Chapter 13 Chapter Thirteen The Dwarf's Rejection

Tirian had thought—or, if he had had time to think, he might have thought—that they were all in a little thatched-roofed stable, about twelve feet long by six feet wide.In fact, they were standing on the grass, with the deep blue sky overhead, and the wind blowing gently on their faces was the wind of an early summer day.Not far from them there was a clump of trees with lush branches and leaves, but under each leaf, there were faintly exposed golden, pale yellow, purple and fiery red fruits, which have never been seen in this world of ours. such fruit.The fruit made Tirian feel that it must be autumn: but something sensuous in the air told him that it was not later than June.They all went to the fruit tree.

Everyone reached out to pick the fruit of his favorite shape, and then everyone paused for a moment.The fruit was so beautiful that everyone thought, "This can't be for me...we won't be allowed to pick it." "It's all right," said Peter. "I know what we're all thinking. But I'm sure, I'm sure, we have nothing to worry about. I have a feeling that we've come to a country where everything is allowed to us." "Eat then!" said Eustace.So they all started eating apples.What kind of fruit is this? Unfortunately, no one can describe its taste.All I can say is this: Compared with these fruits, the freshest grapes you've ever eaten are dull, the juiciest oranges are too dry, and the pears that melt in your mouth are hard and dry. Woody, the sweetest wild strawberries turn sour.These fruits have no seeds, no stones, and no wasps.Once you have eaten these fruits, from now on all the most wonderful things in the world will taste like medicine.But what it tastes like, I still can't describe it.Unless you can go to that country and taste it for yourself, you can't know what it's like.

They had had enough of the fruit, and Eustace said to High King Peter, "You haven't told us how you came here. You were about to tell when King Tirian appeared." "There's not much to say," said Peter. "Edmund and I were standing on the platform when we saw your train coming in. I remember thinking to myself: The train is turning too fast. And I remember thinking to myself: how queer we all might be on the same train, though Lucy doesn't know anything about it—" "My lord, your people?" asked Tirian. "I mean my father and mother—Edmund, Lucy, and my parents."

"Why them?" asked Jill. "You mean they knew Narnia?" "No, it has nothing to do with Narnia. They were on their way to Bristol. I only heard they were going there that morning. But Edmund said they must take this train." Edmund was one of those people who knew how the railroad worked.) "Then what happened?" Jill asked. "Well, that's not easy to describe, Edmond, don't you think?" "Not so easy," Edmund, "not at all like last time, when we were drawn out of our world by magic. But there was a terrible noise, and something hit me with a bang, But it didn't hurt me. I was amazed--excited. Oh--that was a weird thing. I used to have a knee that hurt from playing football. I found the pain went away all of a sudden. I felt so relieved. And then—here we are."

"It's very much like what we do in railway carriages," said Lord Digory, brushing away traces of fruit lingering on his blond beard, "but I think, Polly, you and I, chiefly that our bodies and limbs are freed. Stiffness has become soft. You young people won't understand. We can stop feeling old." "We're young people, really!" said Jill, "I can't believe you two are really much older than we are here." "If we are not old now, we were old before," said Lady Polly. "So, what happened to you when you got here?" asked Eustace.

"Oh," said Peter, "for a long time (at least I think a long time) nothing happened. Then the door opened—" "Door?" said Tirian. "Yes," said Peter, "the door you came in--or the door you went out. Have you forgotten?" "Where is the door?" "Look," said Peter, and pointed with his finger. Look, Tirian, he's seen the queerest and most ridiculous thing you can imagine.Just a few yards away, and clearly visible in the sun, stood a rough wooden door, and around the wooden door was a frame for the doorway: nothing else, no walls, no roof.He walked toward the door, confused, and the others followed him to see what he would do.He went around to the side of the door.But from that side, it looked exactly the same: he was still out in the field, it was still a summer morning.The door stands on its own in a simple and clear way, growing there like a tree.

"Just sir," said Tirian to the High King, "this is a great miracle." "This is the door you walked in with the Calormene soldier five minutes ago." Peter said with a smile. "But didn't I enter the stable after I came out of the woods? And this door seems to be a door that leads from nowhere." "It looks like you've walked around the door," said Peter, "but put your eyes on the crack between the two boards, and look out through the crack. Tirian turned his eyes Leaning over the crack. At first he could see nothing but darkness. Then his eyes got used to it, and he saw the dull red glow of the dying campfire, and the stars in the dark sky above the campfire. Then he saw Black figures walking or standing between the fire and him: he could hear them talking, and their voices were like those of the Calormene soldiers. So he knew he was coming through the stable door Looking out into the darkness of the Lamppost Field where he had just fought his last battle. Soldiers were debating whether to go in and find Rishda "Tycan" (but no one would do that) or just set it on fire Out of the stables.

He looked around again, he couldn't believe his eyes.With the blue sky overhead, the grassy countryside stretched in every direction as far as he could see, and all around him his new friends laughed. "So," said Tirian, smiling, "the stable seen from the inside and the stable seen from the outside are two different places." "Yes," said Lord Digory, "the inside of a stable is larger than its outside." "Yes," said Queen Lucy, "it is the same in our world: a stable, once filled with Things are bigger than our whole world." It was the first time she spoke, and from the quiver in her voice Tirian knew why now.She feels everything here much more deeply than anyone else.She was too happy to speak.He wanted to hear her speak again, so he said, "If you agree, madam, please go on. Please tell me the whole story of your adventure."

"After the jolt and the noise," said Lucy, "we found ourselves here. Like you, we were amazed at the door. Then the door opened for the first time (we looked out into darkness as we opened it) , came out of the door a great man with a drawn sword in his hand. We could tell by his arm that he was a Calormene. He stood by the door with his sword raised on his shoulder, ready to cut Anyone who comes through the door. We go to talk to him, but we feel that he can neither see us nor hear us. He never looks around, never looks at the sky, the sun, the grass: I think he also Couldn't see them. So we waited a long time. Then we heard the bolt being unbolted on the other side of the door. But the soldier wasn't going to cut down the sword until he saw who was coming in. So we speculated he had Ordered to kill some and spare others.

But, at the moment of opening the door, Tash suddenly appeared, just on this side of the door, and none of us saw where he came from.Then came a big cat through the door.The big cat took one look at Tash and ran for his life, just in time, for Tash caught his beak as the door closed as he sprang at the cat.The soldier could see Tash.He grew very pale, and fell before the monster: but the monster disappeared. "Then we waited for a long time. At last the door opened for the third time, and a young Calormene soldier entered. I liked the young man. The sentry at the door was startled, and when he saw him he looked Very surprised. I thought he had been expecting to meet something quite different from this young man..."

"Now I see it all," said Eustace (his bad habit of interrupting stories), "that the cat went in first, and the sentry was ordered not to hurt it. Then the cat came out of the stable, saying it was him." Seeing the fierce Tashlan, he feigned terror to scare the other beasts. But Shift never expected the real Tash to suddenly appear; so Ginger the cat came out of the stable with real terror. After that Well, anyone that Shift puts into the stables is someone that Shift is trying to get rid of, and the sentry is going to kill them. So..." "My friend," said Tirian softly, "you are preventing the lady from telling her story." "I go on," said Lucy, "the sentry was taken aback. That put the comers just in time to defend themselves. They had a great fight. The young man killed the sentry and threw him out the door. Then he slowly Walked up to where we were. He could see us, everything else. We tried to talk to him, but he was kind of in a trance. He kept saying, 'Tash, Tash, Tash Where's what? I'm going to see Tash.' So we stopped talking to him, and he went somewhere--to the other side. I liked him. After that, yeah!" Lucy said grimaced. "After this," said Edmund, "someone threw an ape through the door. Tash was there again. My sister is soft-hearted, and she doesn't want to tell you that when Tash pecks, the ape dies." It's dead!" "Damn it!" said Eustace. "All the same, I hoped the ape would disagree with Tash." "After this," said Edmund, "come a dozen Dwarfs; then Jill, and Eustace, and the last of them all—and you yourself." "I hope Tash eats the dwarfs too," said Eustace, "the little piggies!" "No, it doesn't eat dwarfs," said Lucy, "don't be offensive to you. The dwarfs are still there. In fact, you can see them from here. I've tried a lot to make friends with them, But it didn't work." "Make friends with the Dwarfs!" cried Eustace. "You wouldn't talk like that if you knew what the Dwarfs do." "Stop arguing, Eustace," said Lucy. "Come and see them. King Tirian, you may be able to do something about them." "I don't like dwarfs very much today," said Tirian, "but since you ask me, madam, I'm going to do something a little bigger than that today." Lucy led the way, and before long they all saw the Dwarfs.The dwarfs had a very queer look.They were not walking or having fun (although the ropes that bound them seemed to have disappeared), nor were they lying down to rest.They were sitting face to face in a very dense circle.They never looked around until Lucy and Tirian were close enough, almost touching them, that they noticed someone approaching.Only then did the dwarfs lift their heads, as if they could not see anyone, and listened desperately, trying to guess from the sound what was going on. "Watch out!" said one of the dwarfs in a rough voice. "Which way you're going. Don't come in our faces." "Yes!" said Eustace indignantly. "We're not blind. We have eyes ourselves." "If you can see from here, you must have very good eyes." The same little man was speaking, and his name was Diggle. "Inside what?" said Edmund. "Well, you fool, of course it's over here," said Diggle, "in this dark, cramped, smelly little hole in a stable." "Are you blind?" said Tirian. "Aren't we all blind in the dark?" Diggle said. "But it's not dark, you poor stupid little dwarves!" said Lucy. "Can't you see? Look up! Look around! Can't you see the sky, the trees, and the flowers? Can't you see me?" "By all lies, how can I see something that doesn't exist? How can I see you in this darkness where you can't see me?" "But I can see you," said Lucy, "and I will prove that I can. You have a pipe in your mouth." "Anyone who can smell tobacco can say that," Diggle said. "Oh, poor fellow! It's dreadful," said Lucy.Then she hit upon an idea.She bent down and picked some wild violets. "Listen, little man," she said, "even if your eyes are wrong, maybe your nose is all right: you can smell it." She leaned over and brought the fresh, moist violets to the little one. Dwarf Diggle's ugly nose.However, she had to jump back quickly to avoid being hit by the hard little fist. " "I don't want that at all!" he cried. "You're so daring! What do you care about forcing dirty, dirty stable straw into my face? It's got thistles in it." .It smells like your soy sauce! Who the hell are you?" "O Mudman," said Tirian, "she is Queen Lucy, whom Aslan sent here from the far past. I am Tirian, your rightful king. For her sake alone, I didn't chop your heads off your shoulders, you've been proven time and again to be treacherous." "It's absurd and unheard of!" cried Diggle. "How can you go on with that nonsense? Your great lion didn't come to help you, did he? Think about it. Now--even to the point where--you've been beaten and forced into this black hole, like the rest of us, you're still playing your old tricks. Start making up a new one Lies! Try to make us believe that none of us are locked up, that it's not dark here, and other things that only God knows."" "There's no black hole here except in your own illusions, fools," cried Tirian. The dwarves were scooped out of the coterie. But as soon as Tirian had put him down, Diggle jumped back into his place among the dwarves, wiped his nose and howled, "Oh! Oh! What are you doing this for! Put my face Hitting the wall. You nearly broke the bridge of my nose." "Well!" said Lucy, "what can we do for them?" "Let them go," said Eustace; but as he spoke the earth shook, and the fragrant air became suddenly more fragrant.A light shone behind them.Terrified in his heart, Tirian was the last to turn his head.Behind him stood Aslan, the real and huge golden lion he had hoped for: the others were kneeling in a circle around the lion's front paws, and while the lion's great head bent down and licked them with its tongue, they put His hands and face buried in his mane.Then the Lion looked at Tirian intently, and Tirian came tremblingly and threw herself at the Lion's feet, and the Lion kissed him and said, "Well done, the last King of Narnia stood firm in his darkest hour." Stand tall." "Aslan," said Lucy through her tears, "can you--would you--do something for these poor dwarfs?" "Dearest," said Aslan, "what I can and cannot do, I will show you." He approached the dwarfs, and uttered a long, deep cry, but all The air shook.But the dwarfs said to each other, "Hear that? It's that gang over the stable. To frighten us. They make a sound from a machine. Don't mind it. They'll never tell us to Got scammed." Aslan looked up, shaking his mane.Immediately there were delicious dishes on the laps of the dwarves: pies, tongues, pigeons, sweets and ice cream.Every dwarf has a glass of good wine in his right hand.But the big dishes are not of much use either. They began to eat and drink very voraciously, but they obviously could not taste properly.They thought they ate and drank nothing more than they could find in the stables.One said he was trying hay, another said he got a little old turnip, and a third said he found a raw cabbage leaf.They raised golden goblets full of red wine to their lips, and said, "Pooh! Imagine drinking dirty water from a feeder trough that a donkey has eaten! Never thought we'd come to this." But each The dwarf soon began to suspect that others had eaten something more delicious than what was eaten, so you robbed each other, continued to quarrel, and finally fought wantonly in a few minutes, and all the delicious food was smeared on the face and clothes on, or underfoot.Yet when they finally sat down to nurse their blackened eye sockets and bleeding noses, they all said: "Well, there's no bullshit here, anyway. We didn't let anyone fool us. Dwarfs always fight for dwarfs." "You see," said Aslan, "they won't let us help them. They don't choose trust, they prefer cunning. Their prison exists only in their own hearts; In jail; they're too afraid of being duped to get them out. But come on, boys. I've got other work to do." Aslan went to the door, and they all followed him.Aslan raised his head, and cried out, "Now is the time!" Then louder and louder, "It is time!" And then again, "It is time!" so loudly that the stars shook.The door opened suddenly.