Chapter 5 Chapter 5 Prince Colin

My dear sister, very good lady," said King Edmund, "you must now take courage.Because, I'm going to tell you bluntly: we are in a very dangerous position. " "What is the matter, Edmund?" asked the Queen. "The thing is," said Edmund, "I don't think it's easy to leave Tashbaan. We were his guests while the prince hoped you'd fancy him; yet, by the lion's mane , once he is rejected by you, I think our situation will be no better than that of prisoners." A dwarf gave a slight whistle. "Your Majesty, I warn you, I warn you," Raven Saropad said, "As the lobster said in the shrimp basket, it's easy to get in, but hard to get out!"

"I was with the Prince this morning. It is a great pity," continued Edmund, "that he is not used to having his wishes perturbed. He was very sorry for your long delays and equivocal replies." Irritated and irritated. He was aggressive this morning to know your mind. I put the question aside--and also tried to dampen his hopes--just made light-hearted jokes about women's fantasies, hinting at his The proposal was about to cool off. He became angry and threatening. Everything he said, though still veiled with politeness, contained a tinge of menace." "Yes," said Tumnus, "it was much the same when I was at dinner with the Minister last night. He asked me if I liked Tashbaan. And I (because I couldn't tell him I hated every stone in town) , but would not lie) tell him that now that summer is here, my heart is yearning for the cool woods and dewy hillsides of Narnia. He smiled maliciously and said, Little Lamb's Foot, there is nothing will prevent you from dancing in Narnia again; you can always do that, in exchange, as long as you leave our Prince a bride.

"You mean he'll force me to be his wife?" cried Susan. "My fear, Susan," said Edmund, "is that it would be worse to be a slave than to be a wife." "But how could he? Does Tithrok think our brother the High King would tolerate such atrocities?" "Your Majesty," said Peridan to the king, "they will not be so mad. Don't they think Narnia has no swords and spears?" "Well," said Edmund, "my guess is that Teesrock has no fear of Narnia. Our land is small. And small states sit on the fringes of great empires, and always hate their lords." Yes. Tethrok is intent on obliterating them, annexing them. He sent his prince to Kel Pavel at first as your admirer, perhaps just to find an excuse against us. Most likely He counts on annexing both Narnia and Archenland at one stroke."

"Let him try," said the second Dwarf, "we are as strong as he at sea. If he attacks by land, he will have to cross the great desert." "Indeed, my friend," said Edmund, "but is the Great Desert a reliable barrier? What do you think of Saropad?" "I know this great desert well," said the raven, "and in my youth I have flown far and wide over it." (You must be convinced that Shasta pricked up his ears when he heard this. .)” One thing is indisputable: Had Tithrock marched from the great oasis, he could never have entered Archenland with a large army. But there are too few springs there to quench the thirst of all the soldiers and cattle. But there is another way."

Shasta did not move, but listened more attentively. "He who finds this path," said the raven, "must start from the burial grounds of the ancient kings and ride northwest, with the twin peaks of Peel's Peak always in front of him. A day or so of riding A little more time, and he came to the entrance of a rocky valley, so narrow that one could look two hundred meters from it a thousand times without knowing it was there. Looking down into the valley , he could see neither grass nor water, nor anything good. But if he rode on, and ran down the valley, he would come to the edge of a river, along which he could gallop all the way to In Archenland."

"Do the Calormenes know the way to the west?" asked the Queen. "Friends, friends," said Edmund, "what is the use of all this discussion? We are not asking which country would win if there were a war between Narnia and Calormene. We are asking The question is: how to save the Queen's honor, and how to save our own lives from this devil's city? For, even if my brother High King Peter should have defeated Tithrok a dozen times, yet long before this day, Our necks have been cut and the queen has become the prince's wife, or more likely his slave." "We have arms, King," said the first Dwarf, "and this is a perfectly defensible house."

"As for this," said the king, "I have no doubt that each of us will fight at the gate, and make the enemy pay dearly, unless they step over our dead bodies, and they will not invade the queen. But after all we are only Mice are fighting in a trap." "True," said the Raven, wowing the Raven. "The man who stays in the house till the end is a legend, but it never works. After he has beaten the enemy back the first few times, the enemy always sets fire to the house. " "I am the bane of it all," said Susan, weeping, "Oh, if only I had never left Cair Paravel. Our last joy until the ambassador of Calormene comes Days. The Moors are planting a garden for us . . . ah . . . ah.” She sobbed, covering her face with her hands.

"Courage, Sue, have courage," said Edmund, "and remember—but what's the matter with you, Master Tumnus?" In order to keep his head, and twist his body from side to side, as if his internal organs were aching. "Don't talk to me, don't talk to me," said Tumnus. "I'm thinking. I can't breathe. Wait, wait, please." The bewildering silence lasted for a while, then the Faun raised his head, took a long breath, wiped his forehead, and said "The only difficulty was getting to our ship--with some spare things--without being seen or prevented."

"Yes," said one of the dwarfs dryly, "it is like a beggar who wants to ride a horse, the only difficulty is that there is no horse." "Wait a minute, wait a moment," said Mr. Tumnus impatiently. "All we need is an excuse to go aboard today, and to take something aboard." "Oh, oh," said King Edmund suspiciously. "Ah, that's enough," said the Faun, "I don't know if this is good, but His Majesty wishes that the prince will attend the grand basket feast on our galleon 'Splendid Crystal' tomorrow night, and that the message should be conveyed in a reasonable way so that the prince One hope: The Queen is softening, and she doesn't have to put her honor on the line to get over it."

"Your Majesty, this is a very good idea." Raven shouted. "So," continued Tumnus excitedly, "people will expect us to stay on board all day, ready to receive our guests. Let's send some men to the market and give everything we have, buy fruit, buy sweets , buy wine, as if we were really going to have a feast. Let's get magicians, jugglers, dancing girls, and flute players, and invite them all to come on board tomorrow night." "I see, I see," said Edmund, rubbing his hands. "Next," said Tumnus, "we're all on board tonight. As soon as it gets dark, we—"

"Just hoist the sails and row the oars—" said the king. "And so out to sea," cried Tumnus, and began to dance, up and down. "Our noses face north," said the first Dwarf. "Long live to Homeland, to Narnia, to the North!" said another Dwarf. "The prince woke up the next morning to find all his birds had flown," said Peridan, clapping his hands. "Master Tumnus, dear Master Tumnus," said the Queen, taking his hand, and rocking, dancing with him, "you have saved us all." "The prince will come after us," said the other prince, whose name Shasta had not yet been heard. "That's the least of my worries," said Edmund. "I've looked at all the boats on the river, and I haven't seen a tall man-of-war, nor a swift galleon. I wish he'd run after us! For The Brilliant Crystal is capable of sinking an approaching vessel - should we be overtaken." "Your Majesty," said the raven, "although we have sat down and discussed for seven days, you will not hear anything better than the goat's plan. Well, we birds say it well, build the nest first, then lay the eggs. This is Said: Let us all eat first, and then go to work at once." At this, everyone stood up, and the door was opened, and the prince and other attendants stood aside, letting the king and queen go out first.Shasta did not know what he should do.But Mr. Tumnus said, "You lie here, my lord, and I'll bring you some good food in a moment. You needn't do anything till we're all ready to go aboard." Shasta shook his head. Resting on the pillow again, he was soon left alone in the room. "It's a terrible situation," thought Shasta.It had never entered his mind to tell the Narnians the whole truth, to ask their help.He was brought up by a man with a hard heart and big fists like Ashish, and had a fixed habit of telling nothing to adults if he could think of a way, he thought An adult always sabotages or frustrates what he is trying to do.And he thinks that even if the King of Narnia would treat the two horses kindly, because they are the talking beasts of Narnia, he would hate Aravis, because she is a Calormene, and if he did not treat her Selling her as a slave would also send her back to her father.As for himself, "I am afraid to tell them now: I am not Prince Colin," thought Shasta, "I have heard all their plans, if they know that I am not of the royal family of Narnia , they will never let me out of this room alive. They will worry that I will betray them to Tithrock. If the real Colin shows up, the matter will be revealed, and they will definitely kill me!" You see, he has no notion in his mind of how noble and naturally free people stand and act. "What am I going to do? What am I going to do?" he kept saying to himself, "Why—ah, here comes the little sheep again.": Half dancing, the Faun trotted into the room, holding a plate almost as big as his body in both hands.He put the plate on a mother-of-pearl table beside the Shasta sofa.He himself sat cross-legged on the carpeted floor. "Now, little prince," said he, "have a good meal. This is your last meal at Tashbaan." This is a calormene-style meal.I don't know if you like it or not, but Shasta does.There are lobsters, salads, magpies stuffed with truffles and almonds, stir-fried assorted chicken livers, rice grains, raisins, nuts, etc., and cold melon, cream currants, cream mulberries, and everything that can be eaten with rice. Good food to cook together.There is also a small jug called "white wine" which is actually yellow wine. When Shasta was eating, the kind lamb thought he was not yet cured of heat stroke, so he kept telling him that when they all returned to their hometown together, he would live a good life; and about his kind old father, King Lunn of Archenland, and the fort where the king of the southern slopes of the pass lived. "Don't you forget," said Mr. Tumnus, "that on your next birthday you will be promised your first suit of armor and your first horse. So Your Highness will learn to ride and charge with a spear and Tournament. Years from now, if all goes well, King Peter has promised your father that he himself will knight you at Cair Paravel. In the meantime, Narnia and Archenland cross the mountains There will also be a lot of exchanges between the knights. Of course you remember that you promised to come and stay with me for a week, for the midsummer festival, when there will be a big bonfire, and in the center of the forest there will be a night of goats and dryads dancing, and, who knows?—maybe we'll see Aslan himself!" After the meal, the goat told Shasta to stay quietly where he was and rest. "You'll do no harm if you get a little sleep," he added. "I'll be a long time before I come to get you aboard. Once aboard, you're home. Straight to Narnia and the North!" Shasta admired the dinner and everything Tumnus told him, and when he was left alone in the room his thoughts took quite different turns and changes.He just hoped that the real Prince Colin would not come for a while, so that he could be taken to Narnia in a ship.I'm afraid he never gave a thought to the dangers of the real Colin being left in Tashbaan.He was a little worried about Aravis and Bree who were waiting for him in the graveyard.But then he said to himself, "Well, what can I do?" Go away." At the same time, he could not help thinking that it would be far less pleasant to toil across the great desert than to sail to Narnia by sea. + Shasta fell asleep while thinking of all this.If you have ever got up in a severe drought, walked a long way, experienced great excitement, then had a good meal, and lay on a sofa in a cool room, surrounded by silence except for a dog You'll sleep too with the buzzing of bees flying in through the wide-open windows. A loud snap woke him up.He jumped up from the sofa and stared straight at it.Just from the state of the room--the difference in light and shadow--he knew at once that he must have slept for hours.He also figured out what was causing the crackling: a precious porcelain vase that had been sitting on the windowsill had broken into thirty pieces on the floor.But he paid no attention to these things.What he noticed were two hands gripping the ledge from the outside.The hands gripped tighter and tighter (the knuckles turned white), and then a head and shoulders emerged.A moment later a child of Shasta's age was straddling the window-sill, with one leg stretched across the room. Shasta never saw his own face in the mirror.Even if he had seen it, he couldn't see (in normal times) that the child looked almost exactly like himself.And at the moment, the kid doesn't look like anyone else in particular, because he has the most beautiful dark eyes you've ever seen, a tooth is missing, and his clothes (he's gorgeous when he's on) are ragged. Dirty, dirty, blood and mud on his face. "Who are you?" the child asked in a low voice. "Are you Prince Colin?" said Shasta. "Yes, of course it is Prince Colin Koro!" said the boy, "but who are you?" "I'm a little thing, I mean, I'm nothing but a nobody," said Shasta. "King Edmund caught me in the street and mistook me for you. I guess we must look alike .May I get out from where you came in?" "Okay, if you know how to climb," said Colin, "but why are you in such a hurry? You see, we should have some fun at being mistaken for us." "No, no," said Shasta, "we must change places at once. If Tumnus came back and found us both here, it would be downright frightening. I was forced to pretend to be you. You today Had to go at night—secretly. Where have you been all this time?" "There was a kid in the street who made a wild joke about Queen Susan," said Prince Colin, "so I knocked him down. He ran into a house howling, and his brother drove him out of the house." Come out. I knocked that brother down too. Then they all came after me till we came upon three old men with spears called guards. I wrestled with the guards and the guards knocked me down. Then it was dark .. the guards took me to lock me up somewhere. So I asked them how about a jug of wine? They said it would be fine. So I took them to a pub and got them some They all sat down to drink, and sang until they fell asleep. I thought, if I don't go now, when will I stay? The little guy - was still hanging around, so I knocked him down again. After that, I climbed a hose to the roof of a house, and I lay still on the roof until the I've been trying to find my way home since dawn this morning. Oh, what's there to drink?" "No wine, I drank it," said Shasta. "Now tell me how you got in. You can't lose a minute. You'd better lie on the sofa and pretend—but I forgot , your face is bruised and purple, and your eye sockets are blackened, it is useless to pretend. After I leave safely, you have to tell them all the truth." "Do you think I'll tell them anything else?" asked the Prince, with a rather angry look. "Who are you anyway?" "Too late," said Shasta in a wildly excited whisper, "I am a Narnian, born in the North anyway, I believe. But I was brought up in Calormen. I am To run away, across the great desert, with a human-talking horse called Bree. Oh, quick! How do I get out?" "You see," said Colin, "go down through the window and onto the roof of the verandah. But you have to go softly, on tiptoe, or people will hear you. Then go all the way to the left and you'll Climb up to the top of the wall, if you're a good climber. Then go along the top of the wall and into the corner. You'll see a pile of rubbish on the other side of the wall, and you jump off, and that's it."' "Thank you," said Shasta.He was already sitting on the windowsill.The two children stared into each other's faces and suddenly realized that they had become good friends. "Goodbye," Colin said, "good luck, I do hope you get out safely." "Good-bye," said Shasta. "Why, you have been through the danger, but the danger is not over!" "That's nothing compared to your danger," said the Prince. "Jump down now, softly—well," added the Prince, as Shasta jumped down, "I wish we were in Ahmedabad." Meet Qinlan. You go to see my father, Wang Lun, and tell him you are my friend. Be careful! I heard someone coming."