《獅子女巫與魔衣櫥》第8章:飯後發生的情況
"AND now," said Lucy, "do please tell us what's happened to Mr Tumnus."
"Ah, that's bad," said Mr Beaver, shaking his head. "That's a very, very bad business. There's no doubt he was taken off by the police. I got that from a bird who saw it done."
"But where's he been taken to?" asked Lucy.
"Well, they were heading northwards when they were last seen and we all know what that means."
"No, we don't," said Susan. Mr Beaver shook his head in a very gloomy fashion.
"I'm afraid it means they were taking him to her House," he said.
"But what'll they do to him, Mr Beaver?" gasped Lucy.
"Well," said Mr Beaver, "you can't exactly say for sure. But there's not many taken in there that ever comes out again. Statues. All full of statues they say it is - in the courtyard and up the stairs and in the hall. People she's turned" - (he paused and shuddered) "turned into stone."
"But, Mr Beaver," said Lucy, "can't we - I mean we must do something to save him. It's too dreadful and it's all on my account."
"I don't doubt you'd save him if you could, dearie," said Mrs Beaver, "but you've no chance of getting into that House against her will and ever coming out alive."
"Couldn't we have some stratagem?" said Peter. "I mean couldn't we dress up as something, or pretend to be - oh, pedlars or anything - or watch till she was gone out - or- oh, hang it all, there must be some way. This Faun saved my sister at his own risk, Mr Beaver. We can't just leave him to be - to be - to have that done to him."
"It's no good, Son of Adam," said Mr Beaver, "no good your trying, of all people. But now that Aslan is on the move-"
"Oh, yes! Tell us about Aslan!" said several voices at once; for once again that strange feeling - like the first signs of spring, like good news, had come over them.
"Who is Aslan?" asked Susan.
"Aslan?" said Mr Beaver. "Why, don't you know? He's the King. He's the Lord of the whole wood, but not often here, you understand. Never in my time or my father's time. But the word has reached us that he has come back. He is in Narnia at this moment. He'll settle the White Queen all right. It is he, not you, that will save Mr Tumnus."
"She won't turn him into stone too?" said Edmund.
"Lord love you, Son of Adam, what a simple thing to say!" answered Mr Beaver with a great laugh. "Turn him into stone? If she can stand on her two feet and look him in the face it'll be the most she can do and more than I expect of her. No, no. He'll put all to rights as it says in an old rhyme in these parts:
Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,
At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,
When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death,
And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.
You'll understand when you see him."
"But shall we see him?" asked Susan.
"Why, Daughter of Eve, that's what I brought you here for. I'm to lead you where you shall meet him," said Mr Beaver.
"Is-is he a man?" asked Lucy.
"Aslan a man!" said Mr Beaver sternly. "Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-Sea. Don't you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion - the Lion, the great Lion."
"Ooh!" said Susan, "I'd thought he was a man. Is he - quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."
"That you will, dearie, and no mistake," said Mrs Beaver; "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."
"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.
"Safe?" said Mr Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."
"I'm longing to see him," said Peter, "even if I do feel frightened when it comes to the point."
"That's right, Son of Adam," said Mr Beaver, bringing his paw down on the table with a crash that made all the cups and saucers rattle. "And so you shall. Word has been sent that you are to meet him, tomorrow if you can, at the Stone Table.'
"Where's that?" said Lucy.
"I'll show you," said Mr Beaver. "It's down the river, a good step from here. I'll take you to it!"
"But meanwhile what about poor Mr Tumnus?" said Lucy.
"The quickest way you can help him is by going to meet Aslan," said Mr Beaver, "once he's with us, then we can begin doing things. Not that we don't need you too. For that's another of the old rhymes:
When Adam's flesh and Adam's bone
Sits at Cair Paravel in throne,
The evil time will be over and done.
So things must be drawing near their end now he's come and you've come. We've heard of Aslan coming into these parts before - long ago, nobody can say when. But there's never been any of your race here before."
"That's what I don't understand, Mr Beaver," said Peter, "I mean isn't the Witch herself human?"
"She'd like us to believe it," said Mr Beaver, "and it's on that that she bases her claim to be Queen. But she's no Daughter of Eve. She comes of your father Adam's" - (here Mr Beaver bowed) "your father Adam's first wife, her they called Lilith. And she was one of the Jinn. That's what she comes from on one side. And on the other she comes of the giants. No, no, there isn't a drop of real human blood in the Witch."
"That's why she's bad all through, Mr Beaver," said Mrs Beaver.
"True enough, Mrs Beaver," replied he, "there may be two views about humans (meaning no offence to the present company). But there's no two views about things that look like humans and aren't."
"I've known good Dwarfs," said Mrs Beaver.
"So've I, now you come to speak of it," said her husband, "but precious few, and they were the ones least like men. But in general, take my advice, when you meet anything that's going to be human and isn't yet, or used to be human once and isn't now, or ought to be human and isn't, you keep your eyes on it and feel for your hatchet. And that's why the Witch is always on the lookout for any humans in Narnia. She's been watching for you this many a year, and if she knew there were four of you she'd be more dangerous still."
"What's that to do with it?" asked Peter.
"Because of another prophecy," said Mr Beaver. "Down at Cair Paravel - that's the castle on the sea coast down at the mouth of this river which ought to be the capital of the whole country if all was as it should be - down at Cair Paravel there are four thrones and it's a saying in Narnia time out of mind that when two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve sit in those four thrones, then it will be the end not only of the White Witch's reign but of her life, and that is why we had to be so cautious as we came along, for if she knew about you four, your lives wouldn't be worth a shake of my whiskers!"
All the children had been attending so hard to what Mr Beaver was telling them that they had noticed nothing else for a long time. Then during the moment of silence that followed his last remark, Lucy suddenly said:
"I say-where's Edmund?"
There was a dreadful pause, and then everyone began asking "Who saw him last? How long has he been missing? Is he outside? and then all rushed to the door and looked out. The snow was falling thickly and steadily, the green ice of the pool had vanished under a thick white blanket, and from where the little house stood in the centre of the dam you could hardly see either bank. Out they went, plunging well over their ankles into the soft new snow, and went round the house in every direction. "Edmund! Edmund!" they called till they were hoarse. But the silently falling snow seemed to muffle their voices and there was not even an echo in answer.
"How perfectly dreadful!" said Susan as they at last came back in despair. "Oh, how I wish we'd never come."
"What on earth are we to do, Mr Beaver?" said Peter.
"Do?" said Mr Beaver, who was already putting on his snow-boots, "do? We must be off at once. We haven't a moment to spare!"
"We'd better divide into four search parties," said Peter, "and all go in different directions. Whoever finds him must come back here at once and-"
"Search parties, Son of Adam?" said Mr Beaver; "what for?"
"Why, to look for Edmund, of course!"
"There's no point in looking for him," said Mr Beaver.
"What do you mean?" said Susan. "He can't be far away yet. And we've got to find him. What do you mean when you say there's no use looking for him?"
"The reason there's no use looking," said Mr Beaver, "is that we know already where he's gone!" Everyone stared in amazement. "Don't you understand?" said Mr Beaver. "He's gone to her, to the White Witch. He has betrayed us all."
"Oh, surely-oh, really!" said Susan, "he can't have done that."
"Can't he?" said Mr Beaver, looking very hard at the three children, and everything they wanted to say died on their lips, for each felt suddenly quite certain inside that this was exactly what Edmund had done.
"But will he know the way?" said Peter.
"Has he been in this country before?" asked Mr Beaver. "Has he ever been here alone?"
"Yes," said Lucy, almost in a whisper. "I'm afraid he has."
"And did he tell you what he'd done or who he'd met?"
"Well, no, he didn't," said Lucy.
"Then mark my words," said Mr Beaver, "he has already met the White Witch and joined her side, and been told where she lives. I didn't like to mention it before (he being your brother and all) but the moment I set eyes on that brother of yours I said to myself `Treacherous'. He had the look of one who has been with the Witch and eaten her food. You can always tell them if you've lived long in Narnia; something about their eyes."
"All the same," said Peter in a rather choking sort of voice, "we'll still have to go and look for him. He is our brother after all, even if he is rather a little beast. And he's only a kid."
"Go to the Witch's House?" said Mrs Beaver. "Don't you see that the only chance of saving either him or yourselves is to keep away from her?"
"How do you mean?" said Lucy.
"Why, all she wants is to get all four of you (she's thinking all the time of those four thrones at Cair Paravel). Once you were all four inside her House her job would be done - and there'd be four new statues in her collection before you'd had time to speak. But she'll keep him alive as long as he's the only one she's got, because she'll want to use him as a decoy; as bait to catch the rest of you with."
"Oh, can no one help us?" wailed Lucy.
"Only Aslan," said Mr Beaver, "we must go on and meet him. That's our only chance now."
"It seems to me, my dears," said Mrs Beaver, "that it is very important to know just when he slipped away. How much he can tell her depends on how much he heard. For instance, had we started talking of Aslan before he left? If not, then we may do very well, for she won't know that Aslan has come to Narnia, or that we are meeting him, and will be quite off her guard as far as that is concerned."
"I don't remember his being here when we were talking about Aslan -" began Peter, but Lucy interrupted him.
"Oh yes, he was," she said miserably; "don't you remember, it was he who asked whether the Witch couldn't turn Aslan into stone too?"
"So he did, by Jove," said Peter; "just the sort of thing he would say, too!"
"Worse and worse," said Mr Beaver, "and the next thing is this. Was he still here when I told you that the place for meeting Aslan was the Stone Table?"
And of course no one knew the answer to this question.
"Because, if he was," continued Mr Beaver, "then she'll simply sledge down in that direction and get between us and the Stone Table and catch us on our way down. In fact we shall be cut off from Aslan. "
"But that isn't what she'll do first," said Mrs Beaver, "not if I know her. The moment that Edmund tells her that we're all here she'll set out to catch us this very night, and if he's been gone about half an hour, she'll be here in about another twenty minutes."
"You're right, Mrs Beaver," said her husband, "we must all get away from here. There's not a moment to lose."
“啊，真糟糕。”海狸先生搖着頭說，“那可是非常非常糟糕的事。毫無疑問，他是被警察帶走的。這個情況我是從一隻鳥兒那裏探聽到的，它親眼看見他被他們帶走的。”
“那麼他被帶到什麼地方去了呢？”露茜問道。
“嗯，最後看到他們的時候，他們是朝北去的。大家都知道那意味着什麼。”
“但是我們不懂啊。”蘇珊說。海狸先生非常憂鬱地搖了搖頭說：“恐怕他們把他帶到她的住所去了。”
“他們要拿他怎麼樣，海狸先生？”露茜喘着氣問。
“唉，”海狸先生說，“這就難說了，凡是被抓去的能夠出來的不多，全變成了石頭雕像啦。據說，在她住的院子裏，樓上，廳堂裏都堆滿了石頭雕像。她把人們……”他頓了一下，繼續顫慄着說，“通通變成石頭了。”
“但是，海狸先生，”露茜說，“難道我們就一點辦法也沒有了嗎？我是說我們應該想一切辦法去救他。這是多麼可怕啊，而且，不是爲了我，他就不會遭這個罪。”
“孩子們，我並不懷疑，如果你們能有辦法的話，你們可以救他的命，”海狸太太說，“但是，你們怎麼能強行進入她的住所，再活着出來呢？”
“我們是不是可以用些計謀呢？”彼得說，“例如，我們打扮成小販或旁的什麼人，或者注意好了，等她不在家時，偷偷地潛入她的宮中，或者……唉，她真是該死。總之，我們得想一切辦法救他出來。海狸先生，這位農牧之神不顧他自己的生命危險救了我的妹妹，我們怎能眼巴巴的不顧他的死活，看着他受苦呢？”
“不行啊，亞當的兒子，”海狸先生說，“你們再想辦法也沒用。唉，聽說阿斯蘭回來了……”
“哦，對啦，給我們講講阿斯蘭的情況吧！”幾個人異口同聲地說，說到阿斯蘭，那種神奇的感覺，就像春天來臨的第一個信號，就像喜訊撥動着他們的心絃。
“阿斯蘭是誰呀？”蘇珊問。
“阿斯蘭？”海狸先生說，“這你還不知道嗎？他是國王，他是森林之王，但他不經常在這兒。不論在我父親的一生中，還是在我的一生中，他都沒來過。但現在有確實的消息說，他已經回來了。目前他就在那尼亞。他一定要將白女巫徹底消滅。能夠救圖姆納斯先生的就是他，而不是你們。”
“她不會也把他變成石頭嗎？”愛德蒙說。
“我的小祖宗啊，亞當的兒子，你問的問題是多麼簡單幼稚啊！”海狸先生哈哈大笑地回答說，“把他變成石頭？如果她敢在他面前站起來，正視他一眼，她就算是有種的了。我能肯定她不敢這樣做。阿斯蘭要重整河山，如同一首古老的詩歌中所寫的那樣：
阿斯蘭出現在我們面前，
是非顛倒的現象就會改變；
人們一聽到他的吼聲，
阿斯蘭一露他的牙齒，
漫漫嚴冬就會消逝不見；
他的鬃毛輕輕一抖，
我們就會重睹春天。
你們見到以後就會知道了。”
“我們要去見見他嗎？”蘇珊問道。
“當然羅，夏娃的女兒，我就是爲了這個才把你們帶到這兒來的。我把你們帶到跟他相會的地方去。”海狸先生說。
“他，他是人嗎？”露茜問。
“阿斯蘭是人？！”海狸先生嚴肅地說，“當然不是。我已告訴過你們，他是森林之王，是海外大帝之子。你不知道誰是百獸之王嗎？阿斯蘭是一頭獅子，一頭雄獅，是偉大的百獸之王。”
“哦，哦，哦，”蘇珊說，“我原來還以爲他是人呢。那麼他——會傷人嗎？和一頭獅子相會，我會感到非常害怕。”
“你們會感到害怕，親愛的，這一點也不奇怪，”海狸太太說，“如果有誰在阿斯蘭面前兩膝不發抖，他不是一個非凡的勇士，就是一個傻瓜。”
“這樣說來不是太嚇人了嗎？”露茜說。
“害怕嗎？”海狸先生說，“你沒有聽見我的太太說的話嗎？他當然使人望而生畏，但他是善良的。他是王，懂了嗎？”
“即使我見到他會感到害怕，我還是渴望去見他。”彼得說。
“說得對，亞當的兒子，”海狸先生說，他用腳爪猛地拍了一下桌子，震得滿桌的杯子和碟子都叮噹直響。“你們應該去見他，我這兒已經得到口信，約你們去與他相會。如果可能的話，就在明天，在石臺那兒。”
“石臺在哪兒？”露茜問。
“我會給你們帶路的，”海狸先生說，“它在這條河流的下游，離這兒好遠呢，我送你們到那兒。”
“還要走這麼遠的路，圖姆納斯先生不知會怎麼樣？”露茜問。
“你們能幫助他的最快的辦法就是去找阿斯蘭，”海狸先生說，“只要他和我們在一起，我們就會有辦法，但這並不是說我們就不需要你們，這裏還有幾行古老的詩句：
一旦亞當的親骨肉登上
凱爾·巴拉維爾的王位，
罪惡的年代就會一去不復返。
所以，既然阿斯蘭來了，你們又來了，一切都得結束了。我們很久以前——具體什麼時候，誰也說不清楚——就聽說阿斯蘭到這一帶來過，但這裏從來也不曾有過你們人類的足跡。”
“這正是我搞不清楚的地方，海狸先生，”彼得問，“我是說，難道女王自己就不是人嗎？”
“她就希望我們相信她是人類，”海狸先生說，“她就是以此自封爲女王的，但她根本不是夏娃的女兒，她是你父王亞當的……”說到這裏，海狸先生鞠了一個躬，“第一個妻子李麗絲生的，李麗絲是個妖精，所以她身上既有女巫的血統，又有巨人的血緣。在這個女巫身上，沒有一滴真正人類的血液。”
“怪不得她這樣壞，海狸先生，”海狸太太說。
“對極了，太太，”他答道，“關於人類也許有兩種看法（我不想冒犯在場的人），但對看起來像人類而又不是人類的東西，就不存在兩種看法。”
“我認識善良的小妖，”海狸太太說。
“我也認識，”她的丈夫說，“但真正善良的極少，他們最不像人。總之，你們應該聽我的勸告，當你們遇見任何要想變做人而還沒有變成的，或過去曾經是人而現在已不是的，或應該是人實際上不是人的什麼生靈，你們就必須提高警惕，隨時準備好你們的斧子。白女巫總是害怕那尼亞會出現人類，她提防你們已有好幾年了。如果她知道你們四個人都在這兒，她就會變得更加狠毒。”
“這是什麼原因？”彼得問。
“這就要說到一個古老的預言，”海狸說，“在凱爾·巴拉維爾，也就是這條河流入海口附近的那個城堡，照理它應該是整個國家的首都，有四個國王的寶座。很久很久以前，誰也記不清是什麼年代了，在那尼亞有這樣一種傳說，一旦亞當的兩個兒子和夏娃的兩個女兒坐上這四個王位，不僅白女巫的統治，而且連同她的生命都將一起完蛋。這就是剛纔我們來的路上爲什麼要這樣小心翼翼的原因，因爲假如讓她知道了，她要害死你們，就像我抖抖鬍子這樣容易。”
孩子們一直這樣聚精會神地聽着海狸先生講話，他們好長時間都沒有去注意別的情況。他說到最後，大家都寂靜無聲的時候，露茜突然說道：
“哎喲，愛德蒙到哪兒去啦？”
先是一陣可怕的沉默，接着大家都問：“誰最後看見他的？不見他有多少時候啦？他到屋外去了嗎？”大家馬上衝到門口去看。外面大雪紛飛，水池上面綠色的冰已經不見了，而蓋上了一條厚厚的雪毯。站在小屋的門口，你幾乎看不見兩邊的河岸。他們在屋前屋後四下尋找，兩腳深陷在剛下的柔軟的雪中。“愛德蒙！愛德蒙！”他們拼命地喊着，嗓子都喊啞了。但是，他們的喊聲似乎全被寂靜的大雪淹沒了，甚至連一句回聲也聽不到。
最後，他們懊喪地回到屋裏。“太可怕了！”蘇姍說，“啊，如果我們不到這兒來該有多好啊。”
“我們究竟怎麼辦呢？海狸先生？”彼得問。
“怎麼辦？”海狸先生說，他已經穿上了雪靴，“怎麼辦？我們必須立即出發，一刻也不能停留！”
“我們最好分成四個搜尋小組，”彼得說，“朝各個方向去找，找到他以後立即回到這兒來，還有……”
“分成搜尋小組，”海狸先生問，“幹什麼去呀？”
“當然去找愛德蒙羅！”
“不必去找他啦，”海狸先生說。
“你這是什麼意思？”彼得說，“他還不可能走遠。我們必須把他找回來。你說不用去找他，這是什麼意思？”
“不必找他的理由是，”海狸先生說，“我們已經知道他到哪兒去了！”大家聽了，一時摸不着頭腦，都驚訝地瞪起了眼睛。“你們難道還不知道嗎？”海狸先生接下來說，“他到白女巫哪兒去了，他已經背叛了我們。”
“哦，不會的，我敢肯定，”蘇姍說，“他不會幹出這種事來的。”
“他不會？”海狸先生緊盯着三個孩子問，孩子們的話剛到了嘴邊又咽了下去，因爲他們每個人的心裏都立刻明白過來，愛德蒙肯定已經幹了那樣的事。
“但他認得路嗎？”彼得說。
“他以前來過這個國家嗎？”海狸先生問，“他有沒有一個人單獨來過？”
“他來過，”露茜低聲說，聲音低得人們幾乎都聽不見。
“他有沒有告訴你們做了些什麼，遇見了誰嗎？”
“嗯，沒有，”彼得說。
“那麼，你們就聽我說，”海狸先生說，“他見過白女巫，他已經加入她那一邊了，他知道她住在哪兒。我起先不高興講，因爲他是你們的兄弟，但我一見到你們這位兄弟，就知道他不可靠。他臉上有一種特別的表情，只有和女巫在一起、吃過她東西的人臉上纔有這種表情。如果你們在那尼亞的時間長了，就可以根據他們的眼神把他們辨別出來。”
“不管怎樣，”彼得幾乎用一種哽咽的聲音說，“我們還得去找他，他到底是我們的兄弟，即使他是個小畜生，他畢竟還是個小孩子。”
“到女巫住的地方去找他？”海狸太太說，“你們難道還不明白，救他或者救你們自己的惟一辦法，就是避免和她接觸，不讓她看見嗎？”
“這到底是什麼意思？”露茜說。
“哎喲，她一心想的就是要把你們四人一網打盡，她一直在覬覦着凱爾·巴拉維爾的四個王位。你們四個人一到她的住所裏面，她正好下手。你們還來不及開口，就已成了四座新的石頭雕像。但是如果抓住他一個人，她就會讓他活着，因爲她要把他作爲釣餌，用來引誘你們其餘的人上鉤。”
“啊，難道就沒有人幫助我們了嗎？”露茜大聲哭了起來。
“只有阿斯蘭，”海狸先生說，“我們一定要去見他，這是我們眼下惟一的辦法。”
“親愛的孩子們，據我看來，”海狸太太說，“要緊的是知道他什麼時候溜走的。他能告訴女巫多少取決於他聽到了多少。例如說，在他溜走前，我們已經開始談到阿斯蘭了嗎？如果還沒有，我們就照常可以乾得很好，因爲女巫還不知道阿斯蘭已經來到了那尼亞，也不知道我們將去見阿斯蘭，不知道我們將盡可能地避開她。”
“我記不清我們談論阿斯蘭時他是不是還在這兒……”彼得說，但露茜馬上打斷了他的話。
“哦，他在的，”她很難過地說，“你可記得，就是他要打聽女巫能不能將阿斯蘭也變成石頭嗎？”
“天哪，正是他，”彼得說，“他就是喜歡問這一類的問題。”
“糟了，糟了，”海狸先生說，“還有一個問題，當我告訴你們在石臺會見阿斯蘭時他還在這兒嗎？”
沒有誰能回答這個問題。
“因爲，如果他那時也在的話，”海狸先生繼續說道，“那麼，女巫知道了這一情況，她就會駕着雪橇直奔石臺，插到我們和石臺中間，在半路上堵截我們。這樣，我們和阿斯蘭的聯繫就會被切斷。”
“但是這還不是她首先要乾的事，”海狸太太說，“在我看來，她不會那樣幹。如果愛德蒙告訴了她我們都在這兒，她今晚就會到這裏來抓我們。假如她是半小時以前溜走的，再過二十分鐘，她就會趕到我們這兒來。”
“你說得對，太太，”海狸先生說，“我們必須立刻出發，全部離開這兒！”
