Chapter 4 Chapter Four: Caspian's Ingenious Tales

The next morning Lord Berne came to visit early in the morning.After breakfast he asked Caspian to order all his men to wear stomach armor. "Most of all," he added, "get everything neat and clean, as if this morning were the first of a great war between noble kings before the world. Like a battle." When this was done, Caspian and his men, Bourne and his men, divided into three ships, and set out for Narrow Harbor.The king's standard was flown at the stern, and he was accompanied by a trumpeter. When they reached Narrow Harbor Wharf Caspian saw a great crowd gathered there to welcome them. "This is what I sent word to prepare last night," said Byrne,

"They're all my friends, men of duty." As soon as Caspian came ashore, the crowd cheered "Narnia! Narnia! Long live the King!" And at the same time—it was all arranged by Bourne's messenger — Bells were ringing in many parts of the town.So Caspian sent the standard-bearers to clear the way, and the horns blew, and every one drew their swords, and put on a serious look of joy.They marched in unison in the street, and the street shook, for the sun was shining brightly this morning, and the armor shone so brightly that one could hardly keep looking at it. The ones who cheered at the beginning were only those who were notified by Bourne's messenger in advance. They all knew the situation at hand, and they were looking forward to such a day.But then all the children joined the parade because they liked parades, which is rare.Then all the students joined in, because they also liked the parade, and felt that the more noise and chaos outside that morning, the less likely there would be classes in school.Later, the old women poked their heads out of the doors and windows, started chattering, and cheered loudly, because this is the king after all, how can the governor be compared?Then all the young women joined in for the same reason, and because Caspian and Drinian and the others were very handsome.At last all the young men came to see what the young women were looking at, so that almost the whole town cheered loudly when Caspian reached the gates of the castle; A series of account dates, forms, and strips, and the noise was heard.

Caspian's trumpeter blew his horn at the gate of the castle and shouted, "Open the gates for the King of Narnia, who has come to visit his faithful and respected servant, the Governor of the Lonely Isles." That year Everything on Moon Island is sloppy and lazy, the city gate only opens a small secret door, and a disheveled guy with no helmet but a dirty old hat comes out, holding a A rusty old spear.He blinked at the glittering people in front of him. "Bring—round—eight—arrows," he murmured (that's how he said, "Your Excellency, I won't see you"), "no appointments, only the second Saturday of every month at nine o'clock in the evening We didn't meet until ten o'clock. "

"You stooge, don't take off your hat before the King of Narnia," roared Lord Byrne, slapping him with the hand in the iron gauntlet, and slapping the hat on his head. flew. "What? What's the matter?" said the porter, but no one paid any attention to him. Two of Caspian's men stepped through the secret doors, and it took a lot of work with the latches to open both doors because everything was rusted.So the king and his entourage strode into the courtyard.The governor had quite a few guards wandering around the courtyard, and some people stumbled out of the various doors, most of them wiping their mouths.Disgraceful though their armor was, if someone had led them, or known what was going on, they might have fought a fight, so it was a dangerous time.Caspian gave them no time to think.

"Where's the captain?" he asked. "I'm more or less one, if you know what I mean," said a listless young man.He was dressed in fancy clothes and had no armor at all. "We hope," said Caspian, "that this visit of the Majesty to our land of the Lone Islands should, if possible, be a festival of joy for all people, and not an occasion of terror for the people. If it were not for this reason, I would be very sorry for your soldiers' armor and arms. I need a few words to criticize the situation. But in fact, I forgive you. Bring a barrel of wine, open the barrel and let the brothers toast us. But by tomorrow noon, I hope to see them in the courtyard like soldiers, not like Vagabond. Anyone who disobeys the order will be charged with offending the king.""

The captain was tongue-tied, but Bourne immediately called out "Three Hails to the King." Although the soldiers didn't understand anything else, they understood the wine barrel, so they cheered together.Caspian then ordered most of his men to remain in the yard.He, with Bourne, Drinian and four others, walked into the hall. ' Behind a table at the far end of the hall sat Gompers, Governor of the Lonely Islands, surrounded by various secretaries.Gompers looked like a curmudgeon, with hair that had been red but was now mostly gray.When a group of strangers entered, he raised his eyes, then buried his head in the documents again, and said casually, "No appointments, no appointments, only the second Saturday of every month from 9:00 to 10:00 pm."

Caspian nodded to Bourne and stood aside.Byrne and Drinian stepped forward, each grabbing the end of the table.When they lifted the table and threw it, it rolled to the side of the hall, scattering letters, files, inkwells, pens, sealing wax, and papers.So they reached out, not roughly, but with jaws as firm as steel vise, and yanked Gompers out of the chair and dragged him four feet in front of the chair.Caspian sat down in the chair at once, and laid the sword across his knees. "Your Excellency," he said, fixing his eyes on Gompers, "you have not welcomed us with the ceremony we expected. We are Kings of Narnia."

"There is no mention of it in the letter," said the Governor, "nor in the minutes. We have not been notified of any such thing. It is not at all in accordance with the law. Any request is happy to be considered. . . . " "We have come to inquire into the conduct of your lord's duty," continued Caspian, "and there are two points in particular which I ask for an explanation. First, I found in the records that the King of Narnia had not received the islands for a hundred and fifty years." tribute." "This issue has to be brought to council next month," said Gompers. "If anyone proposes to set up a commission of inquiry to report on the island's financial history at its first meeting next year, explain why at that time..."

"I have also seen that it is clearly written in the laws of this country," continued Caspian, "that if the tribute is not delivered in time, the entire amount owed will be paid out of the personal pocket of the Governor of the Lone Islands." Gampas really paid attention after hearing this. "Oh, that's absolutely impossible," he said, "financially unaffordable—er—Her Majesty must be joking." In fact, he was thinking in his mind, wondering how to get rid of these unwelcome visitors.If he had known that Caspian had only one boat with one crew, he would have spoken soft words for the time being, and secretly thought of rounding them up and killing them all by night.But yesterday he saw a warship coming down the strait, and saw a signal from the ship, which he guessed was for the following ship.He did not know at the time that this was the King's ship, for the wind was not strong enough for the flag to fly and the golden lion on it to be seen, so he waited for the further development of the matter.He imagined now that Caspian had a whole fleet at Bernstein.Gompas never expected that someone would take these islands with less than fifty people; of course, this kind of thing was not something he could imagine doing by himself.

"Secondly," said Caspian, "I should like to know why you allow such a heinous and vile business as the slave trade to flourish in your country, contrary to the ancient customs of your own dominions." "It was out of necessity, and it cannot be abolished," said the Governor. "I assure you, it is the lifeblood of the economy of this island. The present prosperity and decline of this island depends on this business." "What do you need slaves for?" "Export, my lord. Mostly to Calormene; we have other markets, too, and we are a great center of this trade."

"In other words," said Caspian, "you don't need them. Tell me, what's the use of these slaves, except to fatten up people like Pug?" "Your Majesty is still young," Gompers said with a paternal smile, "it is impossible to understand the economic issues involved. I have statistics, I have charts, I have..." "I am young, to be sure," said Caspian, "but I believe I know as well as your Excellency the substance of the slave trade. I do not think it brought meat, bread, beer, wine, timber to the island." , cabbage, books, musical instruments, horses, armor, or anything worth having. But, whether it is or not, this trade must be stopped.", "But that's going backwards," panted the governor. "Don't you understand what progress is, what is development?" "I have seen progress and development in its infancy," said Caspian. "In Narnia we call it corruption. This business must be stopped." "I cannot be held responsible for any such measures," Gompers said. "Very well," answered Caspian, "and we shall remove you. Come, Lord Bourne." Gompers was still confused, but Bourne was on his knees, laying his hands on the King's. During this time, he swore to rule the Lonely Isles according to the customs, rights and laws of ancient Narnia.Caspian said, "I think we can't stand the Governor anymore," and made Bourne a Duke on the spot, Duke of the Lone Isles. "As for you, sir," he said to Gompers, "I forgive you for your arrears of tribute. But before noon tomorrow, you and your whole family must leave the castle, which is now the residence of the duke." "Listen," said one of Gompers's clerks, "it's a good thing, but if you guys stop putting on airs, we're going to make a little deal. The problem before us is—" "The question is," said the duke, "whether you and your remnant will go away with it, or with a whipping. It is your choice." When it was all settled, Caspian ordered the horses to be brought up, and there were a few horses in the castle, though not well fed, but he, Bourne, Drinian, and three or two others rode into the town, and went straight to the town. slave market.The market is a long row of low houses near the port. The scene they saw inside was similar to other auction houses, that is to say, there were a large number of people inside. Pugh shouted in a hoarse voice on the platform: "Hey, gentlemen, twenty-three. Good crop hand from Tribenzia, good for mining or paddling. Not twenty-five. Not a single bad tooth. This guy is fit and muscular. Take off His shirt, turks, show gents. Muscles! Look at his chest. The man in the corner has ten crescents. You gotta be joking, lord. Fifteen Eighteen l bid eighteen to buy twenty-three.Who else is raising the price?twenty one.Thank you, sir.Out twenty one. As soon as Puger saw the armored man walking towards the platform, he stopped, tongue-tied. "Bow down before the King of Narnia, all of you," said the Duke.Everyone heard the jingling and hooves of the horse police outside.You must chew, and many people have heard the legend of the landing and the great events in the castle.Most people obeyed.Those who refused to obey were held back by those around them and knelt down.A few cheered. ; "Pug, you will pay with your life for capturing our royals yesterday," said Caspian, "but pardon your ignorance. A quarter of an hour ago the slave trade was banned in all the territories of this country. I declare that every The slaves are free." He raised his hand to silence the cheering of the slaves, and then asked, "Where are my friends?" "That sweet little girl and that pretty young master?" said Pugh, with an ingratiating smile, "Why, they're snapped up right away... "Here we are, here we are, Caspian!" cried Lucy and Edmund together. "At your command, Sire!" Reepicheep shrieked from another corner.It turned out that they were all sold, because the buyer stayed and wanted to buy a few more slaves, so they hadn't been taken away.The crowd parted for the three of them to come out, and they and Caspian shook hands and greeted each other instantly. Two Calormene merchants stepped forward at once.The Calormenes had dark faces and long beards.Dressed in flowing robes and orange-red turbans, they are an ancient people of wisdom, wealth, humility, and cruelty.They bowed to Caspian with the utmost reverence, and addressed him with long compliments, and all about the fountains of prosperity which water the gardens of wisdom and virtue--and things like that--but of course their object was Want to get back the money you paid. "That's only fair, gentlemen," said Caspian, "everyone who buys a slave today must get his money back. Pugh, take all the money you get and keep nothing." (four Ten drops form a crescent moon. "Does your good Majesty mean to make me a pauper?" cried Pugh. "You've lived all your life by hurting people," said Caspian, "and it's better if you're a pauper than a slave. Where's my other friend?" "Oh, him?" said Pugh, "well, welcome to take him back. I'd love to get rid of him. I never saw such an unsalable commodity in the market in my life. Finally priced him five Crescent Moon, at such a low price, no one wants it. Match him with other goods for free, still no one wants it. I don’t even want to look at him. Turks, bring the sad face." Eustace thus made his appearance, and indeed wept; for though no one would sell a slave as a slave, it was perhaps more irritating to be a rough slave whom no one would buy.He went up to Caspian and said, "That's it. It's the same old thing. The rest of us are captives, and you're out somewhere. You didn't find out about the British Consulate, I suppose. Of course you didn't." That night they had a great feast at Narrowhaven Castle, and when the feast was over, Reepicheep bowed to them all, and said, "Tomorrow begins our real adventure!" and went to bed.But tomorrow is impossible to leave at all, and it is impossible to even talk about it.Because they are now preparing to leave the proven land and sea, they must be fully prepared.The Dawn Treader was free, drawn ashore on rollers by eight horses, with every detail overhauled by the most skilled shipwrights.Then go into the water again, and try to store as much food and drinking water as possible-that is to say, be prepared to use it for twenty-eight days.Edmund noticed with great disappointment that, with all this preparation, they had only fourteen days to sail eastward, after which the search had to be abandoned. " While all these preparations were being made, Caspian lost no time in calling for the oldest captains he could find in Narrow Harbour, and asking them if they knew of any land farther east, even by hearsay.He poured out many bottles of ale in the castle, entertained weather-beaten sailors with short gray beards and clear blue eyes, and heard many strange stories from overseas.But those sailors who look most like telling the truth can't tell that there is no land beyond the Lone Islands. Many people think that if you sail too far east, you will crash into a vast sea with no land, and these waves are constantly encircling the world. The edge spins—. "I see, that's where some of your majesty's friends were swept into the bottom of the sea." The rest are nonsense, what kind of islands where headless people live, floating islands, water columns rolled up by tornadoes, along the sea surface Burning fires and more.Reepicheep was very pleased by the statement of only one, who said, "Out there is Aslan's land. But it is beyond the end of the world, and you cannot reach it." When he was questioned again, he I can only say that I heard it from my father. Bourne could only tell them that he had seen six of his companions sailing eastward, and had never heard of their whereabouts since.He was standing with Caspian on the highest point of the island of Aphra overlooking the Eastern Ocean as he said this. "I often come up here in the morning," said the Duke, "to see the sun rise over the sea, which sometimes seems to be only two or three miles apart. I would also like to know the whereabouts of my friend, and to know where it was beyond that day." It seems that there is probably nothing, but I am still very embarrassed to stay. But I hope Your Majesty will not go. We still need your help here. This time the slave market may open up a new world, and I foresee the same Calormene fights. Please think twice, my lord." "My lord, I have sworn it," said Caspian, "what have I to say to Reepicheep anyway?"