CHAPTER THIRTEEN HOW THE DWARFS REFUSED TO BE TAKEN IN（第2/4页）

“It looks like that if you walk round it，”said Peter.“But put your eye to that place where there is a crack between two of the planks and look through.”

Tirian put his eye to the hole. At first he could see nothing but blackness. Then，at his eyes grew used to it，he saw the dull red glow of a bonfire that was nearly going out，and above that，in a black sky，stars. Then he could see dark figures moving about or standing between him and the fire：he could hear them talking and their voices were like those of Calormenes. So he knew that he was looking out through the stable door into the darkness of Lantern Waste where he had fought his last battle. The men were discussing whether to go in and look for Rishda Tarkaan (but none of them wanted to do that) or to set fire to the stable．

He looked round again and could hardly believe his eyes. There was the blue sky overhead，and grassy country spreading as far as he could see in every direction，and his new friends all round him laughing．

“It seems，then，”said Tirian，smiling himself，“that the stable seen from within and the stable seen from without are two different places.”

“Yes，”said the Lord Digory.“Its inside is bigger than its outside.”

“Yes，”said Queen Lucy.“In our world too，a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.”It was the first time she had spoken，and from the thrill in her voice，Tirian now knew why. She was drinking everything in even more deeply than the others. She had been too happy to speak. He wanted to hear her speak again，so he said：

“Of your courtesy，Madam，tell on. Tell me your whole adventure.”

“After the shock and the noise，”said Lucy，“we found ourselves here. And we wondered at the door，as you did. Then the door opened for the first time (we saw darkness through the doorway when it did) and there came through a big man with a naked sword. We saw by his arms that he was a Calormene. He took his stand beside the door with his sword raised，resting on his shoulder，ready to cut down anyone who came through. We went to him and spoke to him，but we thought he could neither see nor hear us. And he never looked round on the sky and the sunlight and the grass：I think he couldn’t see them either. So then we waited a long time. Then we heard the bolt being drawn on the other side of the door. But the man didn’t get ready to strike with his sword till he could see who was coming in. So we supposed he had been told to strike some and spare others. But at the very moment when the door opened，all of a sudden Tash was there，on this side of the door; none of us saw where he came from. And through the door there came a big Cat. It gave one look at Tash and ran for its life： just in time，for he pounced at it and the door hit his beak as it was shut. The man could see Tash. He turned very pale and bowed down before the Monster：but it vanished away．

“Then we waited a long time again. At last the door opened for the third time and there came in a young Calormene. I liked him. The sentinel at the door started，and looked very surprised，when he saw him. I think he’d been expecting someone quite different-”

“I see it all now，”said Eustace (he had the bad habit of interrupting stories). ”The Cat was to go in first and the sentry had orders to do him no harm. Then the Cat was to come out and say he’d seen their beastly Tashlan and pretend to be frightened to scare the other Animals. But what Shift never guessed was that the real Tash would turn up; so Ginger came out really frightened. And after that，Shift would send in anyone he wanted to get rid of and the sentry would kill them．

And-

“Friend，”said Tirian softly，“you hinder the lady in her tale.”

“Well，”said Lucy，“the sentry was surprised. That gave the other man just time to get on guard. They had a fight. He killed the sentry and flung him outside the door. Then he came walking slowly forward to where we were. He could see us，and everything else. We tried to talk to him but he was rather like a man in a trance. He kept on saying Tash，Tash，where is Tash ？ I go to Tash. So we gave it up and he went away somewhere-over there. I liked him. And after that... ugh!”Lucy made a face．

“After that，”said Edmund，“someone flung a monkey through the door. And Tash was there again. My sister is so tender-hearted she doesn’t like to tell you that Tash made one peck and the Monkey was gone!”

“Serve him right!”said Eustace.“All the same，I hope he’ll disagree with Tash too.”

“And after that，”said Edmund，“came about a dozen Dwarfs：and then Jill，and Eustace，and last of all yourself.”

“I hope Tash ate the Dwarfs too，”said Eustace.“Little swine.”

“No，he didn’t，”said Lucy.“And don’t be horrid. Thery’re still here. In fact you can see them from here. And I’ve tried and tried to make friends with them but it’s no use.”