【纯享版】第16章 石像的遭遇 外教朗读完整音频

CHAPTER16

WHATHAPPENED ABOUT THE STATUES

"WHATan extraordinary place!" cried Lucy. "All those stone animals --- andpeople too! It's --- it's like a museum." 

"Hush,"said Susan, "Aslan's doing something." 

He wasindeed. He had bounded up to the stone lion and breathed on him. Then withoutwaiting a moment he whisked round --- almost as if he had been a cat chasingits tail --- and breathed also on the stone dwarf, which (as you remember) wasstanding a few feet from the lion with his back to it. Then he pounced on atall stone dryad which stood beyond the dwarf, turned rapidly aside to dealwith a stone rabbit on his right, and rushed on to two centaurs. But at thatmoment Lucy said, 

"Oh,Susan! Look! Look at the lion." 

I expectyou've seen someone put a lighted match to a bit of newspaper which is proppedup in a grate against an unlit fire. And for a second nothing seems to havehappened; and then you notice a tiny streak of flame creeping along the edge ofthe newspaper. It was like that now. For a second after Aslan had breathed uponhim the stone lion looked just the same. Then a tiny streak of gold began torun along his white marble back--- then it spread --- then the color seemed tolick all over him as the flame licks all over a bit of paper - then, while hishindquarters were still obviously stone, the lion shook his mane and all theheavy, stone folds rippled into living hair. Then he opened a great red mouth,warm and living, and gave a prodigious yawn. And now his hind legs had come tolife. He lifted one of them and scratched himself. Then, having caught sight ofAslan, he went bounding after him and frisking round him whimpering withdelight and jumping up to lick his face. 

Of coursethe children's eyes turned to follow the lion; but the sight they saw was sowonderful that they soon forgot abouthim.Everywhere the statues were coming to life. The courtyard looked no longer likea museum; it looked more like a zoo. Creatures were running after Aslan anddancing round him till he was almost hidden in the crowd. Instead of all thatdeadly white the courtyard was now a blaze of colours; glossy chestnut sides ofcentaurs, indigo horns of unicorns, dazzling plumage of birds, reddy-brown offoxes, dogs and satyrs, yellow stockings and crimson hoods of dwarfs; and thebirch-girls in silver, and the beech-girls in fresh, transparent green, and thelarch-girls in green so bright that it was almost yellow. And instead of thedeadly silence the whole place rang with the sound of happy roarings, brayings,yelpings, barkings, squealings, cooings, neighings, stampings, shouts, hurrahs,songs and laughter. 

"Oh!"said Susan in a different tone. "Look! I wonder - I mean, is itsafe?" 

Lucy lookedand saw that Aslan had just breathed on the feet of the stone giant. 

"It'sall right!" shouted Aslan joyously. "Once the feet are put right, allthe rest of him will follow." 

"Thatwasn't exactly what I meant," whispered Susan to Lucy. But it was too lateto do anything about it now even if Aslan would have listened to her. Thechange was already creeping up the Giant's legs. Now he was moving his feet. Amoment later he lifted his club off his shoulder, rubbed his eyes andsaid, 

"Blessme! I must have been asleep. Now! Where's that dratted little Witch that wasrunning about on the ground. Somewhere just by my feet it was." But wheneveryone had shouted up to him to explain what had really happened, and whenthe Giant had put his hand to his ear and got them to repeat it all again sothat at last he understood, then he bowed down till his head was no further offthan the top of a haystack and touched his cap repeatedly to Aslan, beaming allover his honest ugly face. (Giants of any sort are now so rare in England andso few giants are good-tempered that ten to one you have never seen a giantwhen his face is beaming. It's a sight well worth looking at.) 

"Nowfor the inside of this house!" said Aslan. "Look alive, everyone. Upstairs and down stairs and in my lady's chamber! Leave no corner unsearched.You never know where some poor prisoner may be concealed." 

And intothe interior they all rushed and for several minutes the whole of that dark,horrible, fusty old castle echoed with the opening of windows and witheveryone's voices crying out at once, "Don't forget the dungeons --- Giveus a hand with this door! --- Here's another little winding stair --- Oh! Isay. Here's a poor kangaroo. Call Aslan --- Phew! How it smells in here ---Look out for trap-doors --- Up here! There are a whole lot more on thelanding!" But the best of all was when Lucy came rushing upstairs shoutingout, 

"Aslan!Aslan! I've found Mr Tumnus. Oh, do come quick." 

A momentlater Lucy and the little Faun were holding each other by both hands anddancing round and round for joy. The little chap was none the worse for havingbeen a statue and was of course very interested in all she had to tellhim. 

But at lastthe ransacking of the Witch's fortress was ended. The whole castle stood emptywith every door and window open and the light and the sweet spring air floodingin to all the dark and evil places which needed them so badly. The whole crowdof liberated statues surged back into the courtyard. And it was then thatsomeone (Tumnus, I think) first said, 

"Buthow are we going to get out?" for Aslan had got in by a jump and the gateswere still locked. 

"That'llbe all right," said Aslan; and then, rising on his hind-legs, he bawled upat the Giant. "Hi! You up there," he roared. "What's yourname?" 

"GiantRumblebuffin, if it please your honour," said the Giant, once moretouching his cap. 

"Wellthen, Giant Rumblebuffin," said Aslan, "just let us out of this, willyou?" 

"Certainly,your honour. It will be a pleasure," said Giant Rumblebuffin. "Standwell away from the gates, all you little 'uns." Then he strode to the gatehimself and bang - bang - bang - went his huge club. The gates creaked at thefirst blow, cracked at the second, and shivered at the third. Then he tackledthe towers on each side of them and after a few minutes of crashing andthudding both the towers and a good bit of the wall on each side wentthundering down in a mass of hopeless rubble; and when the dust cleared it wasodd, standing in that dry, grim, stony yard, to see through the gap all thegrass and waving trees and sparkling streams of the forest, and the blue hillsbeyond that and beyond them the sky. 

"Blowedif I ain't all in a muck sweat," said the Giant, puffing like the largestrailway engine. "Comes of being out of condition. I suppose neither of youyoung ladies has such a thing as a pocket-handkerchee about you?" 

"Yes,I have," said Lucy, standing on tip-toes and holding her handkerchief upas far as she could reach. 

"Thankyou, Missie," said Giant Rumblebuffin, stooping down. Next moment Lucy gotrather a fright for she found herself caught up in mid-air between the Giant'sfinger and thumb. But just as she was getting near his face he suddenly startedand then put her gently back on the ground muttering, "Bless me! I'vepicked up the little girl instead. I beg your pardon, Missie, I thought youwasthe handkerchee!" 

"No,no," said Lucy laughing, "here it is!" This time he managed toget it but it was only about the same size to him that a saccharine tabletwould be to you, so that when she saw him solemnly rubbing it to and fro acrosshis great red face, she said, "I'm afraid it's not much use to you, MrRumblebuffin." 

"Notat all. Not at all," said the giant politely. "Never met a nicerhandkerchee. So fine, so handy. So - I don't know how to describeit." 

"Whata nice giant he is!" said Lucy to Mr Tumnus.

"Oh yes," replied the Faun. "All the Buffins alwayswere. One of the most respected of all the giant families in Narnia. Not veryclever, perhaps (I never knew a giant that was), but an old family. Withtraditions, you know. If he'd been the other sort she'd never have turned himinto stone." 

At thispoint Aslan clapped his paws together and called for silence. 

"Ourday's work is not yet over," he said, "and if the Witch is to befinally defeated before bed-time we must find the battle at once." 

"Andjoin in, I hope, sir!" added the largest of the Centaurs. 

"Ofcourse," said Aslan. "And now! Those who can't keep up --- that is,children, dwarfs, and small animals --- must ride on the backs of those who can--- that is, lions, centaurs, unicorns, horses, giants and eagles. Those whoare good with their noses must come in front with us lions to smell out wherethe battle is. Look lively and sort yourselves." 

And with agreat deal of bustle and cheering they did. The most pleased of the lot was theother lion who kept running about everywhere pretending to be very busy butreally in order to say to everyone he met. "Did you hear what he said?Us Lions. That means him and me.Us Lions. That's what I like aboutAslan. No side, no stand-off-ishness.UsLions. That meant him and me." At least he went on saying this tillAslan had loaded him up with three dwarfs, one dryad, two rabbits, and ahedgehog. That steadied him a bit. 

When allwere ready (it was a big sheep-dog who actually helped Aslan most in gettingthem sorted into their proper order) they set out through the gap in the castlewall. At first the lions and dogs went nosing about in all directions. But thensuddenly one great hound picked up the scent and gave a bay. There was no timelost after that. Soon all the dogs and lions and wolves and other huntinganimals were going at full speed with their noses to the ground, and all theothers, streaked out for about half a mile behind them, were following as fastas they could. The noise was like an English fox-hunt only better because everynow and then with the music of the hounds was mixed the roar of the other lionand sometimes the far deeper and more awful roar of Aslan himself. Faster andfaster they went as the scent became easier and easier to follow. And then,just as they came to the last curve in a narrow, winding valley, Lucy heardabove all these noises another noise --- a different one, which gave her aqueer feeling inside. It was a noise of shouts and shrieks and of the clashingof metal against metal. 

Then theycame out of the narrow valley and at once she saw the reason. There stood Peterand Edmund and all the rest of Aslan's army fighting desperately against thecrowd of horrible creatures whom she had seen last night; only now, in thedaylight, they looked even stranger and more evil and more deformed. There alsoseemed to be far more of them. Peter's army --- which had their backs to her ---looked terribly few. And there were statues dotted all over the battlefield, soapparently the Witch had been using her wand. But she did not seem to be usingit now. She was fighting with her stone knife. It was Peter she was fighting ---both of them going at it so hard that Lucy could hardly make out what washappening; she only saw the stone knife and Peter's sword flashing so quicklythat they looked like three knives and three swords. That pair were in thecentre. On each side the line stretched out. Horrible things were happeningwherever she looked. 

"Off my back, children," shoutedAslan. And they both tumbled off. Then with a roar that shook all Narnia fromthe western lamp-post to the shores of the eastern sea the great beast flunghimself upon the White Witch. Lucy saw her face lifted towards him for onesecond with an expression of terror and amazement. Then Lion and Witch hadrolled over together but with the Witch underneath; and at the same moment allwar-like creatures whom Aslan had led from the Witch's house rushed madly onthe enemy lines, dwarfs with their battleaxes, dogs with teeth, the Giant withhis club (and his feet also crushed dozens of the foe), unicorns with theirhorns, centaurs with swords and hoofs. And Peter's tired army cheered, and thenewcomers roared, and the enemy squealed and gibbered till the wood re-echoedwith the din of that onset.