chater thirteen dee agic fr the dawn f ti (第3/6页)

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“Prepare the victim，”said the Witch．And the dwarf undid Edmund’s collar and folded back his shirt at the neck．Then he took Edmund’s hair and pulled his head back so that he had to raise his chin．After that Edmund heard a strange noise-whizz—whizz-whizz．For a moment he couldn’t think what it was．Then he realized．It was the sound of a knife being sharpened．

At that very moment he heard loud shouts from every direction-a drumming of hoofs and a beating of wings-a scream from the Witch-confusion all round him．And then he found he was being untied．Strong arms were round him and he heard big， kind voices saying things like-

“Let him lie down-give him some wine-drink this-steady now-you’ll be all right in a minute．”

Then he heard the voices of people who were not talking to him but to one another．And they were saying things like“Who’s got the Witch ？”“I thought you had her．”“I didn’t see her after I knocked the knife out of her hand-I was after the dwarf-do you mean to say she’s escaped ？”“-A chap can’t mind everything at once-what’s that ？ Oh，sorry，it’s only an old stump ！”But just at this point Edmund went off in a dead faint．

Presently the centaurs and unicorns and deer and birds（they were of course the rescue party which Aslan had sent in the last chapter）all set off to go back to the Stone Table，carrying Edmund with them．But if they could have seen what happened in that valley after they had gone，I think they might have been surprised．

It was perfectly still and presently the moon grew bright；if you had been there you would have seen the moonlight shining on an old tree-stump and on a fair—sized boulder．But if you had gone on looking you would gradually have begun to think there was something odd about both the stump and the boulder．And next you would have thought that the stump did look really remarkably like a little fat man crouching on the ground．And if you had watched long enough you would have seen the stump walk across to the boulder and the boulder sit up and begin talking to the stump；for in reality the stump and the boulder were simply the Witch and the dwarf．For it was part of her magic that she could make things look like what they aren’t，and she had the presence of mind to do so at the very moment when the knife was knocked out of her hand．She had kept hold of her wand，so it had been kept safe，too．

When the other children woke up next morning（they had been sleeping on piles of cushions in the pavilion）the first thing they heard-from Mrs. Beaver-was that their brother had been rescued and brought into camp late last night；and was at that moment with Aslan．As soon as they had breakfasted4 they all went out，and there they saw Aslan and Edmund walking together in the dewy grass，apart from the rest of the court．There is no need to tell you（and no one ever heard）what Aslan was saying，but it was a conversation which Edmund never forgot．As the others drew nearer Aslan turned to meet them，bringing Edmund with him．

“Here is your brother，”he said，“and-there is no need to talk to him about what is past．”

Edmund shook hands with each of the others and said to each of them in turn，“I’m sorry，”and everyone said，“That’s all right.” And then everyone wanted very hard to say something which would make it quite clear that they were all friends with him again-something ordinary and natural-and of course no one could think of anything in the world to say．But before they had time to feel really awkward one of the leopards approached Aslan and said，

“Sire，there is a messenger from the enemy who craves audience．”