Someone wascoming, rather timidly, tomeet them; a gracefulcreature on four feet, allsilvery-grey.And they stared

at him for a whole tenseconds before five or sixvoicessaidallatonce,"Why,it's old Puzzle!" They hadnever seen him by daylightwith the lion-skin off, and itmade an extraordinarydifference. He was himselfnow:abeautifuldonkeywithsuch a soft, grey coat andsuchagentle,honestfacethatif you had seen him youwould have done just whatJill and Lucy did - rushed

forward and put your armsroundhisneckandkissedhisnoseandstrokedhisears.

When they asked himwherehehadbeenhesaidhehadcomeinatthedooralongwith all the other creaturesbut he had - well, to tell thetruth, he had been keepingout of their way as much ashe could; and out of Aslan'sway.For thesightof therealLion had made him soashamed of all that nonsense

about dressing up in a lion-skin that he did not knowhow to look anyone in theface.Butwhenhesawthatallhis friends were going awayWestward, and after he hadhad a mouthful of grass("And I've never tasted suchgood grass in my life," saidPuzzle), he plucked up hiscourage and followed. "ButwhatI'lldoifIreallyhavetomeet Aslan, I'm sure I don'tknow,"headded.

"You'll find it will be allright when you really do,"saidQueenLucy.

Then they went forwardtogether, always Westward,for that seemed to be thedirection Aslan had meantwhen he cried out, "Furtherupandfutherin."Manyothercreatureswereslowlymovingthesameway,butthatgrassycountry was very wide andtherewasnocrowding.

Itstillseemedtobeearly,

and the morning freshnesswas in the air. They kept onstoppingtolookroundandtolook behind them, partlybecause it was so beautifulbut partly also because therewassomethingaboutitwhichtheycouldnotunderstand.

"Peter," said Lucy,"where is this, do yousuppose?"

"I don't know," said theHighKing."Itremindsmeofsomewherebut I can'tgive it

a name. Could it besomewhere we once stayedfor a holiday when we werevery,verysmall?"

"It would have to havebeen a jolly good holiday,"saidEustace."Ibetthereisn'ta country like this anywherein our world. Look at thecolours! You couldn't get ablue like the blue on thosemountainsinourworld."

"Is it not Aslan'scountry?"saidTirian.

"Not likeAslan's countryon top of that mountainbeyondtheEasternendoftheworld," said Jill. "I've beenthere."

"If you ask me," saidEdmund,"it'slikesomewhereintheNarnianworld.Lookatthose mountains ahead - andthebigice-mountainsbeyondthem. Surely they're ratherlikethemountainsweusedtosee fromNarnia, theonesupWestward beyond the

Waterfall?""Yes, so they are," said

Peter. "Only these arebigger."

"I don't think those onesare so very like anything inNarnia,"saidLucy."Butlookthere." She pointedSouthward to their left, andeveryone stopped and turnedto look. "Those hills," saidLucy, "the nice woody onesand the blue ones behind -aren't they very like the

SouthernborderofNarnia?""Like!" cried Edmund

after a moment's silence."Why, they're exactly like.Look,there'sMountPirewithhis forked head, and there'sthepass intoArchenlandandeverything!"

"Andyetthey'renotlike,"saidLucy."They'redifferent.They have more colours onthem and they look furtheraway than I rememberedandthey'remore...more...oh,

Idon'tknow...""Moreliketherealthing,"

saidtheLordDigorysoftly.Suddenly Farsight the

Eagle spread his wings,soared thirty or forty feet upintotheair,circledroundandthenalightedontheground.

"Kings and Queens," hecried, "we have all beenblind.Weareonlybeginningtoseewhereweare.Fromupthere I have seen it all -Ettinsmuir, Beaversdam, the

GreatRiver,andCairParavelstill shining on the edge oftheEasternSea.Narniaisnotdead.ThisisNarnia."

"Buthowcanitbe?"saidPeter. "For Aslan told usolder ones that we shouldnever return to Narnia, andhereweare."

"Yes,"saidEustace."Andwe saw it all destroyed andthesunputout."

"Andit'sallsodifferent,"saidLucy.

"TheEagle is right," saidthe Lord Digory. "Listen,Peter. When Aslan said youcould never go back toNarnia, he meant the Narniayouwerethinkingof.Butthatwasnot therealNarnia.Thathadabeginningandanend.Itwasonlyashadoworacopyof the real Narnia which hasalwaysbeenhereandalwayswill be here: just as ourworld, England and all, isonly a shadow or copy of

something in Aslan's realworld. You need not mournoverNarnia,Lucy.Allof theold Narnia that mattered, allthedear creatures, havebeendrawn into the real Narniathrough the Door. And ofcourse it is different; asdifferent as a real thing isfrom a shadow or as wakinglife is from a dream." Hisvoice stirred everyone like atrumpet as he spoke thesewords: but when he added

under his breath "It's all inPlato, all in Plato: bless me,what do they teach them attheseschools!"theolderoneslaughed. It was so exactlylikethesortofthingtheyhadheard him say long ago inthat other world where hisbeard was grey instead ofgolden. He knew why theywere laughing and joined inthe laugh himself. But veryquicklytheyallbecamegraveagain:for,asyouknow,there

is a kind of happiness andwonder that makes youserious. It is too good towasteonjokes.

It is as hard to explainhow this sunlit land wasdifferent from theoldNarniaasitwouldbetotellyouhowthefruitsofthatcountrytaste.Perhaps you will get someidea of it if you think likethis.Youmayhavebeeninaroom in which there was awindow that looked out on a

lovely bay of the sea or agreenvalleythatwoundawayamongmountains.Andinthewallof that roomopposite tothe window there may havebeen a lookingglass. And asyou turned away from thewindowyou suddenlycaughtsightofthatseaorthatvalley,all over again, in the lookingglass. And the sea in themirror, or the valley in themirror,wereinonesensejustthesameastherealones:yet

at the same time they weresomehow different - deeper,more wonderful, more likeplaces in a story: in a storyyou have never heard butverymuchwanttoknow.Thedifference between the oldNarnia and the new Narniawas like that. The new onewas a deeper country: everyrockand flowerandbladeofgrass looked as if it meantmore. I can't describe it anybetter than that: if ever you

getthereyouwillknowwhatImean.

It was the Unicorn whosummed up what everyonewas feeling. He stamped hisrightfore-hoofonthegroundandneighed,andthencried:

"I have come home atlast!This ismyrealcountry!Ibelonghere.ThisisthelandI have been looking for allmylife, thoughIneverknewit till now. The reason whywe loved the old Narnia is

that it sometimes looked alittle like this. Bree-hee-hee!Come further up, comefurtherin!"

He shook his mane andsprang forward into a greatgallop - a Unicorn's gallop,which, in our world, wouldhavecarriedhimoutof sightinafewmoments.Butnowamost strange thinghappened.Everyone else began to run,and they found, to theirastonishment, that theycould

keep up with him: not onlytheDogsandthehumansbuteven fat little Puzzle andshort-legged Poggin theDwarf. The air flew in theirfaces as if theywere drivingfast in a car without awindscreen.Thecountryflewpast as if theywere seeing itfrom the windows of anexpress train. Faster andfaster they raced, but no onegot hot or tired or out ofbreath.

CHAPTERSIXTEENFAREWELL TO

SHADOWLANDSIF one could run without

gettingtired,Idon'tthinkonewould often want to doanythingelse.Buttheremightbe special reasons forstopping,anditwasaspecialreason which made Eustacepresentlyshout:

"Isay!Steady!Lookwhatwe'recomingto!"

And well he might. For

now they saw before themCaldronPoolandbeyond thePool the high unclimbablecliffs and, pouring down thecliffs, thousands of tons ofwater every second, flashinglikediamondsinsomeplacesand dark, glassy green inothers, the Great Waterfall;and already the thunder of itwasintheirears.

"Don't stop! Further upand further in," calledFarsight, tilting his flight a

littleupwards."It's all very well for

him,"saidEustace,butJewelalsocriedout:

"Don't stop. Further upandfurtherin!Takeitinyourstride."

His voice could only justbeheardabovetheroarofthewater but next momenteveryone saw that he hadplunged into the Pool. Andhelter-skelter behind him,with splash after splash, all

the others did the same. Thewater was not biting cold asall of them (and especiallyPuzzle) expected, but of adelicious foamy coolness.They all found they wereswimming straight for theWaterfallitself.

"Thisisabsolutelycrazy,"saidEustacetoEdmund.

"I know. And yet -" saidEdmund.

"Isn't it wonderful?" saidLucy."Haveyounoticedone

can't feel afraid, even if onewantsto?Tryit."

"By Jove, neither onecan," said Eustace after hehadtried.

Jewel reached the foot oftheWaterfall first, butTirianwasonlyjustbehindhim.Jillwaslast,soshecouldseethewhole thing better than theothers. She saw somethingwhitemovingsteadilyup theface of the Waterfall. Thatwhite thingwas theUnicorn.

You couldn't tell whether hewas swimming or climbing,but hemovedon, higher andhigher.Thepointofhishorndivided the water just abovehis head, and it cascaded outin two rainbow-colouredstreams all round hisshoulders. Just behind himcameKingTirian.Hemovedhis legs and arms as if hewere swimming but hemovedstraightupwards:asifone could swim up the wall

ofahouse.Whatlookedfunniestwas

the Dogs. During the galloptheyhadnotbeenatalloutofbreath, but now, as theyswarmed and wriggledupwards, therewas plenty ofspluttering and sneezingamong them; that wasbecause they would keep onbarking, and every time theybarked they got theirmouthsand noses full of water. Butbefore Jill had time tonotice

allthesethingsfully,shewasgoing up the Waterfallherself. It was the sort ofthing that would have beenquiteimpossibleinourworld.Even if you hadn't beendrowned, you would havebeensmashedtopiecesbytheterrible weight of wateragainst the countless jags ofrock. But in that world youcoulddo it.Youwenton,upand up, with all kinds ofreflected lights flashing at

you from the water and allmanner of coloured stonesflashing through it, till itseemed as if you wereclimbing up light itself - andalways higher and higher tillthe sense of height wouldhave terrified you if youcouldbe terrified, but later itwas only gloriously exciting.And thenat lastonecame tothe lovely, smooth greencurve in which the waterpouredoverthetopandfound

thatonewasouton the levelriverabovetheWaterfall.Thecurrent was racing awaybehind you, but you weresuch a wonderful swimmerthatyoucouldmakeheadwayagainst it.Soontheywereallon the bank, drippingbuthappy.

A long valley openedahead and great snow-mountains,nowmuchnearer,stoodupagainstthesky.

"Further up and further

in," cried Jewel and instantlytheywereoffagain.

They were out of Narnianowandup into theWesternWildwhichneitherTiriannorPeternor even theEaglehadever seen before. But theLord Digory and the LadyPolly had. "Do youremember? Do youremember?" they said - andsaid it in steady voices too,without panting, though thewholepartywasnowrunning

fasterthananarrowflies."What, Lord?" said

Tirian. "Is it then true, asstories tell, that you twojourneyed here on the verydaytheworldwasmade?"

"Yes," said Digory, "andit seems to me as if it wereonlyyesterday."

"And on a flying horse?"asked Tirian. "Is that parttrue?"

"Certainly," said Digory.ButtheDogsbarked,"Faster,

faster!"So they ran faster and

faster till it was more likeflyingthanrunning,andeventheEagleoverheadwasgoingnofaster thanthey.Andtheywent through winding valleyafter winding valley and upthe steep sides of hills and,faster than ever, down theotherside,followingtheriverandsometimescrossingitandskimming acrossmountainlakesasiftheywere

living speed-boats, till at lastatthefarendofonelonglakewhich looked as blue as aturquoise, they sawa smoothgreen hill. Its sides were assteep as the sides of apyramid and round the verytopofitranagreenwall:butabove the wall rose thebranches of trees whoseleaves looked like silver andtheirfruitlikegold.

"Further up and furtherin!" roared the Unicorn, and

no one held back. Theychargedstraightatthefootofthe hill and then foundthemselves running up italmost as water from abroken wave runs up a rockoutat thepointof somebay.Though the slopewas nearlyassteepastheroofofahouseandthegrasswassmoothasabowling green, no oneslipped.Onlywhen they hadreachedtheverytopdidtheyslow up; that was because

they found themselves facinggreatgoldengates.Andforamoment none of them wasboldenoughtotryifthegateswouldopen.Theyallfeltjustastheyhadfeltaboutthefruit"Darewe? Is it right?Can itbemeantforus?"

But while they werestanding thus a great horn,wonderfully loud and sweet,blew from somewhere insidethat walled garden and thegatesswungopen.

Tirian stood holding hisbreath and wondering whowould come out. And whatcame was the last thing hehad expected: a little, sleek,bright-eyed Talking Mousewith a red feather stuck in acircletonitsheadandits leftpawrestingona longsword.It bowed, a most beautifulbow, and said in its shrillvoice:

"Welcome, in the Lion'sname. Come further up and

furtherin."Then Tirian saw King

Peter and King Edmund andQueen Lucy rush forward tokneel down and greet theMouse and they all cried out"Reepicheep!" And Tirianbreathed fast with the sheerwonder of it, for now heknew that he was looking atone of the great heroes ofNarnia, Reepicheep theMousewhohadfoughtatthegreat Battle of Beruna and

afterwards sailed to theWorld's end with KingCaspian the Seafarer. Butbeforehehadhadmuchtimeto think of this he felt twostrongarmsthrownabouthimandfeltabeardedkissonhischeeks and heard a wellrememberedvoicesaying:

"What, lad? Art thickerandtallersinceIlasttouchedthee!"

Itwashisownfather, thegoodKingErlian: but not as

Tirianhadseenhimlastwhenthey brought him home paleand wounded from his fightwith the giant, nor even asTirianrememberedhiminhislater years when he was agrey-headed warrior. Thiswas his father, young andmerry, as he could justremember him from veryearly days when he himselfhad been a little boy playinggames with his father in thecastlegardenatCairParavel,

just before bedtime onsummer evenings. The verysmell of the bread-and-milkhe used to have for suppercamebacktohim.

Jewel thought to himself,"Iwillleavethemtotalkforalittle and then I will go andgreet the good King Erlian.Many a bright apple has hegiven me when I was but acolt." But next moment hehad something else to thinkof, for out of the gateway

therecameahorsesomightyandnoblethatevenaUnicornmightfeelshyinitspresence:a great winged horse. Itlookedamomentat theLordDigory and the Lady Pollyand neighed out "What,cousins!" and they bothshouted "Fledge! Good oldFledge!"andrushedtokissit.

But by now the Mousewas again urging them tocome in. So all of thempassed in through the golden

gates,intothedelicioussmellthatblewtowardsthemoutofthat garden and into the coolmixture of sunlight andshadow under the trees,walking on springy turf thatwas all dotted with whiteflowers. The very first thingwhich struck everyone wasthat the place was far largerthan it had seemed fromoutside.Butnoonehad timetothinkabout thatforpeoplewere coming up to meet the

newcomers from everydirection.

Everyone you had everheard of (if you knew thehistory of these countries)seemed to be there. TherewasGlimfeathertheOwlandPuddleglumtheMarshwiggle,and King Rilian theDisenchanted,andhismotherthe Star's daughter and hisgreat father Caspian himself.And close beside him weretheLordDrinianandtheLord

Berne and Trumpkin theDwarf andTruffle-hunter thegoodBadgerwithGlenstormthe Centaur and a hundredotherheroesofthegreatWarof Deliverance. And thenfrom another side came CortheKing ofArchenlandwithKingLune his father and hiswife Queen Aravis and thebrave prince Corin Thunder-Fist,hisbrother,andBreetheHorse and Hwin the Mare.And then - which was a

wonder beyond all wondersto Tirian - there came fromfurther away in the past, thetwo good Beavers andTumnus the Faun.And therewas greeting and kissing andhand-shaking and old jokesrevived, (you'veno ideahowgood an old joke soundswhen you take it out againafter a rest of five or sixhundredyears)andthewholecompany moved forward tothe centre of the orchard

where the Phoenix sat in atree and looked down uponthem all, and at the foot ofthattreeweretwothronesandin those two thrones a Kingand Queen so great andbeautiful that everyonebowed down before them.And well they might, forthese two were King FrankandQueenHelenfromwhomall themostancientKingsofNarnia and Archenland aredescended.AndTirianfeltas

you would feel if you werebrought before Adam andEveinalltheirglory.

Abouthalfanhourlater-or it might have been half ahundred years later, for timethere is not like time here -Lucy stood with her dearfriend, her oldest Narnianfriend, the Faun Tumnus,lookingdownoverthewallofthat garden, and seeing allNarniaspreadoutbelow.Butwhen you looked down you

foundthat thishillwasmuchhigher thanyouhad thought:it sank down with shiningcliffs,thousandsoffeetbelowthem and trees in that lowerworld looked no bigger thangrainsofgreensalt.Thensheturned inward again andstood with her back to thewallandlookedatthegarden.

"I see," she said at last,thoughtfully."Iseenow.Thisgarden is like thestable. It isfar bigger inside than it was

outside.""Of course, Daughter of

Eve," said the Faun. "Thefurther up and the further inyougo,thebiggereverythinggets.Theinsideislargerthantheoutside."

Lucy looked hard at thegarden and saw that it wasnot really a garden but awhole world, with its ownriversandwoodsandseaandmountains.Buttheywerenotstrange:sheknewthemall.

"I see," she said. "This isstill Narnia, and more realand more beautiful then theNarniadownbelow,justasitwas more real and morebeautiful than the Narniaoutside the stable door! Isee... world within world,NarniawithinNarnia..."

"Yes," said Mr Tumnus,"likeanonion:except thatasyou go in and in, each circleislargerthanthelast."

And Lucy looked this

wayand thatandsoon foundthatanewandbeautifulthinghad happened to her.Whatever she looked at,howeverfarawayitmightbe,once she had fixed her eyessteadily on it, became quiteclearandcloseasifshewerelooking through a telescope.She could see the wholeSoutherndesertandbeyonditthegreatcityofTashbaan:toEastward she could see CairParavelontheedgeofthesea

and the very window of theroom that had once been herown. And far out to sea shecould discover the islands,islandsafterislandstotheendoftheworld,and,beyondtheend,thehugemountainwhichthey had called Aslan'scountry. But now she sawthat it was part of a greatchain of mountains whichringed round the wholeworld. In front of her itseemed to come quite close.

Then she looked to her leftandsawwhatshetooktobeagreat bank of brightly-coloured cloud, cut off fromthem by a gap. But shelookedharderandsawthat itwas not a cloud at all but areal land.Andwhen she hadfixed her eyes on oneparticular spot of it, she atonce cried out, "Peter!Edmund! Come and look!Come quickly." And theycame and looked, for their

eyes also had become likehers.

"Whys" exclaimed Peter."It's England. And that's thehouseitself-ProfessorKirk'sold home in the countrywhere all our adventuresbegan!"

"I thought that househadbeen destroyed," saidEdmund.

"Soitwas,"saidtheFaun."But you are now looking atthe England within England,

therealEnglandjustasthisisthe real Narnia. And in thatinner England no good thingisdestroyed."

Suddenly they shiftedtheireyestoanotherspot,andthen Peter and Edmund andLucygaspedwithamazementand shouted out and beganwaving: for there they sawtheir own father andmother,waving back at them acrossthegreat, deepvalley. Itwaslike when you see people

wavingat you from thedeckof a big ship when you arewaiting on the quay to meetthem.

"How can we get atthem?"saidLucy.

"That is easy," said MrTumnus. "That country andthis country - all the realcountries - are only spursjutting out from the greatmountainsofAslan.Wehaveonly towalk along the ridge,upward and inward, till it

joinson.Andlisten!ThereisKing Frank's horn: we mustallgoup."

And soon they foundthemselves all walkingtogether and a great, brightprocession it was - uptowards mountains higherthan you could see in thisworldeveniftheywerethereto be seen.But therewas nosnow on those mountains:there were forests and greenslopes and sweet orchards

and flashing waterfalls, oneabove the other, going upforever. And the land theywere walking on grewnarrower all the time,with adeepvalleyoneachside:andacross that valley the landwhich was the real Englandgrewnearerandnearer.

The light ahead wasgrowing stronger. Lucy sawthat a great series of many-colouredcliffsledupinfrontof them like a giant's

staircase.Andthensheforgoteverything else, becauseAslan himself was coming,leaping down from cliff tocliff like a living cataract ofpowerandbeauty.

And the very first personwhom Aslan called to himwasPuzzle theDonkey.Younever saw a donkey lookfeeblerandsillierthanPuzzledidashewalkeduptoAslan,and he looked, besideAslan,as small as a kitten looks

besideaStBernard.TheLionbowed down his head andwhispered something toPuzzleatwhichhis longearswent down, but then he saidsomething else at which theears perked up again. Thehumanscouldn'thearwhathehad said either time. ThenAslan turned to them andsaid:

"You do not yet look sohappyasImeanyoutobe."

Lucy said, "We're so

afraid of being sent away,Aslan.Andyou have sent usback into our own world sooften."

"No fear of that," saidAslan. "Have you notguessed?"

Their hearts leaped and awildhoperosewithinthem.

"Therewasarealrailwayaccident,"saidAslansoftly.

"Your father and motherand all of you are - as youusedto

callitintheShadowlands-dead.Thetermisover:the

holidayshavebegun.Thedreamisended:thisisthe

morning."And as He spoke He no

longer looked to them like alion;but

the things that began tohappen after that were sogreatand

beautiful that I cannotwritethem.Andforusthisisthe

endofall the stories, andwe can most truly say thatthey

all lived happily everafter.Butforthemitwasonlythe

beginning of the realstory. All their life in thisworld

andalltheiradventuresinNarnia had only been thecover

and the titlepage:nowatlast they were beginning

ChapterOne of the Great Story

which no one on earth hasread:which

goesonforever: inwhichevery chapter is better thanthe

onebefore.