CHAPTER ONE:

THE PICTURE IN THE BEDROOM

THERE was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. His parents called him Eustace Clarence and masters called him Scrubb. I can’t tell you how his friends spoke to him, for he had none. He didn’t call his Father and Mother “Father” and “Mother,” but Harold and Alberta. They were very up-to-date and advanced people. They were vegetarians, non-smokers and teetotallers and wore a special kind of underclothes. In their house there was very little furniture and very few clothes on beds and the windows were always open.

Eustace Clarence liked animals, especially beetles, if they were dead and pinned on a card. He liked books if they were books of information and had pictures of grain elevators or of fat foreign children doing exercises in model schools.

Eustace Clarence disliked his cousins the four Pevensies, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. But he was quite glad when he heard that Edmund and Lucy were coming to stay. For deep down inside him he liked bossing and bullying; and, though he was a puny little person who couldn’t have stood up even to Lucy, let alone Edmund, in a fight, he knew that there are dozens of ways to give people a bad time if you are in your own home and they are only visitors.

Edmund and Lucy did not at all want to come and stay with Uncle Harold and Aunt Alberta. But it really couldn’t be helped. Father had got a job lecturing in America for sixteen weeks that summer, and Mother was to go with him because she hadn’t had a real holiday for ten years. Peter was working very hard for an exam and he was to spend the holidays being coached by old Professor Kirke in whose house these four children had had wonderful adventures long ago in the war years. If he had still been in that house he would have had them all to stay. But he had somehow become poor since the old days and was living in a small cottage with only one bedroom to spare. It would have cost too much money to take the other three all to America, and Susan had gone.

Grown-ups thought her the pretty one of the family and she was no good at school work（though otherwise very old for her age）and Mother said she “would get far more out of a trip to America than the youngsters.” Edmund and Lucy tried not to grudge Susan her luck, but it was dreadful having to spend the summer holidays at their Aunt’s. “But it’s far worse for me,” said Edmund, “because you’ll at least have a room of your own and I shall have to share a bedroom with that record stinker, Eustace.”

The story begins on an afternoon when Edmund and Lucy were stealing a few precious minutes alone together. And of course they were talking about Narnia, which was the name of their own private and secret country. Most of us, I suppose, have a secret country but for most of us it is only an imaginary country. Edmund and Lucy were luckier than other people in that respect. Their secret country was real. They had already visited it twice; not in a game or a dream but in reality. They had got there of course by Magic, which is the only way of getting to Narnia. And a promise, or very nearly a promise, had been made them in Narnia itself that they would some day get back. You may imagine that they talked about it a good deal, when they got the chance.

They were in Lucy’s room, sitting on the edge of her bed and looking at a picture on the opposite wall. It was the only picture in the house that they liked. Aunt Alberta didn’t like it at all（that was why it was put away in a little back room upstairs）, but she couldn’t get rid of it because it had been a wedding present from someone she did not want to offend.

It was a picture of a ship—a ship sailing straight towards you. Her prow was gilded and shaped like the head of a dragon with wide-open mouth. She had only one mast and one large, square sail which was a rich purple. The sides of the ship—what you could see of them where the gilded wings of the dragon ended—were green. She had just run up to the top of one glorious blue wave, and the nearer slope of that wave came down towards you, with streaks and bubbles on it. She was obviously running fast before a gay wind, listing over a little on her port side. （By the way, if you are going to read this story at all, and if you don’t know already, you had better get it into your head that the left of a ship when you are looking ahead, is port, and the right is starboard.）All the sunlight fell on her from that side, and the water on that side was full of greens and purples. On the other, it was darker blue from the shadow of the ship.

“The question is,” said Edmund, “whether it doesn’t make things worse, looking at a Narnian ship when you can’t get there.”

“Even looking is better than nothing,” said Lucy. “And she is such a very Narnian ship.”

“Still playing your old game?” said Eustace Clarence, who had been listening outside the door and now came grinning into the room. Last year, when he had been staying with the Pevensies, he had managed to hear them all talking of Narnia and he loved teasing them about it. He thought of course that they were making it all up; and as he was far too stupid to make anything up himself, he did not approve of that.

“You’re not wanted here,” said Edmund curtly.

“I’m trying to think of a limerick,” said Eustace. “Something like this:

“Some kids who played games about Narnia

Got gradually balmier and balmier—”

“Well Narnia and balmier don’t rhyme, to begin with,” said Lucy.

“It’s an assonance,” said Eustace.

“Don’t ask him what an assy-thingummy is,” said Edmund. “He’s only longing to be asked. Say nothing and perhaps he’ll go away.”

Most boys, on meeting a reception like this, would either have cleared out or flared up. Eustace did neither. He just hung about grinning, and presently began talking again.

“Do you like that picture?” he asked.

“For heaven’s sake don’t let him get started about Art and all that,” said Edmund hurriedly, but Lucy, who was very truthful, had already said,“Yes, I do. I like it very much.”

“It’s a rotten picture,” said Eustace.

“You won’t see it if you step outside,” said Edmund.

“Why do you like it?” said Eustace to Lucy.

“Well, for one thing,” said Lucy, “I like it because the ship looks as if it was really moving. And the water looks as if it was really wet. And the waves look as if they were really going up and down.”

Of course Eustace knew lots of answers to this, but he didn’t say anything. The reason was that at that very moment he looked at the waves and saw that they did look very much indeed as if they were going up and down. He had only once been in a ship（and then only as far as the Isle of Wight）and had been horribly seasick. The look of the waves in the picture made him feel sick again. He turned rather green and tried another look. And then all three children were staring with open mouths.

What they were seeing may be hard to believe when you read it in print, but it was almost as hard to believe when you saw it happening. The things in the picture were moving. It didn’t look at all like a cinema either; the colours were too real and clean and out-of-doors for that. Down went the prow of the ship into the wave and up went a great shock of spray. And then up went the wave behind her, and her stern and her deck became visible for the first time, and then disappeared as the next wave came to meet her and her bows went up again. At the same moment an exercise book which had been lying beside Edmund on the bed flapped, rose and sailed through the air to the wall behind him, and Lucy felt all her hair whipping round her face as it does on a windy day. And this was a windy day; but the wind was blowing out of the picture towards them. And suddenly with the wind came the noises—the swishing of waves and the slap of water against the ship’s sides and the creaking and the overall high steady roar of air and water. But it was the smell, the wild, briny smell, which really convinced Lucy that she was not dreaming.

“Stop it,” came Eustace’s voice, squeaky with fright and bad temper.“It’s some silly trick you two are playing. Stop it. I’ll tell Alberta—Ow!”

The other two were much more accustomed to adventures, but, just exactly as Eustace Clarence said “Ow,” they both said “Ow” too. The reason was that a great cold, salt splash had broken right out of the frame and they were breathless from the smack of it, besides being wet through.

“I’ll smash the rotten thing,” cried Eustace; and then several things happened at the same time. Eustace rushed towards the picture. Edmund,who knew something about magic, sprang after him, warning him to look out and not to be a fool. Lucy grabbed at him from the other side and was dragged forward. And by this time either they had grown much smaller or the picture had grown bigger. Eustace jumped to try to pull it off the wall and found himself standing on the frame; in front of him was not glass but real sea, and wind and waves rushing up to the frame as they might to a rock. He lost his head and clutched at the other two who had jumped up beside him. There was a second of struggling and shouting, and just as they thought they had got their balance a great blue roller surged up round them, swept them off their feet, and drew them down into the sea. Eustace’s despairing cry suddenly ended as the water got into his mouth.

Lucy thanked her stars that she had worked hard at her swimming last summer term. It is true that she would have got on much better if she had used a slower stroke, and also that the water felt a great deal colder than it had looked while it was only a picture. Still, she kept her head and kicked her shoes off, as everyone ought to do who falls into deep water in their clothes. She even kept her mouth shut and her eyes open. They were still quite near the ship; she saw its green side towering high above them, and people looking at her from the deck. Then, as one might have expected, Eustace clutched at her in a panic and down they both went.

When they came up again she saw a white figure diving off the ship’s side. Edmund was close beside her now, treading water, and had caught the arms of the howling Eustace. Then someone else, whose face was vaguely familiar, slipped an arm under her from the other side. There was a lot of shouting going on from the ship, heads crowding together above the bulwarks, ropes being thrown. Edmund and the stranger were fastening ropes round her. After that followed what seemed a very long delay during which her face got blue and her teeth began chattering. In reality the delay was not very long; they were waiting till the moment when she could be got on board the ship without being dashed against its side. Even with all their best endeavours she had a bruised knee when she finally stood, dripping and shivering, on the deck. After her Edmund was heaved up, and then the miserable Eustace. Last of all came the stranger—a golden-headed boy some years older than herself.

“Ca—Ca—Caspian!” gasped Lucy as soon as she had breath enough. For Caspian it was; Caspian, the boy king of Narnia whom they had helped to set on the throne during their last visit. Immediately Edmund recognized him too. All three shook hands and clapped one another on the back with great delight.

“But who is your friend?” said Caspian almost at once, turning to Eustace with his cheerful smile. But Eustace was crying much harder than any boy of his age has a right to cry when nothing worse than a wetting has happened to him, and would only yell out, “Let me go. Let me go back. I don’t like it.”

“Let you go?” said Caspian. “But where?”

Eustace rushed to the ship’s side, as if he expected to see the picture frame hanging above the sea, and perhaps a glimpse of Lucy’s bedroom. What he saw was blue waves flecked with foam, and paler blue sky, both spreading without a break to the horizon. Perhaps we can hardly blame him if his heart sank. He was promptly sick.

“Hey! Rynelf,” said Caspian to one of the sailors. “Bring spiced wine for their Majesties. You’ll need something to warm you after that dip.” He called Edmund and Lucy their Majesties because they and Peter and Susan had all been Kings and Queens of Narnia long before his time. Narnian time flows differently from ours. If you spent a hundred years in Narnia, you would still come back to our world at the very same hour of the very same day on which you left. And then, if you went back to Narnia after spending a week here, you might find that a thousand Narnian years had passed, or only a day, or no time at all. You never know till you get there. Consequently, when the Pevensie children had returned to Narnia last time for their second visit, it was（for the Narnians）as if King Arthur came back to Britain, as some people say he will. And I say the sooner the better.

Rynelf returned with the spiced wine steaming in a flagon and four silver cups. It was just what one wanted, and as Lucy and Edmund sipped it they could feel the warmth going right down to their toes. But Eustace made faces and spluttered and spat it out and was sick again and began to cry again and asked if they hadn’t any Plumptree’s Vitaminized Nerve Food and could it be made with distilled water and anyway he insisted on being put ashore at the next station.

“This is a merry shipmate you’ve brought us, Brother,” whispered Caspian to Edmund with a chuckle; but before he could say anything more Eustace burst out again.

“Oh! Ugh! What on earth’s that! Take it away, the horrid thing.”

He really had some excuse this time for feeling a little surprised. Something very curious indeed had come out of the cabin in the poop and was slowly approaching them. You might call it—and indeed it was—a Mouse. But then it was a Mouse on its hind legs and stood about two feet high. A thin band of gold passed round its head under one ear and over the other and in this was stuck a long crimson feather. （As the Mouse’s fur was very dark, almost black, the effect was bold and striking.）Its left paw rested on the hilt of a sword very nearly as long as its tail. Its balance, as it paced gravely along the swaying deck, was perfect, and its manners courtly. Lucy and Edmund recognized it at once—Reepicheep, the most valiant of all the Talking Beasts of Narnia, and the Chief Mouse. It had won undying glory in the second Battle of Beruna. Lucy longed, as she had always done, to take Reepicheep up in her arms and cuddle him. But this, as she well knew, was a pleasure she could never have: it would have offended him deeply. Instead, she went down on one knee to talk to him.

Reepicheep put forward his left leg, drew back his right, bowed, kissed her hand, straightened himself, twirled his whiskers, and said in his shrill, piping voice:

“My humble duty to your Majesty. And to King Edmund, too.”（Here he bowed again.）“Nothing except your Majesties’ presence was lacking to this glorious venture.”

“Ugh, take it away,” wailed Eustace. “I hate mice. And I never could bear performing animals. They’re silly and vulgar and—and sentimental.”

“Am I to understand,” said Reepicheep to Lucy after a long stare at Eustace, “that this singularly discourteous person is under your Majesty’s protection? Because, if not—”

At this moment Lucy and Edmund both sneezed.

“What a fool I am to keep you all standing here in your wet things,” said Caspian. “Come on below and get changed. I’ll give you my cabin of course, Lucy, but I’m afraid we have no women’s clothes on board. You’ll have to make do with some of mine. Lead the way, Reepicheep, like a good fellow.”

“To the convenience of a lady,” said Reepicheep, “even a question of honour must give way—at least for the moment—” and here he looked very hard at Eustace. But Caspian hustled them on and in a few minutes Lucy found herself passing through the door into the stern cabin. She fell in love with it at once—the three square windows that looked out on the blue, swirling water astern, the low cushioned benches round three sides of the table, the swinging silver lamp overhead（Dwarfs’ work, she knew at once by its exquisite delicacy）and the flat gold image of Aslan the Lion on the forward wall above the door. All this she took in in a flash, for Caspian immediately opened a door on the starboard side, and said, “This’ll be your room, Lucy. I’ll just get some dry things for myself—” he was rummaging in one of the lockers while he spoke—“and then leave you to change. If you’ll fling your wet things outside the door I’ll get them taken to the galley to be dried.”

Lucy found herself as much at home as if she had been in Caspian’s cabin for weeks, and the motion of the ship did not worry her, for in the old days when she had been a queen in Narnia she had done a good deal of voyaging. The cabin was very tiny but bright with painted panels（all birds and beasts and crimson dragons and vines）and spotlessly clean. Caspian’s clothes were too big for her, but she could manage. His shoes, sandals and sea-boots were hopelessly big but she did not mind going barefoot on board ship. When she had finished dressing she looked out of her window at the water rushing past and took a long deep breath. She felt quite sure they were in for a lovely time.

第一章 卧室里的画

有一个男孩名叫尤斯塔斯·克拉伦斯·斯克罗布，他真的是名副其实[1]。他的父母叫他尤斯塔斯·克拉伦斯。他的老师叫他斯克罗布。我不知道他的朋友怎么叫他，因为他没有朋友。对于他的父母，他不称呼他们“父亲”和“母亲”，而是管他们叫哈罗德和艾伯塔。他们俩是很现代、很新潮的人。他们都是素食主义者，不抽烟，不喝酒，还穿一种特殊的内衣。他们家里的家具很少，床上没什么衣服，家里的窗户也总是开着。

尤斯塔斯·克拉伦斯喜欢动物，尤其是被钉在纸板上的甲虫尸体。他还喜欢看知识性的书，要是有插图就更好了，那些画着谷物升降机，或者一些肥胖的外国小孩在模范学校做操的书总是深得他心。

尤斯塔斯·克拉伦斯不喜欢他的表亲们，佩文西家的四个孩子——彼得、苏珊、艾德蒙和露西，但是听到艾德蒙和露西要来他家住一阵子时，他心里倒是欢喜得很，因为他内心深处其实很喜欢发号施令、恃强凌弱。虽然他个子矮小，打起架来连露西都敌不过，更别提艾德蒙了，但是他知道，作为主人，在自己家里要让客人不好过的法子可多着哩。

艾德蒙和露西并不想和哈罗德姨夫及艾伯塔姨妈住在一起，但是实在是没办法。那年夏天，他们的父亲要去美国讲学，得在那里待上十六个礼拜，母亲也跟着去了，因为她已经十年都没有真正的假期了。彼得在为一个考试刻苦努力，他即将和柯克教授一起度过假期，接受他的指导。在很久之前的战争时期，孩子们在柯克教授的大房子里曾经有过一段奇遇。如果柯克仍然住在那幢房子里，他准会让他们全住下。但是后来他不知怎的变穷了，住在一个小木屋里，只有一个空余的卧室。如果把其他三个孩子都带到美国去的话，花费就太大了，所以最后只有苏珊去了。

大人们觉得苏珊是家里最漂亮的那个，学校的功课又不好（虽然她年纪也不小了）。母亲说苏珊“去一趟美国能比两个小的收获更多”。艾德蒙和露西努力不去嫉妒苏珊的好运气，但是要在姨妈家度过一个暑假实在是太可怕了。“我更倒霉，”艾德蒙说，“起码你还有间自己的屋子，我却要和那个讨厌鬼尤斯塔斯住在一个房间里。”

故事要从一天下午说起，艾德蒙和露西好不容易能待在一起，享受难得的独处时光。他们谈论的当然是那个只属于他们的秘密国度——纳尼亚。我想我们之中的大多数都有一个自己的秘密国度，但大多都只是虚构的罢了。在这方面，艾德蒙和露西可比其他人幸运多了。他们的秘密国度是真实存在的，而且他们已经去了两次，不是在游戏中去的，也不是在梦里去的，而是在现实中真正地去了。当然，他们是通过魔法到那里的，也只有魔法才能把他们带到纳尼亚。他们承诺，差不多是承诺，有一天他们还会回到纳尼亚。所以你能想象，他们一逮到机会，就开始谈论纳尼亚的种种。

他们俩待在露西的房间里，坐在她的床边，盯着对面墙上的一幅画。这是他们在这个房子里唯一喜欢的一幅画了。艾伯塔姨妈一点儿也不喜欢这幅画（这就是为什么把它远远地放在楼上的小屋子里的原因），但是她又不能扔了它，因为这是一个她不想得罪的人送给她的结婚礼物。

这幅画画的是一艘船，那艘船正径直向你驶来。船头镀了一层金，就像一个张开大口的龙头。那艘船只有一根桅杆，扬着一张大大的方帆，帆的颜色是饱满艳丽的紫色。船的两侧——“龙”的镀金“双翼”——是绿色的。碧蓝的海水正把船推到浪尖，近处的滚滚浪潮裹着波纹和气泡，向你扑面而来。这艘船分明正乘风破浪，急速行进，左舷微微倾斜。（顺便说一句，如果你打算完整地读完这个故事，却还没弄清楚这是什么意思的话，你最好在脑中有这么一个概念：在船上向前面看，船的左侧是左舷，船的右侧是右舷。）阳光倾泻在船的左舷那一面，那一面的海水是碧绿中带着紫色。船的另一面，由于船的阴影投射下来，海水是深蓝色的。

“问题是，”艾德蒙说，“看着一艘纳尼亚的船，却不能去纳尼亚，是不是更糟糕？”

“看着也好啊，”露西说，“这艘船是地地道道的纳尼亚船啊。”

“还在玩你们的老游戏呢？”尤斯塔斯·克拉伦斯一直在门外偷听，现在笑嘻嘻地进来了。去年他在佩文西家住了一段时间，那时他偷听到了他们都在谈论纳尼亚，他还喜欢用这事来调侃他们。他当然觉得这些都是他们凭空编造出来的。他对这些故事不以为然，其实是因为他太蠢了，不会自己编故事。

“这里不欢迎你。”艾德蒙粗鲁地说。

“我想作一首打油诗，”尤斯塔斯说，“大概是这样的：

“有一群孩子天天谈论纳尼亚，

变得越来越古怪……”

“纳尼亚和古怪可不押韵。”露西说道。

“这叫半谐音[2]。”尤斯塔斯说。

“千万别问他半谐音是什么，”艾德蒙说，“他就是想要你问这个问题好让他显摆呢，你什么都不说，他反倒能识趣地走开。”

大多数男孩子遭受这样的对待时，都会选择走开或者发起怒来。尤斯塔斯可不会这样做。他就是咧着嘴笑，继续在这里晃来晃去，不一会儿又开始喋喋不休。

“你喜欢这幅画吗？”尤斯塔斯问道。

“拜托，千万不要让他开始说艺术什么的。”艾德蒙急忙说。

但是露西是个真诚的孩子，她已经开口回答了：“我喜欢，我非常喜欢这幅画。”

“这幅画烂透了。”尤斯塔斯说。

“你出去就看不到了。”艾德蒙说。

“你为什么喜欢这幅画？”尤斯塔斯问露西。

“嗯……”露西答道，“我喜欢这幅画是因为那艘船看起来就像真的在动，水也十分逼真，海浪看起来也像在上下翻涌。”

尤斯塔斯当然有不少话可以回答这个问题，但是他什么也没说。因为在他盯着这幅画的时候，那海浪看起来真的此起彼伏。他只坐过一次船（也只是到怀特岛），还晕了船。那画里的海浪让他又犯恶心了。他脸都绿了，试着再看了一眼那幅画。结果，三个孩子都对着那幅画看得目瞪口呆。

你这么读着书，可能会觉得他们看到的场景太难以置信，但是，就算亲眼见到，你也同样不会相信。画里的东西在动。那看起来也不像电影，因为颜色太逼真、太纯净了，就像是在露天的环境下一样。船头扎进海浪里，激起了一大朵浪花，然后又越过浪花，这才让船首次显现出了船尾和甲板。又一朵浪花迎面袭来，船头翘了起来，船尾和甲板又不见了。这时，原本一直好好地放在艾德蒙身旁床上的练习本开始哗啦啦地翻页，慢慢升空，直飞到他后面的墙上去了。露西的头发肆意地扫在她的脸旁，就像大风天里那样。这确实是一个大风天，但是风竟是从画里吹来的。随风而来的是阵阵响声——海浪发出的沙沙声、海水拍打船侧的啪啪声、船身发出的嘎吱声，还有狂风和海水那气势雄浑的咆哮声。而让露西真正相信她不是在做梦的是一股气味，那浓烈的咸涩的海水气味。

“停下！”尤斯塔斯气急败坏地吼道，声音里透露出恐惧和愤怒，“这又是你们玩的蠢把戏。停下，否则我要告诉艾伯塔了——哎哟！”

露西和艾德蒙可比他更习惯冒险。但是，就在尤斯塔斯叫了一声“哎哟”的时候，他们也像尤斯塔斯·克拉伦斯一样喊了一声“哎哟”。一大片又冷又咸的海水从画的右侧破框而出，不仅让他们浑身湿透，还让他们喘不过气来。

“我要砸了这烂东西！”尤斯塔斯尖叫着。几乎在同一时间，尤斯塔斯扑向那幅画，而艾德蒙从他身后跳起来，警告他小心一点儿别犯蠢，毕竟艾德蒙对魔法略知一二。露西从另一边抓住尤斯塔斯，却被拽着往前冲去。这时，不知是他们三人变小了还是那幅画变大了，尤斯塔斯跳起来想把画从墙上扯下来，却发现自己正站在画框上。在他面前的不是玻璃，而是真正的大海，海风和海浪像冲击石头一样冲击着画框。他吓得不知所措，抓住身边跳起来的艾德蒙和露西。他们挣扎着喊叫了一小会儿，正当他们觉得已经找到了平衡的时候，一个蓝色的巨浪从他们四周涌起，把他们都卷入了大海。海水灌进了尤斯塔斯的嘴里，他那绝望的叫喊顿时停止了。

露西暗自庆幸，还好她去年夏天努力学游泳。确实，如果用慢一点儿的划水动作，她会游得更好，而且那海水比在画上看起来可要冷多了。不过，她还是像所有穿着衣服落入深水的人的做法一样，保持冷静，踢掉鞋子。她紧闭着嘴，睁大眼睛。他们离船已经很近了，露西看到绿色的船舷高耸在他们上方，船上的人们站在甲板上看着她。然后，不出所料，尤斯塔斯在恐慌中一把抓住了她，两人一起沉入了大海。

他们重新浮上水面的时候，她看到一个白色的人影从船舷上跳入了水中。艾德蒙正在她近旁踩着水，抓着尤斯塔斯的双臂，尤斯塔斯还在大声号叫。这时，有个人从另一边伸出手臂托住了她，这个人似曾相识。船上有许多人在叫喊，船舷上人头攒动，有人从船上扔绳子下来。艾德蒙和那个陌生人正把绳子往她身上系。之后好像隔了很久，她的脸都发青了，牙齿也开始打战。而实际上这段时间没多久，他们只是在等待合适的时机把她送上船又不致让她在船边上磕碰。尽管他们已经拼尽全力，她站上甲板的时候膝盖上还是有了擦伤，身上湿漉漉的，全身瑟瑟发抖。接着，艾德蒙被拉了上来，再后面是悲惨的尤斯塔斯，最后是那个陌生人——一个比她年长几岁的金发男孩。

“凯……凯……凯斯宾！”露西喘过气来一声惊叹。原来是凯斯宾——凯斯宾是纳尼亚的年轻国王，他们上次来纳尼亚时帮助他登上了王位。艾德蒙也马上认出了他。他们三个人高兴坏了，满心愉快地相互握手，轻拍对方的后背。

“你这位朋友是谁？”凯斯宾立刻转过身来满面笑容地看着尤斯塔斯问道。与尤斯塔斯年龄相仿的男孩若是遇到这样浑身湿透的情况，都有理由哭闹一番，但是尤斯塔斯哭得尤其厉害，他大喊大叫：“让我走，让我回去，我不喜欢这样！”

“让你走？”凯斯宾说，“你能走去哪儿？”

尤斯塔斯冲到船舷上，期望看到那幅画的画框悬在海面上方，或是看一眼露西的房间。但是他看到的只有携着水沫的蓝色海浪，还有那淡蓝色的天空，一望无际。他沮丧无比，我们或许也没法责怪他。他立马感到一阵恶心。

“嘿！莱尼，”凯斯宾对一名船员说，“给两位陛下拿点儿香料酒。你们刚从水里上来，该喝点儿东西暖暖身子。”他用陛下来称呼艾德蒙和露西，是因为早在他之前，他们俩跟彼得和苏珊就是纳尼亚的国王和女王了。纳尼亚的时间和我们这里的时间不一样。如果你从这里去纳尼亚待上一百年，你回到我们这个世界的时候还是你离开那天的同一时间。如果你在这个世界待一周再回到纳尼亚，兴许在纳尼亚已经过去一千年了，也可能只过去了一天，又或者一点儿没变。你只有到了那里才知道。因此，上次佩文西家的孩子们第二次来到纳尼亚时，就像是（对纳尼亚的人们来说）亚瑟王返回英国的传说成真了一样。我觉得这样的事越快越好。

莱尼拿来了盛着热气腾腾的香料酒的酒壶和四个酒杯。这对他们来说真是再好不过了，露西和艾德蒙刚抿了一小口，就感觉温暖一直蔓延到了趾尖。可是尤斯塔斯一脸怪相，把酒一口喷了出来，他又觉得恶心了，开始放声大哭，问他们有没有丰树牌含维生素的营养食品，能不能用蒸馏水来调制，还坚持要在下一站下船。

“老兄，你可给我们带来了一个有趣的船员。”凯斯宾窃笑着对艾德蒙耳语道。但是他还没来得及继续说，尤斯塔斯又发作了。

“哎呀！啊！那是什么东西啊！快把那讨厌的东西带走！”

这次，他倒真有理由感到些许意外。确实有一只奇怪的东西从船尾的舱室里出来，正在慢慢地向他们走来。也许你可以叫它——事实上它确实是——一只老鼠。这只老鼠竟然用后腿站立，大约有两英尺高，头上戴着一个细细的金环，那金环绕过一边耳朵的下方，绕到另一边耳朵的上方，金环里插着一根长长的深红色羽毛。（因为老鼠毛色很深，差不多是黑色的，所以它这样的装束可以说是很大胆、很引人注目的了。）它的左爪搁在剑柄上，那把剑和它的尾巴差不多长。它在摇摇晃晃的甲板上庄严地走来，不仅走得很平稳，仪态还很优雅。露西和艾德蒙立马认出了他，他就是雷佩契普，纳尼亚会说话的走兽中最英勇的老鼠将领。他在第二次柏卢纳战役中赢得了不朽的荣誉。露西特别希望自己能把雷佩契普搂在怀里，抱抱他，她过去一直有这个想法。但是她很清楚，她永远没法享受这样的快乐，因为这会让雷佩契普深深地感到自己被冒犯了。所以，她单膝跪下来和他说话。

雷佩契普伸出他的左腿，缩回他的右腿，弯下腰亲吻了露西的手。站直后，他搓了搓自己的胡须，尖着嗓子说：

“恭迎女王陛下，恭迎艾德蒙国王。”他又鞠了一躬，“两位陛下的到来让这次伟大的冒险变得非常圆满。”

“啊，把这东西拿走，”尤斯塔斯号啕大哭，“我讨厌老鼠。我受不了会表演的动物，又愚蠢又粗俗，还自作多情。”

“我是不是该这么想，”雷佩契普盯着尤斯塔斯好一会儿之后对着露西说，“这个一点儿也不懂礼貌的人是受陛下保护的？因为，如果不是这样的话……”

这时露西和艾德蒙都打了个喷嚏。

“我真是太傻了，让你们湿漉漉地站在这儿，”凯斯宾说，“到下面来换身衣服。露西，我把我的房间让给你，但是我们船上恐怕没有女孩子的衣服。你得凑合穿我的衣服了。雷佩契普，好伙计，给我们带路吧。”

“为了方便一位女士，”雷佩契普说，“就算是自己的荣誉也要放在一边——至少暂时是这样的。”说到这里，他瞪了一眼尤斯塔斯。但是凯斯宾催促他们往前走，露西不一会儿就发现自己走到了船尾的舱室里。她立马就爱上了这里。从这里的三扇窗户向船尾看，那里是打着漩涡的蓝色海水。桌子的三侧围着几条长凳，凳子上放着衬垫，头顶吊着精美的银灯（她一下子就认出这是矮人的手艺，因为它太精致了），门上方的墙上是狮王阿斯兰的平面金像。这些她都只来得及匆匆扫了一眼，凯斯宾就把右舷侧的门打开了，对她说：“露西，这是你的房间。我给自己找几件干衣服。”他边说边在一个柜子里翻找，“找完我就出去，好让你换身衣服。你把湿衣服扔在门口就行，我让人拿去厨房烘干。”

露西觉得待在凯斯宾的房间自在得很，好像已经在这里住过几个星期了似的。她不会因为船身的摇晃发愁，因为她以前在纳尼亚当女王的时候可没少出海航行。船舱很小，但是很明亮，挂满了镶板画（画了各种各样的鸟兽、深红色的龙，还有葡萄藤），而且一尘不染。凯斯宾的衣服对露西来说太大了，可她好歹能凑合着穿。他的鞋子、拖鞋和长筒靴都太大，但是她不介意赤着脚在船上走。她穿完衣服后看向窗外湍急的水流，深深地吸了口气，知道要度过一段愉快的时光了。

注解

[1]　尤斯塔斯（Eustace）在英语中和“没用的（useless）”读音相近。

[2]　半谐音指英文中靠得很近的单词中有两个音节元音相同而辅音不同，或者辅音相同而元音不同。