Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Dwarfs

The worst thing about sleeping rough is waking up early in the morning and having to get up once you wake up because the ground is so hard you don't feel comfortable.However, there was nothing but apples for breakfast, which was even worse when the previous night's dinner had been nothing but apples.When Lucy said it was a splendid morning (and she was quite right), there seemed to be nothing else appropriate to say.It was Edmund who said what everyone was thinking... We must leave this island as soon as possible. " They drank enough water by the well, washed their faces hastily, and then walked downstream along the stream.They came to the shore and gazed long at the strait which separated them from the mainland.

"We'll just have to swim," said Edmund. "Sue's all right," Peter said. (She won a swimming medal at school.) ... But, I don't know how we all are. "He said "us" really meant Edmund and Lucy. Edmund can't swim a single field in the school pool so far, and Lucy can't swim at all.! Susan said, "There may be whirlpools in the sea. Daddy said it was dangerous to swim in an unfamiliar place." "But, Peter," said Lucy, "it is true that I couldn't swim at home, but didn't we all learn that in Narnia?—we could ride horses and do other things then. You do not think so…?

"Well, we were grown-ups then," said Peter. "We governed the country for many years, and we did learn to do a lot of things. But things are different now." "Now I understand." "Understand what?" Peter asked. "Of course I understand what's going on," said Edmund excitedly. "What do you say most puzzled me last night? We've only been out of Narnia for a year, and Cair Paravel seems to have been uninhabited for hundreds of years. Why, I don't get it ?You know that no matter how long you live in Narnia, it's but a moment in our own world."

"Go on," said Susan, "I think I'm beginning to understand." "That is to say," continued Edmund, "once you leave Narnia, you lose the notion of time there. We have one year in England, and hundreds of years may have passed in Narnia." year!" "Come on, Ed," Peter cheered up, "I believe you're right. So we lived in Cair Paravel hundreds of years ago!Now we are back in Narnia, as the Crusaders, or the Anglo-Saxons, or the ancient Britons are back in modern England! " "How excited our friends from the past would be if they saw us, how—" Lucy was interrupted before finishing her sentence. "Hush!" "Look!" said the three companions, for then something happened.

Across the strait, and a little to the right of their present position, was a wood, and they were all convinced that the mouth of the river was on the other side of that wood.At this time, a small boat was pulled out from behind Quan Lin and sailed towards them along the strait.There were two men in the boat, one at the oars, and the other sitting in the stern, trying to hold on to something that writhed as though it were alive.The two men appeared to be soldiers: they wore armor, had beards, and had a fierce and ruthless appearance.The children retreated from the shore into the woods, watching them nervously. '

"Here it is," said the man in the stern.At this moment the boat stopped right across from the children. "How about tying a stone to his feet, sir?" The other stopped the oar. "Bastard," said the man in the stern in a gruff voice, "you don't need to say that we didn't bring any stones. No problem, we can drown him without stones if we tie the rope tighter." With that, he stood Get up and lift the bundle.At this moment Peter saw clearly that it was a dwarf, his hands and feet were bound, but he was still struggling.Suddenly, Peter heard it in his ear.Weng made a sound, and the leader raised his arms and threw the dwarf onto the bottom of the boat, but he himself turned over and fell into the water, struggling to swim to the opposite bank.Peter clearly saw Susan's arrow hit his helmet.He turned around and saw that Susan was pale, and had put the second arrow on the string, but this arrow did not shoot.Seeing his companion being attacked, another soldier screamed, jumped into the water from the other end of the boat, swam desperately to the opposite bank, and disappeared into the woods in a short while.

"Quickly, don't let the boat drift away!" cried Peter.Without taking off their clothes, he and Susan jumped into the water together, and without much effort they dragged the boat to the shore, and lifted the dwarf out of it.Edmund was busy cutting the ropes around him with the knife. (Peter's sword should be said to be sharper than a pocket knife, but a long sword is inconvenient in this case, because there is no place for a grip below the hilt.) Immediately after the dwarf was unbound, he sat up and moved limbs, and exclaimed "You are... whatever they say, you don't look like ghosts to me."

Like most dwarves, he is short and fat, with chicken breasts, less than half a height, and his thick red beard makes his face look very small, leaving only a high nose like a mountain peak, and a pair of shining eyes. Glowing black eyes. "Ghost or not," he continued, "you saved my life, and I'm so grateful." "How could we be ghosts?" Lucy asked curiously. "I've heard that all my life," said the little man, "that there are as many ghosts in the woods this side of the coast as there are leaves. It's always been a legend. So when they want to kill someone, they kill him." Sent to this place (as they did to me) and said to leave him to be 'handled' by the ghosts.But would those ghosts really drown a man alive, or cut his throat?People have been skeptical about this.I don't really believe in ghosts and gods, but those two cowards just now believed in them. They sent me to die, but when facing death, they were more afraid than I was! "

"That's very interesting," said Susan, laughing. "It's no wonder they were running so fast when they were running for their lives." "What? They escaped?" The little man became a little nervous. "Yes," said Edmund, "fleeing to the Continent." "I shoot them, but I don't mean to hurt them, you know," Susan explained.She was afraid that others would mistakenly think that she could not shoot at such a short distance. "Well," said the Dwarf, "that's not very good, and it means trouble in the future, unless they keep their mouths shut for their own good."

"Why did they drown you?" asked Peter "I'm a dangerous criminal, really!" said the dwarf, not without pride. "That's a long story. But what I'm thinking about now is... Maybe you'll invite me to breakfast? You guys?" It is impossible to imagine what a man's appetite must be after a man has escaped death."( "But there are only apples here," said Lucy discouragedly. "It's better than nothing. Of course, it would be better to have a few fresh fish for breakfast," the dwarf smacked his lips. "It seems that I have no choice but to treat the customers as hosts and treat you to breakfast. I saw some fishing gear on the boat But anyway, we must get the boat to the other side of the island first, without being seen by anyone on the opposite mainland."

"I should have thought of that first," Peter said with some shame. The four children and the dwarf came to the water's edge together, and with great difficulty they pushed the boat into the water, and climbed up one by one.The little man immediately commanded skillfully.The oars were obviously too big for him.So he took the helm, Peter the oars, and the boat sailed slowly north.In a moment they rounded the corner of the island and turned eastward.From here the children looked up and saw the whole bay and the land towards the west coast.They had thought that old Narnia must have left some traces, but the woods, the pine forests that had grown since their time, made it all unrecognizable. On the sea to the east of the island, the dwarf started fishing.They caught Cido eel, a fish as beautiful as a rainbow.It brought the children back to the days in Cair Paravel, when they also ate this fish.When they thought they had caught enough fish, they paddled the boat upstream into a stream and tied it to a tree.The little man was very capable (they were all very smart, although there were bad guys among them), and he cut open the fish, cleaned it, and said: ! "Okay, what's needed now is a campfire." "We have built a fire in the castle," said Edmund. The dwarf whistled softly, "Sure enough, there is a castle!" "It's just a pile of ruins." Lucy didn't mind. The dwarf looked at them one by one with suspicion. "Then what are you..." He muttered, but immediately changed his words, "It's okay, it's okay, let's have breakfast first. But let's do one thing first: Please put your hands on your hearts, Then said to me three times 'you are alive now'. Are you really sure that I am not drowned and you are not a bunch of ghosts?" They pledged to him together until the little fellow was relieved.The next question is how to take these fish away.There was no wire to string them together, nor a cage, so at last they had to use Edmond's hat, the only one they had, and he would never have consented to it had he not been so hungry. In the castle, the dwarf seemed uncomfortable at first. He kept looking around, sniffing vigorously, and muttering, "It's strange, it's strange. This smell seems to come from a ghost den." It was sent out." But when the bonfire was lit, he came alive and taught a few children how to grill fresh squat fish over charcoal fire.The fish was very hot, there was no fork, the only knife was for five people, and the fingers of several people were burned before the meal was finished.However, the children were already hungry, so they didn't care much about this little burn.Finally, everyone drank some well water and ate an apple, which ended the meal. . At some point, the dwarf made a big pipe as thick as his arm, filled it with shredded tobacco, lit it on the campfire, and comfortably exhaled a puff of fragrant gray smoke, and said contentedly, "Okay!" ." "Tell us your story?" Peter said, "and we'll tell you our story." "Well," said the little man, "since you have saved my life, it is only fair that your demands should be granted. Where shall I begin? First I shall tell you that I am King Caspian's messenger ." "Who is Caspian?" asked four voices simultaneously. "Caspian X, King of Narnia, may he reign long!" prayed the dwarf with the utmost reverence and solemnity, "I mean he should be ruler of all Narnia, that is our hope." .But for the moment he is only the King of our old subjects of Narnia. "Excuse me, who are the old ministers of Narnia?" ’ interposed Lucy, "Oh, that means us," said the Dwarf, "we native Narnians called Rebels. " "You mean," guessed Peter, "that Caspian was a former Lord of Narnia?" "Well, so to speak," said the little man, scratching his head with his hands, "but he's a Neo-Narnian himself, a Telmarine. Can you understand me?" "I don't understand," said Edmund. "I'm totally confused," said Lucy. "Oh, my dear," said the little dwarf sorry, "I have spoken very badly, and I think it best to begin at the beginning--from how Caspian grew up in his uncle's palace, and how How was totally on our side. But it's a long story." "Longer is better," said Lucy delightedly. "We all like stories." So the little man sat down and told the following story.I am not going to retell the story to you according to his original words, because it would be too long, the plot would be too complicated, and the children’s questions and interjections in the process of listening to the story would be written out. Still had to leave out some stuff the kids only heard about later.However, the gist of the story, which is in perfect agreement with what the children eventually learn, is as follows.