《獅子女巫與魔衣櫥》第7章:在海狸家裏的一天
WHILE the two boys were whispering behind, both the girls suddenly cried "Oh!" and stopped.
"The robin!" cried Lucy, "the robin. It's flown away." And so it had - right out of sight.
"And now what are we to do?" said Edmund, giving Peter a look which was as much as to say "What did I tell you?"
"Sh! Look!" said Susan.
"What?" said Peter.
"There's something Moving among the trees over there to the left."
They all stared as hard as they could, and no one felt very comfortable.
"There it goes again," said Susan presently.
"I saw it that time too," said Peter. "It's still there. It's just gone behind that big tree."
"What is it?" asked Lucy, trying very hard not to sound nervous.
"Whatever it is," said Peter, "it's dodging us. It's something that doesn't want to be seen."
"Let's go home," said Susan. And then, though nobody said it out loud, everyone suddenly realized the same fact that Edmund had whispered to Peter at the end of the last chapter. They were lost.
"What's it like?" said Lucy.
"It's - it's a kind of animal," said Susan; and then, "Look! Look! Quick! There it is."
They all saw it this time, a whiskered furry face which had looked out at them from behind a tree. But this time it didn't immediately draw back. Instead, the animal put its paw against its mouth just as humans put their finger on their lips when they are signalling to you to be quiet. Then it disappeared again. The children, all stood holding their breath.
A moment later the stranger came out from behind the tree, glanced all round as if it were afraid someone was watching, said "Hush", made signs to them to join it in the thicker bit of wood where it was standing, and then once more disappeared.
"I know what it is," said Peter; "it's a beaver. I saw the tail."
"It wants us to go to it," said Susan, "and it is warning us not to make a noise."
"I know," said Peter. "The question is, are we to go to it or not? What do you think, Lu?"
"I think it's a nice beaver," said Lucy.
"Yes, but how do we know?" said Edmund.
"Shan't we have to risk it?" said Susan. "I mean, it's no good just standing here and I feel I want some dinner."
At this moment the Beaver again popped its head out from behind the tree and beckoned earnestly to them.
"Come on," said Peter,"let's give it a try. All keep close together. We ought to be a match for one beaver if it turns out to be an enemy."
So the children all got close together and walked up to the tree and in behind it, and there, sure enough, they found the Beaver; but it still drew back, saying to them in a hoarse throaty whisper, "Further in, come further in. Right in here. We're not safe in the open!"
Only when it had led them into a dark spot where four trees grew so close together that their boughs met and the brown earth and pine needles could be seen underfoot because no snow had been able to fall there, did it begin to talk to them.
"Are you the Sons of Adam and the Daughters of Eve?" it said.
"We're some of them," said Peter.
"S-s-s-sh!" said the Beaver, "not so loud please. We're not safe even here."
"Why, who are you afraid of?" said Peter. "There's no one here but ourselves."
"There are the trees," said the Beaver. "They're always listening. Most of them are on our side, but there are trees that would betray us to her; you know who I mean," and it nodded its head several times.
"If it comes to talking about sides," said Edmund, "how do we know you're a friend?"
"Not meaning to be rude, Mr Beaver," added Peter, "but you see, we're strangers."
"Quite right, quite right," said the Beaver. "Here is my token." With these words it held up to them a little white object. They all looked at it in surprise, till suddenly Lucy said, "Oh, of course. It's my handkerchief - the one I gave to poor Mr Tumnus."
"That's right," said the Beaver. "Poor fellow, he got wind of the arrest before it actually happened and handed this over to me. He said that if anything happened to him I must meet you here and take you on to -" Here the Beaver's voice sank into silence and it gave one or two very mysterious nods. Then signalling to the children to stand as close around it as they possibly could, so that their faces were actually tickled by its whiskers, it added in a low whisper -
"They say Aslan is on the move - perhaps has already landed."
And now a very curious thing happened. None of the children knew who Aslan was any more than you do; but the moment the Beaver had spoken these words everyone felt quite different. Perhaps it has sometimes happened to you in a dream that someone says something which you don't understand but in the dream it feels as if it had some enormous meaning - either a terrifying one which turns the whole dream into a nightmare or else a lovely meaning too lovely to put into words, which makes the dream so beautiful that you remember it all your life and are always wishing you could get into that dream again. It was like that now. At the name of Aslan each one of the children felt something jump in its inside. Edmund felt a sensation of mysterious horror. Peter felt suddenly brave and adventurous. Susan felt as if some delicious smell or some delightful strain of music had just floated by her. And Lucy got the feeling you have when you wake up in the morning and realize that it is the beginning of the holidays or the beginning of summer.
"And what about Mr Tumnus," said Lucy; "where is he?"
"S-s-s-sh," said the Beaver, "not here. I must bring you where we can have a real talk and also dinner."
No one except Edmund felt any difficulty about trusting the beaver now, and everyone, including Edmund, was very glad to hear the word "dinner".
They therefore all hurried along behind their new friend who led them at a surprisingly quick pace, and always in the thickest parts of the forest, for over an hour. Everyone was feeling very tired and very hungry when suddenly the trees began to get thinner in front of them and the ground to fall steeply downhill. A minute later they came out under the open sky (the sun was still shining) and found themselves looking down on a fine sight.
They were standing on the edge of a steep, narrow valley at the bottom of which ran - at least it would have been running if it hadn't been frozen - a fairly large river. Just below them a dam had been built across this river, and when they saw it everyone suddenly remembered that of course beavers are always making dams and felt quite sure that Mr Beaver had made this one. They also noticed that he now had a sort of modest expression on his, face - the sort of look people have when you are visiting a garden they've made or reading a story they've written. So it was only common politeness when Susan said, "What a lovely dam!" And Mr Beaver didn't say "Hush" this time but "Merely a trifle! Merely a trifle! And it isn't really finished!"
Above the dam there was what ought to have been a deep pool but was now, of course, a level floor of dark green ice. And below the dam, much lower down, was more ice, but instead of being smooth this was all frozen into the foamy and wavy shapes in which the water had been rushing along at the very moment when the frost came. And where the water had been trickling over and spurting through the dam there was now a glittering wall of icicles, as if the side of the dam had been covered all over with flowers and wreaths and festoons of the purest sugar. And out in the middle, and partly on top of the dam was a funny little house shaped rather like an enormous beehive and from a hole in the roof smoke was going up, so that when you saw it {especially if you were hungry) you at once thought of cooking and became hungrier than you were before.
That was what the others chiefly noticed, but Edmund noticed something else. A little lower down the river there was another small river which came down another small valley to join it. And looking up that valley, Edmund could see two small hills, and he was almost sure they were the two hills which the White Witch had pointed out to him when he parted from her at the lamp-post that other day. And then between them, he thought, must be her palace, only a mile off or less. And he thought about Turkish Delight and about being a King ("And I wonder how Peter will like that?" he asked himself) and horrible ideas came into his head.
"Here we are," said Mr Beaver, "and it looks as if Mrs Beaver is expecting us. I'll lead the way. But be careful and don't slip."
The top of the dam was wide enough to walk on, though not (for humans) a very nice place to walk because it was covered with ice, and though the frozen pool was level with it on one side, there was a nasty drop to the lower river on the other. Along this route Mr Beaver led them in single file right out to the middle where they could look a long way up the river and a long way down it. And when they had reached the middle they were at the door of the house.
"Here we are, Mrs Beaver," said Mr Beaver, "I've found them. Here are the Sons and Daughters of Adam and Eve'- and they all went in.
The first thing Lucy noticed as she went in was a burring sound, and the first thing she saw was a kindlooking old she-beaver sitting in the corner with a thread in her mouth working busily at her sewing machine, and it was from it that the sound came. She stopped her work and got up as soon as the children came in.
"So you've come at last!" she said, holding out both her wrinkled old paws. "At last! To think that ever I should live to see this day! The potatoes are on boiling and the kettle's singing and I daresay, Mr Beaver, you'll get us some fish."
"That I will," said Mr Beaver, and he went out of the house (Peter went with him), and across the ice of the deep pool to where he had a little hole in the ice which he kept open every day with his hatchet. They took a pail with them. Mr Beaver sat down quietly at the edge of the hole (he didn't seem to mind it being so chilly), looked hard into it, then suddenly shot in his paw, and before you could say Jack Robinson had whisked out a beautiful trout. Then he did it all over again until they had a fine catch of fish.
Meanwhile the girls were helping Mrs Beaver to fill the kettle and lay the table and cut the bread and put the plates in the oven to heat and draw a huge jug of beer for Mr Beaver from a barrel which stood in one corner of the house, and to put on the frying-pan and get the dripping hot. Lucy thought the Beavers had a very snug little home though it was not at all like Mr Tumnus's cave. There were no books or pictures, and instead of beds there were bunks, like on board ship, built into the wall. And there were hams and strings of onions hanging from the roof, and against the walls were gum boots and oilskins and hatchets and pairs of shears and spades and trowels and things for carrying mortar in and fishing-rods and fishing-nets and sacks. And the cloth on the table, though very clean, was very rough.
Just as the frying-pan was nicely hissing Peter and Mr Beaver came in with the fish which Mr Beaver had already opened with his knife and cleaned out in the open air. You can think how good the new-caught fish smelled while they were frying and how the hungry children longed for them to be done and how very much hungrier still they had become before Mr Beaver said, "Now we're nearly ready." Susan drained the potatoes and then put them all back in the empty pot to dry on the side of the range while Lucy was helping Mrs Beaver to dish up the trout, so that in a very few minutes everyone was drawing up their stools (it was all three-legged stools in the Beavers' house except for Mrs Beaver's own special rockingchair beside the fire) and preparing to enjoy themselves. There was a jug of creamy milk for the children (Mr Beaver stuck to beer) and a great big lump of deep yellow butter in the middle of the table from which everyone took as much as he wanted to go with his potatoes, and all the children thought - and I agree with them - that there's nothing to beat good freshwater fish if you eat it when it has been alive half an hour ago and has come out of the pan half a minute ago. And when they had finished the fish Mrs Beaver brought unexpectedly out of the oven a great and gloriously sticky marmalade roll, steaming hot, and at the same time moved the kettle on to the fire, so that when they had finished the marmalade roll the tea was made and ready to be poured out. And when each person had got his (or her) cup of tea, each person shoved back his (or her) stool so as to be able to lean against the wall and gave a long sigh of contentment.
"And now," said Mr Beaver, pushing away his empty beer mug and pulling his cup of tea towards him, "if you'll just wait till I've got my pipe lit up and going nicely - why, now we can get to business. It's snowing again," he added, cocking his eye at the window. "That's all the better, because it means we shan't have any visitors; and if anyone should have been trying to follow you, why he won't find any tracks."
“現在我們怎麼辦？”愛德蒙說，他看了彼得一眼，意思是說：“我是怎麼警告你的？我說得不錯吧！”
“噓，你們看！”蘇珊說。
“什麼？”彼得問。
“那兒靠左邊點兒，樹林中有什麼東西在動。”
他們拼命睜大眼睛搜索，看得眼睛都感到有點難受。
過了一會兒，蘇珊說：“瞧，它又動起來了。”
“這次我也看到了，”彼得說，“它還在那兒，這會兒跑到那棵大樹後面去了。”
“那是什麼東西呀？”露茜問道，她竭力裝出不害怕的樣子。
“誰知道它是什麼？”彼得說，“它老是躲着我們，就怕被人看見。”
“我們回去吧。”蘇珊說。這時，雖然誰也沒有大聲說出來，但每個人都突然意識到剛纔愛德蒙低聲對彼得講起的困難，他們迷路了。
“它像什麼樣子呀？”露茜問。
“它是，它是一種動物。”蘇珊說。過了一會兒，她又喊道：“你們快來看，快！它又出來啦！”
這一次他們都看清楚了，一張長滿了絡腮鬍子的毛茸茸的臉，從一棵樹後面探出來看着他們。但這一回它並沒有立即縮回去，卻用它的爪子對着嘴巴，就好像人們把手指頭放在嘴脣上，示意別人安靜下來的樣子。然後它又消失了。孩子們都屏住呼吸，站在那兒。
過了一會兒，這個奇怪的動物又從那棵樹後面出來。它向四周看了一下，好像害怕有人注意似的，向他們“噓”了一聲，並打着手勢，招呼他們到它所在的那塊密林中去，接着它又消失了。
“我知道它是什麼。”彼得說，“它是海狸，我已看見了它的尾巴。”
“它要我們到那裏去，”蘇珊說，“它叫我們別做聲。”
“這我知道。”彼得說，“問題是我們去還是不去？璐，你看怎麼樣？”
“我看這隻海狸很老實。”露茜說。
“真的嗎，我們是怎麼知道的呢？”愛德蒙問。
“我們得冒一次險。”蘇珊說，“我是說，老站在這兒沒有用。我肚子餓了。”
這時，海狸又突然從樹後探出頭來，向他們誠懇地點頭示意。
“來吧，”彼得說，“讓我們試它一試。我們都靠緊點兒，如果海狸是敵人，我們就跟它幹一仗。”
於是，孩子們緊靠在一起，朝着那棵樹走過去，一直走到樹後面海狸原先站的地方，但海狸卻從那裏又繼續朝後退去了。它壓低了嗓門用一種嘶啞的聲音對他們說：“往裏，再往裏，到我這兒來，在外面有危險。”它把他們一直引到一個非常幽暗的地方。那裏有四棵樹緊挨在一起，樹枝與樹枝連成一片，雪落不到下面來，因而地上可以看見褐色的泥土和松針。他們到了這兒以後，海狸纔開始和他們說話。
“你們是亞當的兒子和夏娃的女兒嗎？”它問。
“是的。”彼得答道。
“噓——”海狸說，“聲音不要太大，即使在這兒，我們還是不夠安全。”
“哎呀，你怕誰？”彼得說，“這裏除了我們以外，再也沒旁的人了。”
“這裏有樹。”海狸說，“它們老把耳朵豎着。它們當中絕大多數站在我們一邊，但也有背叛我們倒向她那一邊的，你們知道我說的是倒向誰嗎？”它接連點了好幾下頭。
“要是說到兩邊的話，”愛德蒙說，“我們怎們知道你是朋友而不是敵人？”
“請你別見怪，海狸先生，”彼得解釋說，“你看，我們彼此之間還不熟悉呢。”
“對，對，”海狸說，“我這裏有一樣紀念品。”說着，它就拿出一件白色的小東西。孩子們都驚訝地注視着。突然，露茜說道：“哦，這是我的手帕，是我送給可憐的圖姆納斯先生的。”
“不錯，”海狸說，“我可憐的夥伴，他在被捕以前聽到了風聲，就把這手帕交給我，說如果他有什麼意外，我就必須在這個地方與你們會面，並領你們到……”說到這裏，海狸的聲音低得聽不見了。它非常神祕的向孩子們點點頭，又向他們做了一下手勢，叫他們儘量靠近它站着，以致孩子們的臉都碰到了它的鬍子，感到癢癢的。它低聲地補充說：
“據說阿斯蘭正在活動，也許已經登陸了。”
現在，一種非常奇怪的現象發生了。這些孩子們和你一樣，一點也不知道阿蘭斯是誰。但海狸一提起阿蘭斯，他們每個人身上就有一種異樣的感覺。也許有時你在夢中碰到過類似的情況。往往你在白天聽到一樣新鮮事情，到了夢中，它的意義就大得非常出奇——不是導致一場可怕的噩夢，就是美好的無法用語言表達，使你終身難忘，巴不得能不斷重溫這個美夢。現在的情況就是這樣。一聽到阿蘭斯的名字，每個孩子都感到心裏有一樣東西在躍動。愛德蒙感到有一種莫名其妙的恐懼，彼得感到突然變得無所畏懼了，蘇珊感到有一種芬芳的氣息和一首美妙動聽的樂曲在她身旁盪漾，露茜呢，感到特別興奮和喜悅，就像你在某一個早上醒來想到假期或夏季就要從今天開始時的心情一樣。
“你談談圖姆納斯先生的情況吧。”露茜說，“他在哪兒？”
“噓——”海狸說，“這兒還不是說話的地方，我必須帶你們到一個可以交談和吃飯的去處。”
現在除了愛德蒙以外，誰也不懷疑海狸了，每個人包括愛德蒙在內都很高興聽到“吃飯”這個詞兒。所以，他們全都跟在這位新朋友後面急急忙忙地朝前走去了。海狸的速度快的令人吃驚，領着他們在森林裏最濃密的地方走了一個多小時。正當大家感到疲憊不堪、飢餓難忍的時候，前面的樹木變得稀疏了，地面的坡度也變陡了。向下沒走幾步，他們就走出了樹林。頭頂上是晴朗蔚藍的天空，太陽依舊照耀着，舉目四望，冰清玉潔，風光如畫。
他們現在站在一個又陡又狹的山谷邊上，要不是封凍，谷底準會是一條洶涌澎湃的大河。就在他們腳下，有一條水壩穿河而過。他們一看見水壩，就猛地想到海狸很會築壩，而且他們幾乎可以肯定，腳下的這條水壩就是這位海狸先生築的。他們也注意到，它的臉上露出一種特別謙虛的表情，就像你去參觀人家的一個園地或閱讀人家寫的一本書時，你所看到的園丁或作者本人常有的那種表情一樣。蘇珊說：“這條水壩築的多好啊！”海狸先生這一次沒有說“別做聲”，卻連聲說：“只不過是個小玩意兒！只不過是個小玩意兒！它還沒有全部完成呢！”當然，海狸這樣說只是出於慣常的禮貌。
在壩的上游一側，原來是個很深的水池，而現在一眼看去卻是一片平坦的暗綠色的冰池。壩的下游一側要低得多，結的冰更多，但不像上游那樣平滑，全部凍成了泡沫的形狀，現出波浪起伏的樣子，原來，在河流結冰以前，河水過壩以後就是這樣飛奔而下，濺起無數的浪花。壩的一側在原先漫水和過水的地方現在成了一堵閃閃發光的冰牆，上面好像掛滿了許多晶瑩潔白的鮮花、花環和花冠。在大壩的中間，有一間十分有趣的小屋，樣子就像一個巨大的蜂箱，這時從屋頂的一個洞中正冒出炊煙。所以你一看到它，特別是在肚子餓得咕咕叫的時候，你就會立刻想到已經有什麼東西煮在鍋裏了，肚子就會餓得更慌。
這些是其他三個孩子看到的主要情景，而愛德蒙卻注意到了別的東西。順着這條河流往下不遠的地方，還有一條小河，它是從另外一個小山谷裏流出來和這條大河匯合的。愛德蒙擡頭向那個山谷望去，看見有兩座小山，他幾乎能肯定，它們就是那天白女巫與他在燈柱那兒分別時指給他看的那兩座小山。他想，那兩座小山之間一定就是她的宮殿，離他大約只有一英里遠，甚至還不到。他想起了土耳其軟糖，想起了當國王（“我不知道彼得將會怎樣喜歡這些東西呢？”他暗暗問自己），一個可怕的念頭在他的頭腦裏產生了。
“我們馬上就要到家啦，”海狸說，“看來我的太太正等着我們呢。好，我來帶路，但是請大家小心點兒，不要滑倒。”
壩頂相當寬，上面完全可以走路，但是對人類來說，終究有些不便，因爲上面覆蓋着冰雪，另外，朝下看看，雖然結滿了冰的水池是平坦的，但在另一側，落差還很大，有些怕人。海狸先生領着他們成單行走到壩的中間。站在這裏他們可以看到。沿着那條河流向上有一條很長的路，沿着河流向下也有一條很長的路。他們一到壩的中間，就到了那間小屋的門口了。
“我們回來啦，太太，”海狸先生說，“我找到他們了。他們就是亞當和夏娃的兒女。”說着，把他們全讓進了屋。
露茜走進屋，立刻聽到一種“咔嚓”“咔嚓”的聲音，看到一個面容慈祥的海狸老媽媽。她嘴裏咬着一根線，坐在角落裏，正忙着踏縫紉機，那種“咔嚓”“咔嚓”的聲音就是從縫紉機上發出來的。孩子們一進屋，她隨即就把手中的活兒停了下來，起身迎接。
“終於把你們盼來啦！”她伸出兩隻滿是皺紋的蒼老的爪子說，“你們終於來啦！我做夢也沒有想到我還能看到這一天！土豆煮在鍋裏，水壺已經響了，哎，海狸先生，你替我搞些鮮魚回來纔好哩！”
“行，我就去。”海狸先生說着，提了一個桶，就走出了屋子，彼得也跟着一起走了。他們越過結滿冰的深池，來到一個地方，這裏冰上有一個小窟窿，這是海狸每天用斧子鑿開的。
海狸先生靜悄悄地往洞邊一坐（天這麼冷，他似乎也不在乎），目不轉睛地注視着洞裏的河水，突然，他把爪子伸進水中，說時遲，那時快，它一下子就逮住了一條漂亮的鱒魚①。就這樣，他一連逮到了許多好魚。
在海狸和彼得出去捕魚的時候，兩個女孩子幫助海狸太太把水壺灌滿，收拾吃飯桌子，切面包，熱菜，又從屋角的一個桶中替海狸先生舀出一大杯啤酒。最後，他們把煎魚的鍋子放到爐子上，倒進油燒熱。露茜認爲，海狸夫婦的家雖然完全不像圖姆納斯先生的窯洞，卻也非常小巧舒適。室內沒有書，沒有畫，兩個牆洞便是他們的牀，看上去就像輪船上倚壁而設的地鋪一樣。屋頂下面掛着火腿和一串串的洋蔥，靠牆放着膠靴、油布、斧子、羊毛剪、鏟、泥刀、和其他運灰泥的工具，還有釣魚竿、魚網和魚簍。桌上的檯布雖然粗糙，卻很乾淨。
正當油鍋嘶嘶響的時候，彼得和海狸先生拎着魚回來了，這些魚海狸先生已經在外面用刀剖開洗淨。你們一定能想象到現捕的魚放在鍋中煎的時候味道有多美，肚子餓得咕嚕咕嚕叫的孩子們又是多麼希望它們早點煎好，而在海狸太太說“我們馬上就開飯”以前，他們已是餓得十分厲害了。蘇珊把土豆濾幹後又把它們放回爐口的空鍋裏去烤，露茜幫海狸太太把鱒魚盛進盤中。這樣，不到幾分鐘，大家就把凳子擺好，準備吃飯了（海狸家裏除了放在竈邊供海狸太太坐的特製的搖椅以外，都是三條腿的凳子）。有一罐子牛奶專門給孩子們喝（海狸先生只喝啤酒），桌子中間放着一大塊深黃色的奶油，吃土豆的時候，奶油由各人隨意自取。孩子們都認爲——我也同意他們的看法——當你吃着半小時以前還活着，半分鐘以前從鍋裏盛出來的魚時，是沒有任何食品能夠和它比美的。魚吃完以後，海狸太太出乎大家意外地從爐子裏拿出熱氣騰騰的黏糊糊的果醬卷兒。同時，把水壺移到爐子上。所以孩子們吃好果醬卷以後，茶就已經準備好了。孩子們喝了茶，又把凳子往後移動了一下，靠牆倚着，心滿意足地舒了一口氣。
“現在，”海狸先生把空啤酒杯往旁邊一推，把茶杯拿到面前說：“請你們等我抽袋煙，好嗎？不用說，我們現在可以着手幹我們的事了。天又下起雪來啦，”他擡頭望了望窗外繼續說道，”這就更好了，雪一下，就不會有人來找我們了；另外，如果有人想跟蹤你們的話，他也發現不了你們的任何足跡。”
①鱒魚：背部淡青略帶褐色，側線下部銀白色，全身有黑點。
