CHAPTER THREE THE APE IN ITS GLORY（第3/3页）
“But we don’t want all those things，”said an old Bear.“We want to be free. And we want to hear Aslan speak himself.”
“Now don’t you start arguing，”said the Ape，“for it’s a thing I won’t stand. I’m a Man：you’re only a fat，stupid old Bear. What do you know about freedom ？ You think freedom means doing what you like. Well，you’re wrong. That isn’t true freedom. True freedom means doing what I tell you.”
“H-n-n-h，”grunted the Bear and scratched its head; it found this sort of thing hard to understand．
“Please，please，”said the high voice of a woolly lamb，who was so young that everyone was surprised he dared to speak at all．
“What is it now ？”said the Ape.“Be quick.”
“Please，”said the Lamb，“I can’t understand. What have we to do with the Calormenes ？ We belong to Aslan. They belong to Tash. They have a god called Tash. They say he has four arms and the head of a vulture. They kill Men on his altar. I don’t believe there’s any such person as Tash. But if there was，how could Aslan be friends with him ？”
All the animals cocked their heads sideways and all their bright eyes flashed towards the Ape. They knew it was the best question anyone had asked yet．
The Ape jumped up and spat at the Lamb．
“Baby!”he hissed.“Silly little bleater! Go home to your mother and drink milk. What do you understand of such things ？ But the others，listen. Tash is only another name for Aslan. All that old idea of us being right and the Calormenes wrong is silly. We know better now. The Calormenes use different words but we all mean the same thing. Tash and Aslan are only two different names for you know Who. That’s why there can never be any quarrel between them. Get that into your heads，you stupid brutes. Tash is Aslan： Aslan is Tash.”
You know how sad your own dog’s face can look sometimes. Think of that and then think of all the faces of those Talking Beasts-all those honest，humble，bewildered Birds，Bears，Badgers， Rabbits，Moles，and Mice-all far sadder than that. Every tail was down，every whisker drooped. It would have broken your heart with very pity to see their faces. There was only one who did not look at all unhappy．
It was a ginger Cat-a great big Tom in the prime of life-who sat bolt upright with his tail curled round his toes，in the very front row of all the Beasts. He had been staring hard at the Ape and the Calormene captain all the time and had never once blinked his eyes．
“Excuse me，”said the Cat very politely，“but this interests me. Does your friend from Calormen say the same ？”
“Assuredly，”said the Calormene.“The enlightened Ape- Man，I mean-is in the right. Aslan means neither less nor more than Tash.”
“Especially，Aslan means no more than Tash ？”suggested the Cat．
“No more at all，”said the Calormene，looking the Cat straight in the face．
“Is that good enough for you，Ginger ？”said the Ape．
“Oh certainly，”said Ginger coolly.“Thank you very much. I only wanted to be quite clear. I think I am beginning to understand.”
Up till now the King and Jewel had said nothing：they were waiting until the Ape should bid them speak，for they thought it was no use interrupting. But now，as Tirian looked round on the miserable faces of the Narnians，and saw how they would all believe that Aslan and Tash were one and the same，he could bear it no longer．
“Ape，”he cried with a great voice，“you lie damnably. You lie like a Calormene. You lie like an Ape.”
He meant to go on and ask how the terrible god Tash who fed on the blood of his people could possibly be the same as the good Lion by whose blood all Narnia was saved. If he had been allowed to speak，the rule of the Ape might have ended that day; the Beasts might have seen the truth and thrown the Ape down. But before he could say another word two Calormenes struck him in the mouth with all their force，and a third，from behind，kicked his feet from under him. And as he fell，the Ape squealed in rage and terror．
“Take him away. Take him away. Take him where he cannot hear us，nor we hear him. There tie him to a tree. I will-I mean， Aslan will-do justice on him later.”