这是一个阴沉的秋日,吉尔·波尔躲在体育场后面哭泣。
她哭是因为有人欺负她。我们这个故事和她的学校没有太大关系,而且,学校本身也不是个令人愉快的话题,我就长话短说吧。
这所学校是一所男女混合实验学校。学校里的氛围并不像校方管理人员想象中的那么融洽——他们认为无论男孩还是女孩,都应该做自己喜欢做的事。可学校里几个高年级的男生和女生最喜欢干的就是欺负其他同学。他们做的那些可怕的坏事,如果是在其他学校,不出半学期就肯定会被查出来,并且会被加以制止。可是,在这所学校却不是这样。即便被查出来,那些欺负人的学生也不会被开除或受到处分——校长说这些都是一些有趣的心理学案例,经常派人去找他们谈话,而且一谈就是几个小时。如果你能投其所好,跟校长说一些他喜欢听的话,你肯定会变成他身边的红人。
这就是为什么吉尔会在那个阴沉的秋日躲在体育馆后面的灌木丛之间——那条湿漉漉的小路上抹眼泪的原因。她还没哭完,有个男孩就双手插兜、吹着口哨从体育馆的墙角绕了过来,差点儿撞上了她。
“你走路时不能看着点儿路吗?”吉尔没好气地说。
“好啦好啦,你用不着这么……”话还没说完,男孩看到她脸上的泪水,连忙问,“波尔,怎么了?”
吉尔只是撇了撇嘴——只要一张口说话,她的眼泪就会止不住地往下掉。
“我猜,又是他们吧。”男孩脸色阴沉,双手深深地插进口袋里。
吉尔点点头——她没必要说什么——两个人都心知肚明。
“嗨,听我说,”男孩说,“像这样光哭可没用……”
他本意是好的,可一说起来就像发表演说一样滔滔不绝。吉尔本来想哭,结果就这样被他硬生生打断了,心里的怒火不禁“噌”地冒了出来。
“走开啦!管好你自己就得了!”她说,“没人要你过来多管闲事。你是个大好人,要告诉我怎么做,对吗?我知道,你肯定觉得我应该尽力去讨好他们,然后像你一样,在他们身边像哈巴狗一样摇尾巴,是吗?”
“哦,天哪!”男孩说着,蹲了下来,一屁股坐在灌木丛旁边的草地上。刚一坐下,他立马又蹦了起来,原来,潮湿的草地把他的裤子弄湿了。他的名字不太好听,叫作尤斯塔斯·斯克罗布
,可他并不是个坏孩子。
“波尔!这不公平!”他说,“你说,这学期我做过什么坏事吗?为了保护兔子,我是不是站出来反抗卡特?我还帮斯皮文斯保守秘密呢,挨打了我都没说!我还……”
“我……我不知道,也……也不关心。”吉尔抽泣着说。
斯克罗布见她心情还是很差,就贴心地递给她一块薄荷糖,他自己也吃了一块。不一会儿,吉尔慢慢清醒了过来。
“斯克罗布,对不起。”她说,“这样说的确对你不公平。这学期,你确实做了些好事。”
“那就把上学期的那个我忘了吧。”尤斯塔斯说,“我现在变得不一样了。我之前……哎!我之前就是个小混蛋!”
“坦白说,你以前的确很坏。”吉尔说。
“你觉得我现在变好了吗?”尤斯塔斯问。
“不仅是我,所有人都这么说。”吉尔说,“大家都注意到了你的变化。昨天,埃莉诺·布莱吉斯顿听见阿德拉·佩妮法特在更衣室里说,‘斯克罗布那小子肯定被人控制了,这学期,他非常不听话。我们下一个要关照的人就是他’。”
尤斯塔斯打了个寒战——学校里每个人都知道“关照”的意思是什么。
两个孩子就这样沉默了一会儿。露水从月桂树的叶子上滴落下来。
“上学期你身上到底发生了什么事?为什么和现在这么不同?”吉尔打破沉默问道。
“假期的时候,我身上发生了很多奇怪的事情。”尤斯塔斯神神秘秘地说。
“什么奇怪的事?”吉尔问。
尤斯塔斯沉默了一段时间,然后说:“波尔,听我说,你和我都很讨厌这里,没有人比我们更讨厌这个地方了,对吗?”
“确实如此。”吉尔说。
“也就是说,我可以信任你。”
“当然可以。”吉尔说。
“好吧。不过,这可是个吓人的秘密。波尔,你愿意相信一些事情吗?就是那种别人听到都会哈哈大笑的事情?”
“从来没人跟我说过这种事呢。”吉尔说,“不过,我觉得,我会相信。”
“如果我说,假期的时候,我去了这个世界之外的另一个世界,你会信吗?”
“可是,我不明白你说的是什么意思。”
“好吧,我换一个说法。假如我告诉你,我去过一个地方,那里的动物会说话,有……有魔法和龙,还有各种童话里才有的事情。”斯克罗布满脸通红,表情非常尴尬。
“你是怎么去到那个地方的?”吉尔问完,也觉得很不好意思。
“是通过魔法到那里去的。”尤斯塔斯极小声地说,“我是和我的两个表兄妹一起去的。就那么“嗖”的一声就过去了。他们以前就去过。”
他们窃窃私语着,刚开始,吉尔很容易就相信了。但是,过了一会儿,她脑中蹦出来一个怀疑的念头——这念头来势汹汹,让她有一瞬间看上去特别像母老虎。随即,吉尔对尤斯塔斯说:
“如果你是在拿我寻开心,我永远都不会和你说话了!永远!”
“我没有!”尤斯塔斯说,“我发誓,我没有骗你!我说的每个字都是真的!”
(在我上学的时候,孩子们都会说“我以《圣经》起誓”。不过,在他们学校,并不鼓励学生读《圣经》。)
“好吧,我相信你。”吉尔说。
“不告诉任何人?”
“你把我当什么人啦!”
说到这儿,两个人都兴奋起来。可是,当吉尔抬头看着秋日阴沉的天空,听着露水从树叶上滴下来,不由想到在这所实验学校里遇到的种种苦难——这学期一共有13周,可现在才刚刚过去了两周而已。她无奈地说:“说这些有什么用?我们在这里,又不在你说的那个地方,我们也没办法过去。你有办法过去吗?”
“我也一直在想这个问题。”尤斯塔斯说,“我们从那个地方回来的时候,它说佩文西兄妹——就是我那两个表兄妹——再也回不去了。那是他们第3次去,我想,他们已经用尽了去那个地方的次数。可它并没说我不能去。要是我也回不去了,它肯定会说的。所以,我还有回去的机会。我总是忍不住想,我还能回去吗?真的可以吗?”
“你的意思是说,我们得做点什么事才能去?”
尤斯塔斯点点头。
“你是指,我们要在地上画圆圈,在圆圈中间写上奇怪的字母,站在里面,然后再念咒语什么的吗?”
尤斯塔斯认真地思考了一会儿,然后说:“我想,我大概知道怎么做了。但是我从来没试过。画圈和念咒那一套就太可笑了,它肯定不喜欢我们这么做。那样看上去就像我们以为自己能叫它做事似的。不过,我们现在也只好求它了。”
“你说的这个‘它’到底是谁啊?”
“在那个地方,人们都叫它阿斯兰。”尤斯塔斯说。
“好奇怪的名字啊!”
“和它本身比起来,这个名字一点儿都不奇怪。”尤斯塔斯严肃地说,“来吧,我们试一试吧。反正也没什么坏处,问问它也无妨。咱们俩像这样并排站在一起,伸出双臂,手掌朝下,就像他们在拉曼杜的岛上那样……”
“谁的岛?”
“这个以后再告诉你。它应该会喜欢我们面朝东方。我看看,哪边是东边?”
“这我可不知道。”吉尔说。
“女孩子就是这样,拿着指南针都找不到东南西北。”尤斯塔斯说。
“听起来就好像你能找到一样!”吉尔愤愤不平地说。
“当然能。你别打断我!看,找到了,那个方向是东,面朝月桂树。现在,你跟着我说。”
“说什么?”吉尔问。
“我说什么,你就跟着说什么。”尤斯塔斯回答,“好了,跟着我说,‘阿斯兰!阿斯兰!阿斯兰!’”
“阿斯兰!阿斯兰!阿斯兰!”吉尔重复道。“请让我们进入……”
就在这时,从体育馆的另一边传来吵吵嚷嚷的说话声:“波尔?没错,我知道她在哪儿。她肯定躲在体育馆后面哭鼻子呢。要不要我去把她揪出来?”
吉尔和尤斯塔斯对视了一眼,立即向月桂树丛中跑去,然后沿着陡峭而泥泞的山坡往上爬。多亏了这所实验学校奇怪的教学方式——在这里,你可能学不到太多关于法语、数学或拉丁语之类的知识,不过要说到静悄悄地逃跑,学生们还是颇为在行的。
爬了几分钟之后,两个人停下来侧耳倾听。身后传来一阵嘈杂声,看来那帮人已经追了过来。
“要是那扇门开着就好了!”两个人继续往上爬,斯克罗布说,吉尔点头表示同意。在月桂树丛所在的小山顶,有一面石头砌的高墙。墙上有一扇门,穿过这扇门就可以到开阔的荒野去。不过这扇门常年上锁,可之前有人曾经发现门开着,没准儿只开了那么一次。可哪怕只有一次,他们也会抱有幻想,想去试试看那扇门究竟有没有上锁。如果运气好,门开着,就可以神不知鬼不觉地溜出学校了。
吉尔和尤斯塔斯猫着腰,在月桂树丛中一路小跑,跑到墙边的时候已经上气不接下气了,脏兮兮的小脸变得通红。他们发现,那扇门和往常一样上了锁。
“看来拧把手也没用了。”尤斯塔斯嘴里这么说着,可还是试着转了一下门把手。然后……“哦!哦!老天开眼啊!”把手竟然转动了——门开了!
刚才,两个人还想着,如果门没锁,他俩肯定会飞一般地跑出去。可现在门开了,两个人却站在那里一动不动,呆呆地看着门外面——门外的景色和他们之前想象的大相径庭。
他们本以为会看到一片长满石南花的灰色山坡,在秋日阴沉的天空下延绵向前,最后与灰暗的天空连成一片。然而,此时,只见一束耀眼的阳光从门外面照进来,就好像你打开车库门时,六月的暖阳扑面而来一样。在阳光的照射下,草地上的露珠晶莹剔透,闪闪发亮。在这样的阳光下,吉尔挂着泪痕的小脸更显得脏兮兮的。那明媚的阳光,显然是从另一个世界发出来的。吉尔从来没见过这么光滑、闪亮的草地,还有那湛蓝的天空。空中有一些非常耀眼的东西在飞来飞去,像是璀璨的珠宝,又像是巨大的蝴蝶。
尽管这是吉尔一直期望看到的,可当真正看到了,她却害怕起来。她看着斯克罗布,发现他也很害怕。
“波尔,快来!”尤斯塔斯有些呼吸急促。
“咱们还能回来吗?那里安全吗?”吉尔问。
这时,身后传来了一个尖锐恶毒的声音。只听那个声音喊道:“波尔,我们知道你在这儿,快出来。”那是伊迪斯·贾寇的声音——她不是那伙人中的核心成员,可她爱搬弄是非,是那伙人的跟班。
“快呀!”斯克罗布说,“快过来!抓住我的手,我们绝不能分开。”吉尔还没弄清发生了什么事,尤斯塔斯就抓着她的手,把她拉到了门外面——他们就这样离开了学校,离开了英格兰,来到了那个地方。
伊迪斯·贾寇的声音一下子消失了,就好像当你关上收音机,里面的声音骤然停止了一样。下一刻,他们便被另一种不同的声音包围了。那声音来自天空中那些明亮的东西。现在他们看清楚了——那是一群小鸟,鸟儿发出喧闹的声音,听起来好像美妙的音乐,但是,又不同于我们这个世界里鸟儿的欢唱。所以,乍一听之下,可能还听不出来。除了鸟叫声,四下一片寂静。呼吸着清新的空气,吉尔觉得,他们现在肯定是在一座高山的山顶上。
斯克罗布仍抓着她的手,两人一起向前走,不停地四下张望着。吉尔看见这里有很多参天大树,很像雪松,不过,与英格兰的雪松相比,这里的更高大一些。树与树之间间隔很宽,地上没有灌木丛,所以,一眼望去,可以看到很远的地方。吉尔目光所及之处,景色基本上都一样,到处都是平坦的草地。天空上的小鸟扇动着五颜六色的翅膀飞来飞去,有黄色、靛蓝色和彩虹色的。树林深处是幽幽的蓝色阴影,而且空荡荡的。这是一片清冷的树林,清凉的空气里竟没有一丝风。
此刻,他们面前没有大树,只有蔚蓝的天空。他们没有说话,笔直地向前走,直到吉尔听见斯克罗布喊道:“小心!”吉尔感到一股力量将她向后一拉,原来,他们走到了悬崖边上。
吉尔并不恐高,所以站在悬崖边上一点儿也不害怕。对于斯克罗布拉她的举动,她有些恼火。“我又不是小孩子!”她说道,然后把手从他的手里挣脱出来。当她看见尤斯塔斯吓得面色苍白时,不由得有些瞧不起他。
“你怎么啦?”她问。为了表示自己一点儿也不害怕,她站到了悬崖边儿上。不过,说实在话,她现在也有些心虚。然后,她朝悬崖下方望去。
现在,她终于知道斯克罗布为何会吓得脸色苍白了——这里的悬崖峭壁和我们世界的截然不同。试想一下,你站在曾经去过的最高的峰顶,然后向下望,想象一下,悬崖就这么笔直地向下延伸,是你以前见过的悬崖高度的10倍,甚至是20倍!从这么高的地方向下望,起初,你会觉得下面的小白点是羊群。然而,你很快就会意识到——那不是羊群,而是白云——不是那种丝状的云雾,而是一个个蓬松的云团,有的几乎和山一样高大。透过大团大团的云彩,你可以瞥见真正的悬崖底部。但是,由于离得太远,你根本无法分清下面究竟是田野还是森林,是陆地还是水面——那悬崖的底部比你与那些云彩的距离还要远。
吉尔呆呆地望着下面。她想,或许自己可以后退一步,离悬崖边儿远一点。可她又不想让斯克罗布觉得自己胆小、懦弱。过了一小会儿,她决定,不再考虑其他人的想法,马上离开这吓人的悬崖,以后再也不嘲笑那些恐高的人了。可就当她向后退时,却发现自己无法动弹,两条腿软绵绵的,所有的东西都在眼前飘来飘去。
“波尔!你在干吗?!快回来!你这笨蛋!”斯克罗布喊道。吉尔觉得他的声音像是从很远的地方飘来,然后觉得他抓住了自己。可现在她的手脚完全不听使唤,她站在悬崖边挣扎了一会儿。吉尔吓坏了,脑子晕乎乎的,根本不知道自己在做什么。不过,有两件事是她这辈子都忘不了的,而且还会经常出现在她的梦里。一件事是,她用力挣脱了斯克罗布的手;另一件事则是,斯克罗布惨叫了一声,身体失去平衡,一下子坠入了深渊。
这一切几乎是同时发生的,她根本就来不及思考。幸运的是,这时,一只浑身毛色光亮的巨大动物冲到了悬崖边。它趴下来,身体前倾,出人意料地开始吹气——不是咆哮,也不是喷鼻息,而是用它那宽厚的嘴巴吹气——就好像吸尘器一样。等吉尔回过神来,才发现自己正躺在这个动物身边,她甚至能感觉到,它呼吸时一股气流在其身体里震动。她躺在地上,一动不动,完全没有力气爬起来,她刚才差点儿晕倒。事实上,她倒是希望自己能晕倒。不过,晕倒这事儿也不是说说就能做到的。最后,她看到,在距离自己很远的悬崖下方,有一个小黑点渐渐地从下面飘上来,缓缓地上升。小黑点一边上升,一边飘远。等到与悬崖在同一高度时,黑点已经飘出视线了。小黑点飘走的速度非常快,吉尔觉得,正是身边的这个动物把小黑点吹走的。
她扭过头,想看清这个庞然大物。随后,一头狮子赫然呈现在了她的眼前。
Without a glance at Jill the lion rose to its feet and gave one last blow. Then, as if satisfied with its work, it turned and stalked slowly away, back into the forest.
“It must be a dream, it must, it must,” said Jill to herself. “I’ll wake up in a moment.” But it wasn’t, and she didn’t.
“I do wish we’d never come to this dreadful place,” said Jill. “I don’t believe Scrubb knew any more about it than I do. Or if he did, he had no business to bring me here without warning me what it was like. It’s not my fault he fell over that cliff. If he’d left me alone we should both be all right.” Then she remembered again the scream that Scrubb had given when he fell, and burst into tears.
Crying is all right in its way while it lasts. But you have to stop sooner or later, and then you still have to decide what to do. When Jill stopped, she found she was dreadfully thirsty. She had been lying face downward, and now she sat up. The birds had ceased singing and there was perfect silence except for one small, persistent sound, which seemed to come from a good distance away. She listened carefully, and felt almost sure it was the sound of running water.
Jill got up and looked round her very carefully. There was no sign of the lion; but there were so many trees about that it might easily be quite close without her seeing it. For all she knew, there might be several lions. But her thirst was very bad now, and she plucked up her courage to go and look for that running water. She went on tiptoes, stealing cautiously from tree to tree, and stopping to peer round her at every step.
The wood was so still that it was not difficult to decide where the sound was coming from. It grew clearer every moment and, sooner than she expected, she came to an open glade and saw the stream, bright as glass, running across the turf a stone’s throw away from her. But although the sight of the water made her feel ten times thirstier than before, she didn’t rush forward and drink. She stood as still as if she had been turned into stone,with her mouth wide open. And she had a very good reason; just on this side of the stream lay the lion.
It lay with its head raised and its two fore-paws out in front of it, like the lions in Trafalgar Square. She knew at once that it had seen her, for its eyes looked straight into hers for a moment and then turned away as if it knew her quite well and didn’t think much of her.
“If I run away, it’ll be after me in a moment,” thought Jill.“And if I go on, I shall run straight into its mouth.” Anyway, she couldn’t have moved if she had tried, and she couldn’t take her eyes off it. How long this lasted, she could not be sure; it seemed like hours. And the thirst became so bad that she almost felt she would not mind being eaten by the lion if only she could be sure of getting a mouthful of water first.
“If you’re thirsty, you may drink.”
They were the first words she had heard since Scrubb had spoken to her on the edge of the cliff. For a second she stared here and there, wondering who had spoken. Then the voice said again, “If you are thirsty, come and drink,” and of course she remembered what Scrubb had said about animals talking in that other world, and realized that it was the lion speaking. Anyway,she had seen its lips move this time, and the voice was not like a man’s. It was deeper, wilder, and stronger; a sort of heavy, golden voice. It did not make her any less frightened than she had been before, but it made her frightened in rather a different way.
“Are you not thirsty?” said the Lion.
“I’m dying of thirst,” said Jill.
“Then drink,” said the Lion.
“May I could I would you mind going away while I do?”said Jill.
The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.
The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.
“Will you promise not to do anything to me, if I do come?”said Jill.
“I make no promise,” said the Lion.
Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer.
“Do you eat girls?” she said.
“I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men,kings and emperors, cities and realms,” said the Lion. It didn’t say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.
“I daren’t come and drink,” said Jill.
“Then you will die of thirst,” said the Lion.
“Oh dear!” said Jill, coming another step nearer. “I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.”
“There is no other stream,” said the Lion.
It never occurred to Jill to disbelieve the Lion no one who had seen his stern face could do that and her mind suddenly made itself up. It was the worst thing she had ever had to do, but she went forward to the stream, knelt down, and began scooping up water in her hand. It was the coldest, most refreshing water she had ever tasted. You didn’t need to drink much of it, for it quenched your thirst at once. Before she tasted it she had been intending to make a dash away from the Lion the moment she had finished. Now, she realized that this would be on the whole the most dangerous thing of all. She got up and stood there with her lips still wet from drinking.
“Come here,” said the Lion. And she had to. She was almost between its front paws now, looking straight into its face.But she couldn’t stand that for long; she dropped her eyes.
“Human Child,” said the Lion. “Where is the Boy?”
“He fell over the cliff,” said Jill, and added, “Sir.” She didn’t know what else to call him, and it sounded cheek to call him nothing.
“How did he come to do that, Human Child?”
“He was trying to stop me from falling, Sir.”
“Why were you so near the edge, Human Child?”
“I was showing off, Sir.”
“That is a very good answer, Human Child. Do so no more.And now” (here for the first time the Lion’s face became a little less stern) “the boy is safe. I have blown him to Narnia. But your task will be the harder because of what you have done.”
“Please, what task, Sir?” said Jill.
“The task for which I called you and him here out of your own world.”
This puzzled Jill very much. “It’s mistaking me for someone else,” she thought. She didn’t dare to tell the Lion this,though she felt things would get into a dreadful muddle unless she did.
“Speak your thought, Human Child,” said the Lion.
“I was wondering I mean could there be some mistake?Because nobody called me and Scrubb, you know. It was we who asked to come here. Scrubb said we were to call to Somebody it was a name I wouldn’t know and perhaps the Somebody would let us in. And we did, and then we found the door open.”
“You would not have called to me unless I had been calling to you,” said the Lion.
“Then you are Somebody, Sir?” said Jill.
“I am. And now hear your task. Far from here in the land of Narnia there lives an aged king who is sad because he has no prince of his blood to be king after him. He has no heir because his only son was stolen from him many years ago, and no one in Narnia knows where that prince went or whether he is still alive.But he is. I lay on you this command, that you seek this lost prince until either you have found him and brought him to his father’s house, or else died in the attempt, or else gone back into your own world.”
“How, please?” said Jill.
“I will tell you, Child,” said the Lion. “These are the signs by which I will guide you in your quest. First, as soon as the Boy Eustace sets foot in Narnia, he will meet an old and dear friend.He must greet that friend at once; if he does, you will both have good help. Second, you must journey out of Narnia to the north till you come to the ruined city of the ancient giants. Third, you shall find a writing on a stone in that ruined city, and you must do what the writing tells you. Fourth, you will know the lost prince (if you find him) by this, that he will be the first person you have met in your travels who will ask you to do something in my name, in the name of Aslan.”
As the Lion seemed to have finished, Jill thought she should say something. So she said, “Thank you very much. I see.”
“Child,” said Aslan, in a gentler voice than he had yet used,“perhaps you do not see quite as well as you think. But the first step is to remember. Repeat to me, in order, the four signs.”
Jill tried, and didn’t get them quite right. So the Lion corrected her, and made her repeat them again and again till she could say them perfectly. He was very patient over this, so that,when it was done, Jill plucked up courage to ask:
“Please, how am I to get to Narnia?”
“On my breath,” said the Lion. “I will blow you into the west of the world as I blew Eustace.”
“Shall I catch him in time to tell him the first sign? But I suppose it won’t matter. If he sees an old friend, he’s sure to go and speak to him, isn’t he?”
“You will have no time to spare,” said the Lion. “That is why I must send you at once. Come. Walk before me to the edge of the cliff.”
Jill remembered very well that if there was no time to spare,that was her own fault. “If I hadn’t made such a fool of myself,Scrubb and I would have been going together. And he’d have heard all the instructions as well as me,” she thought. So she did as she was told. It was very alarming walking back to the edge of the cliff, especially as the Lion did not walk with her but behind her making no noise on his soft paws.
But long before she had got anywhere near the edge, the voice behind her said, “Stand still. In a moment I will blow.But, first, remember, remember, remember the signs. Say them to yourself when you wake in the morning and when you lie down at night, and when you wake in the middle of the night.And whatever strange things may happen to you, let nothing turn your mind from following the signs. And secondly, I give you a warning. Here on the mountain I have spoken to you clearly: I will not often do so down in Narnia. Here on the mountain, the air is clear and your mind is clear; as you drop down into Narnia, the air will thicken. Take great care that it does not confuse your mind.And the signs which you have learned here will not look at all as you expect them to look, when you meet them there. That is why it is so important to know them by heart and pay no attention to appearances. Remember the signs and believe the signs. Nothing else matters. And now, daughter of Eve, farewell -”
The voice had been growing softer towards the end of this speech and now it faded away altogether. Jill looked behind her. To her astonishment she saw the cliff already more than a hundred yards behind her, and the Lion himself a speck of bright gold on the edge of it. She had been setting her teeth and clenching her fists for a terrible blast of lion’s breath; but the breath had really been so gentle that she had not even noticed the moment at which she left the earth. And now, there was nothing but air for thousands upon thousands of feet below her.
She felt frightened only for a second. For one thing, the world beneath her was so very far away that it seemed to have nothing to do with her. For another, floating on the breath of the Lion was so extremely comfortable. She found she could lie on her back or on her face and twist any way she pleased, just as you can in water (if you’ve learned to float really well). And because she was moving at the same pace as the breath, there was no wind, and the air seemed beautifully warm. It was not in the least like being in an aeroplane, because there was no noise and no vibration. If Jill had ever been in a balloon she might have thought it more like that; only better.
When she looked back now she could take in for the first time the real size of the mountain she was leaving. She wondered why a mountain so huge as that was not covered with snow and ice “but I suppose all that sort of thing is different in this world,”thought Jill. Then she looked below her; but she was so high that she couldn’t make out whether she was floating over land or sea,nor what speed she was going at.
“By Jove! The signs!” said Jill suddenly. “I’d better repeat them.” She was in a panic for a second or two, but she found she could still say them all correctly. “So that’s all right,” she said, and lay back on the air as if it was a sofa, with a sigh of contentment.
“Well, I do declare,” said Jill to herself some hours later,“I’ve been asleep. Fancy sleeping on air. I wonder if anyone’s done it before. I don’t suppose they have. Oh bother Scrubb probably has! On this same journey, a little bit before me. Let’s see what it looks like down below.”
What it looked like was an enormous, very dark blue plain.There were no hills to be seen; but there were biggish white things moving slowly across it. “Those must be clouds,” she thought. “But far bigger than the ones we saw from the cliff. I suppose they’re bigger because they’re nearer. I must be getting lower. Bother this sun.”
The sun which had been high overhead when she began her journey was now getting into her eyes. This meant that it was getting lower, ahead of her. Scrubb was quite right in saying that Jill (I don’t know about girls in general) didn’t think much about points of the compass. Otherwise she would have known, when the sun began getting in her eyes, that she was travelling pretty nearly due west.
Staring at the blue plain below her, she presently noticed that there were little dots of brighter, paler colour in it here and there. “It’s the sea!” thought Jill. “I do believe those are islands.” And so they were. She might have felt rather jealous if she had known that some of them were islands which Scrubb had seen from a ship’s deck and even landed on; but she didn’t know this. Then, later on, she began to see that there were little wrinkles on the blue flatness: little wrinkles which must be quite big ocean waves if you were down among them. And now, all along the horizon there was a thick dark line which grew thicker and darker so quickly that you could see it growing. That was the first sign she had had of the great speed at which she was travelling. And she knew that the thickening line must be land.
Suddenly from her left (for the wind was in the south) a great white cloud came rushing towards her, this time on the same level as herself. And before she knew where she was, she had shot right into the middle of its cold, wet fogginess. That took her breath away, but she was in it only for a moment. She came out blinking in the sunlight and found her clothes wet.(She had on a blazer and sweater and shorts and stockings and pretty thick shoes; it had been a muddy sort of day in England.) She came out lower than she had gone in; and as soon as she did so she noticed something which, I suppose, she ought to have been expecting, but which came as a surprise and a shock. It was Noises. Up till then she had travelled in total silence. Now,for the first time, she heard the noise of waves and the crying of seagulls. And now, too, she smelled the smell of the sea. There was no mistake about her speed now. She saw two waves meet with a smack and a spout of foam go up between them; but she had hardly seen it before it was a hundred yards behind her. The land was getting nearer at a great pace. She could see mountains far inland, and other nearer mountains on her left. She could see bays and headlands, woods and fields, stretches of sandy beach.The sound of waves breaking on the shore was growing louder every second and drowning the other sea noises.
Suddenly the land opened right ahead of her. She was coming to the mouth of a river. She was very low now, only a few feet above the water. A wave-top came against her toe and a great splash of foam spurted up, drenching her nearly to the waist. Now she was losing speed. Instead of being carried up the river she was gliding in to the river bank on her left. There were so many things to notice that she could hardly take them all in;a smooth, green lawn, a ship so brightly coloured that it looked like an enormous piece of jewellery, towers and battlements,banners fluttering in the air, a crowd, gray clothes, armour,gold, swords, a sound of music. But this was all jumbled. The first thing that she knew clearly was that she had alighted and was standing under a thicket of trees close by the river side, and there, only a few feet away from her, was Scrubb.
The first thing she thought was how very grubby and untidy and generally unimpressive he looked. And the second was “How wet I am!”