CHAPTER 4

The Bell And The Hammer
铃与锤

There was no doubt about the Magic this time. Down and down they rushed, first through darkness and then through a mass of vague and whirling shapes which might have been almost anything. It grew lighter. Then suddenly they felt that they were standing on something solid. A moment later everything came into focus and they were able to look about them.

“What a queer place!” said Digory.

“I don’t like it,” said Polly, with something like a shudder.

What they noticed first was the light. It wasn’t like sunlight, and it wasn’t like electric light, or lamps, or candles, or any other light they had ever seen. It was a dull, rather red light, not at all cheerful. It was steady and did not flicker. They were standing on a flat paved surface and buildings rose all around them. There was no roof overhead; they were in a sort of courtyard. The sky was extraordinarily dark—a blue that was almost black. When you had seen that sky you wondered that there should be any light at all.

“It’s very funny weather here,” said Digory. “I wonder if we’ve arrived just in time for a thunderstorm; or an eclipse.”

“I don’t like it,” said Polly.

Both of them, without quite knowing why, were talking in whispers. And though there was no reason why they should still go on holding hands after their jump, they didn’t let go.

The walls rose very high all round that courtyard. They had many great windows in them, windows without glass, through which you saw nothing but black darkness. Lower down there were great pillared arches, yawning blackly like the mouths of railway tunnels. It was rather cold.

The stone of which everything was built seemed to be red, but that might only be because of the curious light. It was obviously very old. Many of the flat stones that paved the courtyard had cracks across them. None of them fitted closely together and the sharp corners were all worn off. One of the arched doorways was half filled up with rubble. The two children kept on turning round and round to look at the different sides of the courtyard. One reason was that they were afraid of somebody — or something — looking out of those windows at them when their backs were turned.

“Do you think anyone lives here?” said Digory at last, still in a whisper.

“No,” said Polly. “It’s all in ruins. We haven’t heard a sound since we came.”

“Let’s stand still and listen for a bit,” suggested Digory.

They stood still and listened, but all they could hear was the thump - thump of their own hearts. This place was at least as quiet as the Wood between the Worlds. But it was a different kind of quietness. The silence of the wood had been rich and warm (you could almost hear the trees growing) and full of life: this was a dead, cold, empty silence. You couldn’t imagine anything growing in it.

“Let’s go home,” said Polly.

“But we haven’t seen anything yet,” said Digory. “Now we’re here, we simply must have a look round.”

“I’m sure there’s nothing at all interesting here.”

“There’s not much point in finding a magic ring that lets you into other worlds if you’re afraid to look at them when you’ve got there.”

“Who’s talking about being afraid?” said Polly, letting go of Digory’s hand.

“I only thought you didn’t seem very keen on exploring this place.”

“I’ll go anywhere you go.”

“We can get away the moment we want to,” said Digory. “Let’s take off our green rings and put them in our right-hand pockets. All we’ve got to do is to remember that our yellow are in our left-hand pockets. You can keep your hand as near your pocket as you like, but don’t put it in or you’ll touch your yellow and vanish.”

They did this and went quietly up to one of the big arched doorways which led into the inside of the building. And when they stood on the threshold and could look in, they saw it was not so dark inside as they had thought at first. It led into a vast, shadowy hall which appeared to be empty; but on the far side there was a row of pillars with arches between them and through those arches there streamed in some more of the same tired-looking light. They crossed the hall, walking very carefully for fear of holes in the floor or of anything lying about that they might trip over. It seemed a long walk. When they had reached the other side they came out through the arches and found themselves in another and larger courtyard.

“That doesn’t look very safe,” said Polly, pointing at a place where the wall bulged outward and looked as if it were ready to fall over into the courtyard. In one place a pillar was missing between two arches and the bit that came down to where the top of the pillar ought to have been hung there with nothing to support it. Clearly, the place had been deserted for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years.

“If it’s lasted till now, I suppose it’ll last a bit longer,” said Digory. “But we must be very quiet. You know a noise sometimes brings things down—like an avalanche in the Alps.”

They went on out of that courtyard into another doorway, and up a great flight of steps and through vast rooms that opened out of one another till you were dizzy with the mere size of the place. Every now and then they thought they were going to get out into the open and see what sort of country lay around the enormous palace. But each time they only got into another courtyard. They must have been magnificent places when people were still living there. In one there had once been a fountain. A great stone monster with widespread wings stood with its mouth open and you could still see a bit of piping at the back of its mouth, out of which the water used to pour. Under it was a wide stone basin to hold the water; but it was as dry as a bone. In other places there were the dry sticks of some sort of climbing plant which had wound itself round the pillars and helped to pull some of them down. But it had died long ago. And there were no ants or spiders or any of the other living things you expect to see in a ruin; and where the dry earth showed between the broken flagstones there was no grass or moss.

It was all so dreary and all so much the same that even Digory was thinking they had better put on their yellow rings and get back to the warm, green, living forest of the In-between place, when they came to two huge doors of some metal that might possibly be gold. One stood a little ajar. So of course they went to look in. Both started back and drew a long breath: for here at last was something worth seeing.

For a second they thought the room was full of people—hundreds of people, all seated, and all perfectly still. Polly and Digory, as you may guess, stood perfectly still themselves for a good long time, looking in. But presently they decided that what they were looking at could not be real people. There was not a movement nor the sound of a breath among them all. They were like the most wonderful waxworks you ever saw.

This time Polly took the lead. There was something in this room which interested her more than it interested Digory: all the figures were wearing magnificent clothes. If you were interested in clothes at all, you could hardly help going in to see them closer. And the blaze of their colours made this room look, not exactly cheerful, but at any rate rich and majestic after all the dust and emptiness of the others. It had more windows, too, and was a good deal lighter.

I can hardly describe the clothes. The figures were all robed and had crowns on their heads. Their robes were of crimson and silvery grey and deep purple and vivid green: and there were patterns, and pictures of flowers and strange beasts, in needlework all over them. Precious stones of astonishing size and brightness stared from their crowns and hung in chains round their necks and peeped out from all the places where anything was fastened.

“Why haven’t these clothes all rotted away long ago?” asked Polly.

“Magic,” whispered Digory. “Can’t you feel it? I bet this whole room is just stiff with enchantments. I could feel it the moment we came in.”

“Any one of these dresses would cost hundreds of pounds,” said Polly.

But Digory was more interested in the faces, and indeed these were well worth looking at. The people sat in their stone chairs on each side of the room and the floor was left free down the middle. You could walk down and look at the faces in turn.

“They were nice people, I think,” said Digory.

Polly nodded. All the faces they could see were certainly nice. Both the men and women looked kind and wise, and they seemed to come of a handsome race. But after the children had gone a few steps down the room they came to faces that looked a little different. These were very solemn faces. You felt you would have to mind your P’s and Q’s, if you ever met living people who looked like that. When they had gone a little further, they found themselves among faces they didn’t like: this was about the middle of the room. The faces here looked very strong and proud and happy, but they looked cruel. A little further on they looked crueller. Further on again, they were still cruel but they no longer looked happy. They were even despairing faces: as if the people they belonged to had done dreadful things and also suffered dreadful things. The last figure of all was the most interesting—a woman even more richly dressed than the others, very tall (but every figure in that room was taller than the people of our world), with a look of such fierceness and pride that it took your breath away. Yet she was beautiful too. Years afterwards when he was an old man, Digory said he had never in all his life known a woman so beautiful. It is only fair to add that Polly always said she couldn’t see anything specially beautiful about her.

This woman, as I said, was the last: but there were plenty of empty chairs beyond her, as if the room had been intended for a much larger collection of images.

“I do wish we knew the story that’s behind all this,” said Digory. “Let’s go back and look at that table sort of thing in the middle of the room.”

The thing in the middle of the room was not exactly a table. It was a square pillar about four feet high and on it there rose a little golden arch from which there hung a little golden bell; and beside this there lay a little golden hammer to hit the bell with.

“I wonder... I wonder... I wonder...” said Digory.

“There seems to be something written here,” said Polly, stooping down and looking at the side of the pillar.

“By gum, so there is,” said Digory. “But of course we shan’t be able to read it.”

“Shan’t we? I’m not so sure,” said Polly.

They both looked at it hard and, as you might have expected, the letters cut in the stone were strange. But now a great wonder happened: for, as they looked, though the shape of the strange letters never altered, they found that they could understand them. If only Digory had remembered what he himself had said a few minutes ago, that this was an enchanted room, he might have guessed that the enchantment was beginning to work. But he was too wild with curiosity to think about that. He was longing more and more to know what was written on the pillar. And very soon they both knew. What it said was something like this—at least this is the sense of it though the poetry, when you read it there, was better:

Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;

Strike the bell and bide the danger,

Or wonder, till it drives you mad,

What would have followed if you had.

“No fear!” said Polly. “We don’t want any danger.”

“Oh, but don’t you see it’s no good?” said Digory. “We can’t get out of it now. We shall always be wondering what else would have happened if we had struck the bell. I’m not going home to be driven mad by always thinking of that. No fear!”

“Don’t be so silly,” said Polly. “As if anyone would! What does it matter what would have happened?”

“I expect anyone who’s come as far as this is bound to go on wondering till it sends him dotty. That’s the Magic of it, you see. I can feel it beginning to work on me already.”

“Well, I don’t,” said Polly crossly. “And I don’t believe you do either. You’re just putting it on.”

“That’s all you know,” said Digory. “It’s because you’re a girl. Girls never want to know anything but gossip and rot about people getting engaged.”

“You looked exactly like your Uncle when you said that,” said Polly.

“Why can’t you keep to the point?” said Digory. “What we’re talking about is—”

“How exactly like a man!” said Polly in a very grown-up voice; but she added hastily, in her real voice, “And don’t say I’m just like a woman, or you’ll be a beastly copy-cat.”

“I should never dream of calling a kid like you a woman,” said Digory loftily.

“Oh, I’m a kid, am I?” said Polly, who was now in a real rage. “Well, you needn’t be bothered by having a kid with you any longer then. I’m off. I’ve had enough of this place. And I’ve had enough of you too—you beastly, stuck-up, obstinate pig!”

“None of that!” said Digory in a voice even nastier than he meant it to be; for he saw Polly’s hand moving to her pocket to get hold of her yellow ring. I can’t excuse what he did next except by saying that he was very sorry for it afterwards (and so were a good many other people). Before Polly’s hand reached her pocket, he grabbed her wrist, leaning across with his back against her chest. Then, keeping her other arm out of the way with his other elbow, he leaned forward, picked up the hammer, and struck the golden bell a light, smart tap. Then he let her go and they fell apart staring at each other and breathing hard. Polly was just beginning to cry, not with fear, and not even because he had hurt her wrist quite badly, but with furious anger. Within two seconds, however, they had something to think about that drove their own quarrels quite out of their minds.

As soon as the bell was struck it gave out a note, a sweet note such as you might have expected, and not very loud. But instead of dying away again, it went on; and as it went on it grew louder. Before a minute had passed it was twice as loud as it had been to begin with. It was soon so loud that if the children had tried to speak (but they weren’t thinking of speaking now—they were just standing with their mouths open) they would not have heard one another. Very soon it was so loud that they could not have heard one another even by shouting. And still it grew: all on one note, a continuous sweet sound, though the sweetness had something horrible about it, till all the air in that great room was throbbing with it and they could feel the stone floor trembling under their feet. Then at last it began to be mixed with another sound, a vague, disastrous noise which sounded first like the roar of a distant train, and then like the crash of a falling tree. They heard something like great weights falling. Finally, with a sudden rush and thunder, and a shake that nearly flung them off their feet, about a quarter of the roof at one end of the room fell in, great blocks of masonry fell all round them, and the walls rocked. The noise of the bell stopped. The clouds of dust cleared away. Everything became quiet again.

It was never found out whether the fall of the roof was due to Magic or whether that unbearably loud sound from the bell just happened to strike the note which was more than those crumbling walls could stand.

“There! I hope you’re satisfied now,” panted Polly.

“Well, it’s all over, anyway,” said Digory.

And both thought it was; but they had never been more mistaken in their lives.

中文阅读

毫无疑问，魔法这一次生效了。他们一个劲儿地向下坠落，首先穿过黑暗，接着穿过一片模糊而旋转着的影像，那些影像有可能是任何东西。周围渐次变得明亮起来。随后他们突然感到自己站在了坚实的东西之上。过了一会儿，一切物体的轮廓变得明晰起来，他们这才能够朝四下里打量。

“多么奇怪的地方！”迪戈里感叹道。

“我不喜欢这里。”波利说着，还打了个冷战。

他们最先注意到那里的亮光。那既不像阳光，也不像电灯光、油灯光和蜡烛光，或者他们所见到过的别的什么光。那是一种暗淡的红光，一点儿也不令人感到愉悦。这个光毫无变化，也不闪烁摇动。他们站在平坦的铺砌好的地面上，周围高大的建筑物林立。他们落在了一个庭院里，头顶上无遮无盖。天空异乎寻常地阴暗——一种近似于墨色的蓝。看到那样的天空,你会感到奇怪，那个地方怎么还会有光。

“这里的天气很搞怪。”迪戈里说，“我在想，是不是我们恰好赶上了一场雷暴，再不然就是日蚀。”

“我不喜欢这种天气。”波利说。

不知道是什么原因，他们两个都压低了声音讲话。跳进池塘之后，他们已经没有必要继续牵手，可是他们仍然没有把手松开。

这个庭院四面都有高墙围绕。墙上有许多没有玻璃的大窗户，窗户里黑洞洞的，什么也看不见。稍微低矮之处是用柱子支撑着的宏伟拱门，像铁路隧道口一样张着漆黑的大嘴巴，令人感到冷嗖嗖的。

这些建筑物似乎都是用红色石头建造的，也许这只是那种奇怪的光给人的错觉。显然这里非常寒冷。院子里许多铺地的平坦石板都已开裂，因此没有哪两块石头是严丝合缝的。石板的棱角也早已磨平。有一个拱形门洞已经被瓦砾掩埋了一半。两个孩子不停地转动身子，查看着院子的四面八方。他们这样做的原因是担心有人——或者有什么东西——在他们转过身子的时候，会从那些窗户里向他们窥视。

“你认为有人住在这里吗？”迪戈里终于开口说道，声音仍然近乎耳语。

“不。”波利回答，“这里是一片废墟。我们到达之后，还没有听到一点声音。”

“我们站着别动，仔细地听一下。”迪戈里提议道。

他们静静地站立，侧耳聆听，但他们所能听到的，只是自己砰砰的心跳声。起码这里跟世界之间的树林差不多同样宁静。但这种宁静还是有所不同。树林里的宁静是丰饶而温暖的（你几乎可以听到树木在生长），充满了生机。而这里却是一种死气沉沉、寒冷而空虚的寂静。你想象不出来，这里会有什么东西在生长。

“我们回家去吧。”波利说。

“可是我们还什么都没有看到呢。”迪戈里说，“既然来了，我们就随便到处看看。”

“我相信，这里没有什么有趣的东西。”

“如果你来到了另一个世界，却不敢去观察它们，那么拥有一个魔法戒指，也就没有什么意义了。”

“谁说不敢啦？”波利说着，松开了迪戈里的手。

“我只是觉得，你似乎不太热衷于探索这个地方。”

“不管去哪儿，只要你敢，我就敢。”

“我们要是想离开，随时都可以做到。”迪戈里说，“我们把绿戒指取下来，放在右边的口袋里。我们所要做的只不过是记住，黄戒指在左边的口袋里。你可以把手贴近那个口袋，但切记不要伸进去，否则一碰到黄色戒指，你就会消失。”

照此办理之后，他们悄悄走到一个通往建筑物内部的巨大拱门前。他们站在门口向里张望，发现里面并不像自己想象的那么黑。拱门通往一个宽阔幽暗的大厅，整个大厅空空荡荡的，但在远处有一排柱子支撑着的拱廊，拱廊之间流露出一些同样毫无生气的亮光。他们小心翼翼地穿过大厅，唯恐被地板上的窟窿或是倒地的物体给绊倒。似乎走了很久，他们才走到大厅的另一头，穿过拱门，发现自己来到了一个更大的院子里。

“那儿看起来不太安全。”波利用手指着一个地方说道。那里的墙壁向内倾斜，看样子随时都有可能向院子里坍塌。有一个地方，两个拱顶之间缺了一根柱子，一边的拱顶悬空垂在那里，没有东西支撑，摇摇欲坠。显而易见，这个地方已经荒废了几百年，甚至是几千年。

“既然它维持到现在，我想一时半会儿还垮不了。”迪戈里说，“但我们必须保持安静。要知道，有时声音会使东西坍塌——就像阿尔卑斯山上的雪崩。”

他们继续向前，走出那个庭院，进入另一个门洞，又登上很长一段台阶，接着穿过一些彼此相连的宽敞房间。最后这个地方的巨大规模，使他们感到头晕眼花。时不时地，他们觉得自己很快就能来到户外，看看这座宏伟宫殿的外面是什么样子。但每一次，他们又会进入另外一个庭院。从前有人居住的时候，这些庭院一定是些雄伟壮观的地方。有一个庭院还残留着一个喷泉。那是一个展翅站立着的巨大石头怪兽，大张着嘴巴，在它的嘴里你还能看见一截管道，原先水就是从那里喷出来的。怪兽下面有一个用来盛水的宽大石盆，如今像白骨一样枯干。还有一些地方散落着某种攀缘植物的残枝枯藤。这些植物曾经缠绕在柱子上，甚至导致了一些柱子的倾倒。但这种植物早就死了。蚂蚁、蜘蛛以及其他在废墟中时常出没的生物，在这里全都踪影皆无。破碎的石板之间裸露着干燥的地面，上面既没有草，也没有苔藓。

这里的一切都那么枯燥，千篇一律，就连迪戈里都觉得，他们最好是戴上黄戒指，返回到世界之间那个温暖、青翠、生机勃勃的树林里去。就在这时，他们来到了两扇大门前。大门是用金属——也许就是黄金——制作的。有一扇门半开着。当然，他们走上前向门里边观看。两个人都吓得往后退缩，倒吸了一口冷气。这里终于有了一些值得观看的东西。

起初，他们以为这个房间里坐满了人——几百人纹丝不动地坐在那里。你也许能够猜到，波利和迪戈里也一动不动地站在那儿，向里面打量了很久。过了一会儿，他们认定，自己看到的不可能是真人。所有那些人既没有任何动作，也没有丝毫的呼吸声，就像是你所见到过的最奇妙的蜡像。

这一次，波利带头走了进去。对于房间里的某些东西，她要比迪戈里更感兴趣。所有的人物都身着华丽的服装。如果你对服装感兴趣的话，你一定会情不自禁地走上前去，近距离地加以观赏。服饰上的缤纷色彩，使得这个房间虽然说不上令人愉快，但和其他满是灰尘的空房间相比，至少显得雍容华贵。这里的窗户也比较多，比起别的地方要亮堂一些。

我很难描述这些服装。这些人物都穿着长袍，头上戴着王冠。他们的长袍有大红色、银灰色、深紫色和鲜绿色，上面到处缝制着各种花卉和珍禽异兽的花式图案。罕见的大颗珍贵宝石，有的在他们的冠冕上闪闪发光，有的串成项链戴在他们的脖子上，还有一些镶嵌在衣服上，使他们浑身上下充满了珠光宝气。

“为什么他们的衣服这么久还没有朽坏？”波利问。

“魔法。”迪戈里悄悄地说，“你感觉不到吗？我打赌，这整个房间都被施了魔法。我们一进来，我就感觉到了。”

“这里随便哪一件衣服都要值好几百英镑。”波利说。

迪戈里对人们的面孔更感兴趣，这些面孔也确实很值得一看。这些人坐在房间两边的石椅上，房子中间空着。你可以走过去，逐个观察那些面孔。

“我觉得，他们都是一些友善的人。”迪戈里说。

波利点了点头。他们所看到的面孔确实都很友善。不论男人还是女人都显得善良而睿智，看来是出自一个优秀的种族。孩子们往前走了几步之后，看到的面孔便多少有了一些不同。这是一些十分严肃的面孔，你会觉得，如果遇到那种神情的真人，你一定会注意自己的言行举止。再往前走上几步，差不多就到了房子的中央。他们发现自己面对着一些不太讨人喜欢的面孔。这些面孔看起来非常强壮、傲慢而快活，但是也有几分残忍。稍远一点的面孔看上去更加残忍。继续往前，这里的面孔看起来仍然很残忍，但是已经不再快活了，甚至露出绝望的神情，好像这些人曾经做过，也经历过可怕的事情。最后一个雕像最为有趣——那是一个女人，她的衣着远比他人更加华丽，身材高大（房间里的每一个人都比我们世界里的人要高），她的表情是如此的凶狠傲慢，以至于令人感到窒息。然而她也非常美丽。多年之后,当迪戈里到了垂暮之年，他还说,这是他一生中所见过的最美丽的女人。值得一提的是，波利总是说，自己看不出来她有什么特别出众的地方。

正如我所说的，这个女人是最后一尊雕像。但是在她前方还有很多空椅子，似乎这个房间原本打算收藏更多的雕像。

“我真希望我们能知道这一切背后的故事。”迪戈里说，“让我们往回走，看看房子中间那个像桌子一样的东西。”

位于房子中间的东西，确切地说，并不是一张桌子。那是一个大约有四英尺高的方形柱子，上面立着一个不大的金色拱门，里面悬挂着一个金色小铃铛，旁边放着一把敲击用的金色小锤子。

“我猜……我猜……我猜……”迪戈里说。

“这儿好像写了些什么东西。”波利说着，弯下身子观看柱子的侧面。

“天啊，确实有字。”迪戈里说，“当然我们完全读不懂。”

“我们读不懂？我可不这么认为。”波利说。

他们俩仔细地端详着那些文字，就像你所预料到的，这些刻在石头上的字母都很奇特。可是现在一件神奇的事情发生了。就在他们观看的时候，尽管这些奇异字母的形状并没有改变，他们却发现自己能看懂那些文字了。如果迪戈里还记得自己几分钟前说过的话，这个房间被施了魔法，他或许就能猜出来，魔法已经开始起作用了。由于无法抑制的好奇心，他根本无暇顾及其他。他越来越急切地想知道柱子上究竟写了些什么。很快他们两个就如愿以偿。那些文字大意如下——起码是这个意思，你若能在那个地方读到这首诗，它会更加朗朗上口：

做出选择，爱冒险的陌生人；

是敲响铃铛，面对危险，

还是犹豫不决，直到发疯为止，

就因为你想知道，一旦敲响会发生什么事情。

“绝对不行！”波利说，“我们可不想遇到任何危险。”

“哦，难道你不明白，这根本不管用吗？”迪戈里说，“我们现在已经无法摆脱它了。我们会一直猜想，如果我们敲响了铃铛，会有什么事情发生。我可不想回家后，老是想着这个而被逼得发疯。绝不！”

“不要犯傻。”波利说，“好像真的有人会走火入魔！将要发生的事跟我们有什么关系？”

“我相信，任何人到了这一步，一定会不住地想下去，直到他变得疯疯癫癫为止。我要说，这就是魔法的威力。我感到它已经开始在我身上发挥作用了。”

“噢，我可没有感觉到。”波利不高兴地说，“我也不相信你能感觉到。你不过是在装腔作势罢了。”

“你所知道的不过如此。”迪戈里说，“因为你是一个女孩子。女孩子除了谁跟谁订了婚之类的流言和废话以外，什么都不想知道。”

“你说这句话的时候，看上去跟你舅舅一模一样。”波利说。

“你为什么总是跑题？”迪戈里说，“我们正在谈论的是——”

“真像一个大男人！”波利装出成年人的腔调说，但她马上又用自己真实的声音补充道，“不准说我像一个大女人，否则你就是一个可恶的跟屁虫。”

“我才不想称呼你这样的小屁孩儿为大女人呢。”迪戈里傲慢地说。

“噢，我是一个小屁孩儿，是吗？”波利反问道，她现在真的生气了，“好吧，你再也不必为带着一个小屁孩儿而烦恼了。我要走了。我已经厌倦了这个地方。我也厌倦了你——你这头讨厌的、自大的、固执的猪猡！”

“不准那么做！”迪戈里用一种比自己预想的更加恶毒的声音吼道，因为他看见波利把手伸向她的口袋，正准备戴上黄戒指。我无法为他接下来的行为开脱，只能说他事后对此感到十分抱歉（许多人都曾有过类似的经历）。就在波利的手快要伸进口袋之前，他一把抓住她的手腕，用自己的背挡在了她的胸前。然后，他用另一只胳膊肘顶住她的另一只手，自己的身子向前倾斜，拿起那个锤子，敏捷地在那个金色铃铛上轻轻敲击了一下。他这才松开她的手，两个人分别向后倒退，一边喘着粗气，一边怒视着对方。波利开始哭了起来，不是由于惊吓，也不是由于手腕被他抓痛了，而是由于强烈的愤怒。但是过了两秒钟，一些更值得考虑的事情发生了，迫使他们将这场争吵抛到了脑后。

铃铛刚一敲响，就发出了一声你所期待的悦耳的音响，音量不大。但这个声音非但没有逐渐止息，反而一个劲儿地响个不停，声音也变得越来越大。还不到一分钟，它的音量就达到了开始时的两倍。很快，这声音变得如此响亮，如果孩子们想要说些什么（他们此刻并不打算说话——只是目瞪口呆地站在那里），他们也无法听清楚对方的话。紧接着，这个声音变得震耳欲聋，这会儿即使他们大声喊叫，也无法听见彼此说些什么了。这个声音还在加强，总是同一个音调，一种连绵不绝的悦耳声响，悦耳之中又掺杂着些许的恐怖。后来，整个大厅里的空气都在震颤，他们能够感觉到，脚下的石头地板也在轻轻晃动。再往后，这种声音中开始出现另外一种声音，一种模糊的、灾难般的噪音。那种噪音起初听起来像是远处火车发出的轰鸣，随后又像是树木倒下时的隆隆巨响。他们听见了重物坠落的砰砰声。最后，伴随着声音的急剧增大和雷鸣般的声响，以及险些将他们摔倒在地的一次震动，房间一头将近四分之一的天花板掉落下来，大块的砖石砸落在他们的周围，墙壁也在来回的摇晃。铃铛的响声停了下来。弥漫的烟尘逐渐消散。一切再次归于寂静。

他们无从得知，天花板的垮塌是由于魔法，还是由于铃铛发出的令人无法忍受的巨响，超出了这些墙壁所能承受的限度。

“你看！我希望你这会儿满意了。”波利气喘吁吁地说。

“好吧，无论如何，一切都结束了。”迪戈里说。

两个人以为一切已经结束，但这是他们一生中所犯的最大的错误。 sZK8RZEnjvoN2mnLbN1KrimMm37G+2Mt41z6DUttcnkGjn+cNTBYYW8eO2faPDh0