CHAPTER 3

The Wood Between The Worlds
世界之间的树林

Uncle Andrew and his study vanished instantly. Then, for a moment, everything became muddled. The next thing Digory knew was that there was a soft green light coming down on him from above, and darkness below. He didn’t seem to be standing on anything, or sitting, or lying. Nothing appeared to be touching him. “I believe I’m in water,” said Digory. “Or under water.” This frightened him for a second, but almost at once he could feel that he was rushing upwards. Then his head suddenly came out into the air and he found himself scrambling ashore, out on to smooth grassy ground at the edge of a pool.

As he rose to his feet he noticed that he was neither dripping nor panting for breath as anyone would expect after being under water. His clothes were perfectly dry. He was standing by the edge of a small pool—not more than ten feet from side to side—in a wood. The trees grew close together and were so leafy that he could get no glimpse of the sky. All the light was green light that came through the leaves: but there must have been a very strong sun overhead, for this green daylight was bright and warm. It was the quietest wood you could possibly imagine. There were no birds, no insects, no animals, and no wind. You could almost feel the trees growing. The pool he had just got out of was not the only pool. There were dozens of others—a pool every few yards as far as his eyes could reach. You could almost feel the trees drinking the water up with their roots. This wood was very much alive. When he tried to describe it afterwards Digory always said, “It was a rich place: as rich as plum cake.”

The strangest thing was that, almost before he had looked about him, Digory had half forgotten how he had come there. At any rate, he was certainly not thinking about Polly, or Uncle Andrew, or even his Mother. He was not in the least frightened, or excited, or curious. If anyone had asked him “Where did you come from?” he would probably have said, “I’ve always been here.” That was what it felt like—as if one had always been in that place and never been bored although nothing had ever happened. As he said long afterwards, “It’s not the sort of place where things happen. The trees go on growing, that’s all.”

After Digory had looked at the wood for a long time he noticed that there was a girl lying on her back at the foot of a tree a few yards away. Her eyes were nearly shut but not quite, as if she were just between sleeping and waking. So he looked at her for a long time and said nothing. And at last she opened her eyes and looked at him for a long time and she also said nothing. Then she spoke, in a dreamy, contented sort of voice.

“I think I’ve seen you before,” she said.

“I rather think so too,” said Digory. “Have you been here long?”

“Oh, always,” said the girl. “At least — I don’t know - a very long time.”

“So have I,” said Digory.

“No, you haven’t,” said she. “I’ve just seen you come up out of that pool.”

“Yes, I suppose I did,” said Digory with a puzzled air. “I’d forgotten.”

Then for quite a long time neither said any more.

“Look here,” said the girl presently, “I wonder, did we ever really meet before? I had a sort of idea—a sort of picture in my head—of a boy and a girl, like us—living somewhere quite different—and doing all sorts of things. Perhaps it was only a dream.”

“I’ve had that same dream, I think,” said Digory. “About a boy and a girl, living next door—and something about crawling among rafters. I remember the girl had a dirty face.”

“Aren’t you getting it mixed? In my dream it was the boy who had the dirty face.”

“I can’t remember the boy’s face,” said Digory and then added, “Hullo! What’s that?”

“Why! it’s a guinea-pig,” said the girl. And it was—a fat guinea-pig, nosing about in the grass.

But round the middle of the guinea-pig there ran a tape, and tied on to it by the tape, was a bright yellow ring.

“Look! look,” cried Digory. “The ring! And look! You’ve got one on your finger. And so have I.”

The girl now sat up, really interested at last. They stared very hard at one another, trying to remember. And then, at exactly the same moment, she shouted out, “Mr Ketterley”, and he shouted out, “Uncle Andrew” , and they knew who they were and began to remember the whole story. After a few minutes’ hard talking they had got it straight. Digory explained how beastly Uncle Andrew had been.

“What do we do now?” said Polly. “Take the guinea - pig and go home?”

“There’s no hurry,” said Digory, with a huge yawn.

“I think there is,” said Polly. “This place is too quiet. It’s so—so dreamy. You’re almost asleep. If we once give in to it we shall just lie down and drowse for ever and ever.”

“It’s very nice here,” said Digory.

“Yes, it is,” said Polly. “But we’ve got to get back.” She stood up and began to go cautiously towards the guinea-pig. But then she changed her mind.

“We might as well leave the guinea-pig,” she said. “It’s perfectly happy here, and your uncle will only do something horrid to it if we take it home.”

“I bet he would,” answered Digory. “Look at the way he’s treated us. By the way, how do we get home?”

“Go back into the pool, I expect.”

They came and stood together at the edge, looking down into the smooth water. It was full of the reflection of the green, leafy branches; they made it look very deep.

“We haven’t any bathing things,” said Polly.

“We shan’t need them, silly,” said Digory. “We’re going in with our clothes on. Don’t you remember it didn’t wet us on the way up?”

“Can you swim?”

“A bit. Can you?”

“Well — not much.”

“I don’t think we shall need to swim,” said Digory. “We want to go down , don’t we?”

Neither of them much liked the idea of jumping into that pool, but neither said so to the other. They took hands and said “One — Two — Three — Go” and jumped. There was a great splash and of course they closed their eyes. But when they opened them again they found they were still standing, hand in hand, in the green wood, and hardly up to their ankles in water. The pool was apparently only a couple of inches deep. They splashed back on to the dry ground.

“What on earth’s gone wrong?” said Polly in a frightened voice; but not quite so frightened as you might expect, because it is hard to feel really frightened in that wood. The place is too peaceful.

“Oh! I know,” said Digory. “Of course it won’t work. We’re still wearing our yellow rings. They’re for the outward journey, you know. The green ones take you home. We must change rings. Have you got pockets? Good. Put your yellow ring in your left. I’ve got two greens. Here’s one for you.”

They put on their green rings and came back to the pool. But before they tried another jump Digory gave a long “O - o - oh!”

“What’s the matter?” said Polly.

“I’ve just had a really wonderful idea,” said Digory. “What are all the other pools?”

“How do you mean?”

“Why, if we can get back to our own world by jumping into this pool, mightn’t we get somewhere else by jumping into one of the others? Supposing there was a world at the bottom of every pool.”

“But I thought we were already in your Uncle Andrew’s Other World or Other Place or whatever he called it. Didn’t you say—”

“Oh, bother Uncle Andrew,” interrupted Digory. “I don’t believe he knows anything about it. He never had the pluck to come here himself. He only talked of one Other World. But suppose there were dozens?”

“You mean, this wood might be only one of them?”

“No, I don’t believe this wood is a world at all. I think it’s just a sort of in-between place.”

Polly looked puzzled.

“Don’t you see?” said Digory. “No, do listen. Think of our tunnel under the slates at home. It isn’t a room in any of the houses. In a way, it isn’t really part of any of the houses. But once you’re in the tunnel you can go along it and come into any of the houses in the row. Mightn’t this wood be the same? — a place that isn’t in any of the worlds, but once you’ve found that place you can get into them all.”

“Well, even if you can—” began Polly, but Digory went on as if he hadn’t heard her.

“And of course that explains everything,” he said. “That’s why it is so quiet and sleepy here. Nothing ever happens here. Like at home. It’s in the houses that people talk, and do things, and have meals. Nothing goes on in the in-between places, behind the walls and above the ceilings and under the floor, or in our own tunnel. But when you come out of our tunnel you may find yourself in any house. I think we can get out of this place into jolly well anywhere! We don’t need to jump back into the same pool we came up by. Or not just yet.”

“The Wood between the Worlds,” said Polly dreamily. “It sounds rather nice.”

“Come on,” said Digory. “Which pool shall we try?”

“Look here,” said Polly, “I’m not going to try any new pool till we’ve made sure that we can get back by the old one. We’re not even sure if it’ll work yet.”

“Yes,” said Digory. “And get caught by Uncle Andrew and have our rings taken away before we’ve had any fun. No thanks.”

“Couldn’t we just go part of the way down into our own pool?” said Polly. “Just to see if it works. Then if it does, we’ll change rings and come up again before we’re really back in Mr Ketterley’s study.”

“Can we go part of the way down?”

“Well, it took time coming up. I suppose it’ll take a little time going back.”

Digory made rather a fuss about agreeing to this, but he had to in the end because Polly absolutely refused to do any exploring in new worlds until she had made sure about getting back to the old one. She was quite as brave as he about some dangers (wasps, for instance) but she was not so interested in finding out things nobody had ever heard of before; for Digory was the sort of person who wants to know everything, and when he grew up he became the famous Professor Kirke who comes into other books.

After a good deal of arguing they agreed to put on their green rings (“Green for safety,” said Digory, “so you can’t help remembering which is which” ) and hold hands and jump. But as soon as they seemed to be getting back to Uncle Andrew’s study, or even to their own world, Polly was to shout, “Change”, and they would slip off their greens and put on their yellows. Digory wanted to be the one who shouted, “Change”, but Polly wouldn’t agree.

They put on the green rings, took hands, and once more shouted “One—Two—Three—Go” . This time it worked. It is very hard to tell you what it felt like, for everything happened so quickly. At first there were bright lights moving about in a black sky; Digory always thinks these were stars and even swears that he saw Jupiter quite close—close enough to see its moon. But almost at once there were rows and rows of roofs and chimney pots about them, and they could see St Paul’s and knew they were looking at London. But you could see through the walls of all the houses. Then they could see Uncle Andrew, very vague and shadowy, but getting clearer and more solid-looking all the time, just as if he were coming into focus. But before he became quite real Polly shouted “Change” , and they did change, and our world faded away like a dream, and the green light above grew stronger and stronger, till their heads came out of the pool and they scrambled ashore. And there was the wood all about them, as green and bright and still as ever. The whole thing had taken less than a minute.

“There!” said Digory. “That’s all right. Now for the adventure. Any pool will do. Come on. Let’s try that one.”

“Stop!” said Polly. “Aren’t we going to mark this pool?”

They stared at each other and turned quite white as they realized the dreadful thing that Digory had just been going to do. For there were any number of pools in the wood, and the pools were all alike and the trees were all alike, so that if they had once left behind the pool that led to our own world without making some sort of landmark, the chances would have been a hundred to one against their ever finding it again.

Digory’s hand was shaking as he opened his penknife and cut out a long strip of turf on the bank of the pool. The soil (which smelled nice) was of a rich reddish brown and showed up well against the green. “It’s a good thing one of us has some sense,” said Polly.

“Well, don’t keep on gassing about it,” said Digory. “Come along, I want to see what’s in one of the other pools.” And Polly gave him a pretty sharp answer and he said something even nastier in reply. The quarrel lasted for several minutes but it would be dull to write it all down. Let us skip on to the moment at which they stood with beating hearts and rather scared faces on the edge of the unknown pool with their yellow rings on and held hands and once more said “One—Two—Three—Go!”

Splash! Once again it hadn’t worked. This pool, too, appeared to be only a puddle. Instead of reaching a new world they only got their feet wet and splashed their legs for the second time that morning (if it was a morning: it seems to be always the same time in the Wood between the Worlds).

“Blast and botheration!” exclaimed Digory. “What’s gone wrong now? We’ve put our yellow rings on all right. He said yellow for the outward journey.”

Now the truth was that Uncle Andrew, who knew nothing about the Wood between the Worlds, had quite a wrong idea about the rings. The yellow ones weren’t “outward” rings and the green ones weren’t “homeward” rings; at least, not in the way he thought. The stuff of which both were made had all come from the wood. The stuff in the yellow rings had the power of drawing you into the wood; it was stuff that wanted to get back to its own place, the in-between place. But the stuff in the green rings is stuff that is trying to get out of its own place; so that a green ring would take you out of the wood into a world. Uncle Andrew, you see, was working with things he did not really understand; most magicians are. Of course Digory did not realize the truth quite clearly either, or not till later. But when they had talked it over, they decided to try their green rings on the new pool, just to see what happened.

“I’m game if you are,” said Polly. But she really said this because, in her heart of hearts, she now felt sure that neither kind of ring was going to work at all in the new pool, and so there was nothing worse to be afraid of than another splash. I am not quite sure that Digory had not the same feeling. At any rate, when they had both put on their greens and come back to the edge of the water, and taken hands again, they were certainly a good deal more cheerful and less solemn than they had been the first time.

“One—Two—Three—Go!” said Digory. And they jumped.

中文阅读

安德鲁舅舅和他的书房立刻就不见了。随后，有那么一会儿工夫，一切都变得模糊不清。接下来迪戈里意识到，有一道柔和的绿光从上面流淌下来，照射着他以及下面的黑暗。他好像并没有站在什么实体之上，既不是坐着，也没有躺着。似乎他与任何东西都没有接触。“我相信我是在水里，”迪戈里说，“或者是在水底下。”有一瞬间，他对此感到了恐惧，但他几乎立刻感觉到，自己正在快速地向上升腾。突然，他的脑袋钻出了水面，进入到空气之中。他挣扎着爬上岸，来到池塘边一片茵茵的绿草地上。

他站起身来，这才发现自己并不像刚从水里出来的人那样，浑身湿淋淋的，大口喘着粗气。他的衣服完全是干的。他正站在林中一个小池塘的边上——池塘的直径不到十英尺。林中树木长得很密，枝繁叶茂，遮天蔽日。透过树叶照射下来的阳光都变成了绿色。那里的太阳一定非常厉害，因为这绿色的阳光明亮而温暖。这是一个你所能想象到的最安静的树林。没有鸟啼，没有虫鸣，没有动物，甚至没有风。你差不多能够感觉到树木在生长。他刚才出来的那个池塘并不是唯一的，还有许多其他的池塘—— 在他视力所及的范围内，每隔几步就有一个池塘。你几乎可以感受到树木正在用根须吸收水分。这个树林充满了活力。当迪戈里后来尝试着进行描述时，他总是说：“那是一个肥沃的地方，像李子蛋糕一样富有营养。”

最奇怪的是，迪戈里还没顾得上向四周打量，就已把自己是如何到来的事忘掉了一半。至少，他想的肯定不是波利，也不是安德鲁舅舅，甚至不是他的妈妈。他感觉不到丝毫的恐惧、激动或者好奇。如果有人问他：“你是从哪儿来的？”他大概会说：“我一直都在这里。”就是那样一种感觉——似乎你一直待在那个地方，尽管任何事都没有发生，你却从来都不会感到厌倦。正如他很久以后所说的：“那是一个不会发生什么事情的地方。树木时刻不停地在生长，仅此而已。”

迪戈里花了很长时间来观看树林，随后他注意到，有个女孩子仰卧在几步之外的一棵树下。她双眼朦胧，似乎正处于半睡半醒的状态。他久久地望着她，什么话都没有说。最后她睁开眼睛，向他注视了良久，同样什么都没有说。又过了一会儿，她开始用一种恍惚的、满足的口气说了起来。

“我想我以前见过你。”她说。

“我也这么想。”迪戈里说，“你在这里待了很久吗？”

“哦，我一直都在这里。”女孩说，“至少——我不清楚——有很长时间了。”

“我也是。”迪戈里说。

“不，你不是。”她说，“我刚才看见你从那个池塘里出来的。”

“是啊，我想是这样。”迪戈里带着困惑的神情说，“我都忘记了。”

好久，他们俩谁都没有再说什么。

“听我说，”女孩子又开口说道，“我在想，我们以前是不是见过面？我有那么一种印象——大脑中的一个画面——关于一个男孩和一个女孩，就像我们一样——他们住在一个完全不同的地方— —做着各种各样的事情。也许那只是一个梦。”

“我想，我也做过同样的梦。”迪戈里说，“关于一个男孩和一个女孩，他们是邻居——他们在椽子之间爬来爬去。我记得那个女孩的脸脏兮兮的。”

“你有没有搞错？在我的梦中，是男孩子的脸很肮脏。”

“我想不起来那个男孩子的脸了。”迪戈里说，接着他又嚷道，“喂！那是什么？”

“哎呀！是一只豚鼠。” 女孩子说。一点不错——一只肥胖的豚鼠正在草地上嗅来嗅去。豚鼠的腰上系着一条带子，带子上拴着一枚鲜艳的黄色戒指。

“看！快看！”迪戈里大叫，“戒指！看哪！你手指上戴着一个。我手上也戴了一个。”

女孩子坐了起来，她终于对此产生了兴趣。他们使劲地盯着对方，努力想要回忆起来一些什么。接着，几乎就在同一时刻，她大声叫道：“凯特利先生。”他也喊道：“安德鲁舅舅。”就这样他们知道了自己是谁，并开始想起整个事情的经过。他们吃力地交谈了几分钟之后，才理出来个头绪。迪戈里解释了安德鲁舅舅的卑劣行径。

“我们现在该做什么呢？”波利问道，“带上这只豚鼠回家吗？”

“不着急。”迪戈里说着，打了个大大的哈欠。

“我认为应该抓紧。”波利说，“这个地方太安静了，是这么——这么的令人心神恍惚。你都快要睡着了。如果不振作起来，我们就会躺下，永永远远地在这里昏睡下去。”

“这是个好地方。”迪戈里说。

“不错，是个好地方，”波利说，“可是我们该回去了。”她站起身来，轻手轻脚地朝豚鼠走去。但很快她又改变了主意。

“我们也许应该把豚鼠留在这里。”她说，“它在这儿十分开心，我们若把它带回去，你舅舅还会对它做出一些可怕的事情。”

“我打赌他会的。”迪戈里答道，“看看他是如何对待我们的。对了，我们该怎么做才能回家呢？”

“回到池塘里，我猜想。”

他们一起走到池塘边，站在那里，低头看着平静的水面。水面上映着长满了绿叶的枝条的倒影，使得水塘看上去显得很深。

“我们没有带游泳衣。”波利说。

“我们不需要那个，傻瓜。”迪戈里说，“我们穿着衣服跳进去。你难道忘了我们上来时衣服并没有打湿吗？”

“你会不会游泳？”

“会一点点。你呢？”

“嗯——游得不怎么样。”

“我认为我们不需要游泳。”迪戈里说，“我们只是想要下去，不是吗？”

对于跳进池塘这个想法，他们俩都不怎么喜欢，但是谁也没有告诉对方。他们拉着手，说：“一——二——三——走，”就跳了进去。紧接着是哗啦啦一阵水声，自然而然地，他们都闭上了眼睛。可是当他们再次睁开眼睛，却发现自己仍然站在那片绿林里，手拉着手，而水只淹住了他们的脚踝。显然这个池塘只有两三英寸深。他们蹚着水又回到干燥的岸上。

“究竟出了什么问题？”波利惊恐地问道，也许并不像你想象的那么惊恐，因为在那个树林里很难真正感到恐惧。那个地方太宁静了。

“哦！我明白了。”迪戈里说，“当然这样不起作用。我们还戴着黄色戒指。要知道，它们是向外旅行用的，绿戒指才能带你回家。我们必须换戒指。你的衣服有口袋吗？好的。把你的黄戒指放到左边口袋里。我有两个绿戒指。这一个给你。”

他们戴上绿戒指，又回到池塘边。他们正打算再次跳下水去，迪戈里突然发出了一声喊叫：“哦——噢——啊！”

“怎么啦？”波利问道。

“我突发奇想，”迪戈里说，“你知道其他那些池塘是怎么回事吗？”

“你什么意思啊？”

“嗨，我们跳进这个池塘就能够返回我们自己的世界，那么，假如每个池塘底下都有一个世界的话，我们不也可以跳进其他池塘到另外的地方去吗？”

“我认为，我们已经到了你的安德鲁舅舅所谓的其他世界，或者其他地方，随便他怎么称呼。你不是说——”

“噢，别提安德鲁舅舅啦。”迪戈里打断了她的话，“我相信，他其实什么都不懂。他根本没有胆量亲自到这里来。他只是说道有一个另外的世界。但假如有很多个另外的世界呢？”

“你的意思是，这个树林可能是其中之一？”

“不，我不认为这个树林是一个世界。我想它只是个中间地带。”

波利露出困惑的神情。

“你不明白吗？”迪戈里说，“不明白，那就听好了。想想在我们家房顶之下的通道。它并不是哪座房子里的一个房间。在某种程度上，它并不真的属于房屋的一部分。可是你只要到了通道里，就能够沿着它进入那排房子中的任何一栋。说不定这个树林也是这样？——这是一个不属于任何世界的地方，只要你找到了它，就能够进入所有的世界。”

“好吧，就算你能够——”波利刚说到这儿，而迪戈里好像没有听见她的话，继续说了下去。

“当然这就解释了一切。”他说，“这正是这个地方为什么安静得令人犯困的原因。这里从来都没有发生过任何事情。就像在家里一样。人们在房子里谈话、做事、吃饭。但在房子的连接处，比如墙壁后边，天花板上面，地板下面，或者在我们的通道里，任何事情都不会发生。一旦我们从通道里出来，就有可能进入任何一个房屋。我认为，我们从这个地方出去，可以随便去任何地方！我们不需要跳进我们上来的那个池塘。或者说暂时还不需要。”

“世界之间的树林，”波利迷迷糊糊地说着，“这听起来很棒。”

“来吧，”迪戈里说，“我们先试哪个池塘呢？”

“听我说，”波利说道，“在确定我们能够由原来那个池塘回家之前，我不想尝试任何新的池塘。我们还无法肯定，绿戒指是否管用。”

“对啊，”迪戈里说，“一回去就被安德鲁舅舅抓住。我们还没有来得及玩耍，他就把戒指拿走了。还是不要了。”

“我们能不能先在自己的池塘底下只走一半路？”波利建议道，“看看绿色戒指是否管用。若是管用的话，我们快到凯特利先生的书房时，把戒指换了，再从池塘里上来。”

“我们能够往下行进一半路程？”

“嗯，上来时花费了一些时间。我猜想，回去也要用一些时间。”

对于这种做法，迪戈里费了一番口舌与波利争辩，但最终他还是让步了。因为若不事先确定能否重返我们的世界，波利坚决拒绝去任何新的世界冒险，面对某些危险（比如说黄蜂）时，她和他一样勇敢，可是对于发现前所未闻的新事物，她却不是那么热衷。迪戈里则是那种想要了解一切的人。长大以后，他成了其他几本书中那位著名的柯克教授。

争论了好半天，他们才达成了一致，同意先戴上绿戒指(“绿灯行，”迪戈里说，“所以你不由自主就会记住哪个戒指在哪儿。”)，再手拉手跳下去，当他们觉得快到安德鲁舅舅的书房，或者已经回到了自己的世界时，由波利大叫一声“换”，他们就摘下绿戒指，戴上黄戒指。迪戈里想做这个喊“换”的人，可波利硬是不同意。

他们戴好绿色戒指，手拉着手，又一次喊道：“一——二——三——走。”这次生效了。很难告诉你那是一种什么感觉，因为一切都发生得太快了。起初，黑暗的天空中有明亮的光在移动。迪戈里始终认为这些是星星，甚至还发誓说，他近距离地看到了木星——近到足以看见它的卫星。但转眼之间，他们的周围出现了一排排的屋顶和烟囱，还看到了圣保罗大教堂。于是他们知道，自己正在俯瞰伦敦。他们的视线能够穿透所有房屋的墙壁。接着他们看见了安德鲁舅舅，模模糊糊的，像是一个影子。但随着时间的流逝，他变得越来越清晰，越来越具有实体感，就好像是聚焦在了他的身上。就在即将见到安德鲁舅舅这个大活人之前，只听波利大叫一声“换”，他们变换了戒指，我们的世界像是梦境一样慢慢淡去，而头顶上的绿光则变得越来越强，后来他们的头又从池塘里钻了出来。两个人爬上岸，又回到了树林的怀抱中。树林依然还是那么青翠，那么明亮，那么宁静。整个过程还不到一分钟。

“你看！”迪戈里说，“没有问题吧。现在该去探险了。随便哪个池塘都行。来，让我们试试那个。”

“停！”波利说，“难道我们不给这个池塘做个记号吗？”

他们面面相觑，脸色变得苍白，他们意识到，迪戈里差点儿做了一件可怕的事情。树林里有那么多的池塘，这些池塘和树木全都像是用一个模子做出来的。一旦他们离开通向我们这个世界的池塘，而没有留下某种标记的话，他们再次找到这个池塘的概率只有百分之一。

迪戈里颤抖着手打开他的小刀，在池塘岸边割下一长条草皮。裸露出来的土壤（气味芬芳）是红褐色的，在绿草的映衬下显得十分悦目。“幸好我们中的一个人还算有头脑。”波利说。

“好啦，别一个劲儿地瞎吹了。”迪戈里说，“快过来，我想看看另一个池塘里有些什么。”波利反唇相讥，他也毫不示弱，回应了一些更难听的话。他们唇枪舌剑，争吵了好几分钟，如果把他们的话都写下来，难免会很乏味。让我们直接跳到下一个场景：他们两个手拉着手，站在一个未知池塘的岸边，心中砰砰直跳，脸上露出恐惧的表情，手上戴着黄戒指，又一次喊道：“一——二——三——走。”

扑通！这一次又没有奏效。这个池塘看起来也是一个浅水坑。那天早上（如果仍然是早上的话，在这个树林里，时间似乎停滞了）他们第二次打湿了脚，还把水溅到了腿上，却并没有到达一个新的世界。

“真该死！”迪戈里大叫道，“这回又出了什么岔子？我们确实戴着黄色戒指。他说黄色的是往外旅行用的。”

其实，安德鲁舅舅对世界间的树林一无所知，所以他把戒指的用途完全搞错了。黄戒指并不是“往外去”的戒指，绿戒指也不是“回家”的戒指；至少，不是像他所想的那个样子。制造两种戒指的材料都来自这片树林。黄戒指中的物质有力量将你拉到那个树林。那种物质想要返回到自己的地方，即这个中间地带。而绿戒指中的物质则想要离开自己的地方，所以会带着你离开树林，进入某一个世界。你瞧，安德鲁舅舅并不真正懂得他所研究的东西，大多数魔法师都是这样。当然迪戈里也没有清楚地认识到事情的真相，或者说现在还没有。他们商量了一会儿，决定戴着绿戒指再来试试这个新池塘，看看会有什么事情发生。

“要是你敢，我也敢。”波利说。她之所以这么说，是因为她在内心深处确信，不论是绿戒指还是黄戒指，在新池塘中都不会发生作用，除了再一次打湿腿和脚，并没有什么可怕之处。我不能确定，迪戈里是否也有相同的想法。不管怎么说，当他们戴上绿戒指，来到水边，又一次拉起手时，两个人显然比头一次要快活得多，脸上的表情也不那么严肃了。

“一——二——三——走。”迪戈里喊道，随着喊声他们跳进了池塘。 8Nk4Vv/bcAMpUSzRVg6Zl4XLS2uB803r4oHuCiuQHOzarnXgwmSdIGOPtM1uT98q