Chapter 9 Chapter Nine What Lucy Sees

By the time they rounded the last headland and started upstream toward Clearwater Bay, Susan and the two boys were exhausted.Lucy also had some headaches from the eye irritation from the reflection of the sea water.Even Trumpkin was exhausted and wished the voyage would be over soon.The seat in the stern where he had been sitting was not intended for dwarfs, so his feet dangled there without any exertion, and it was easy to imagine how uncomfortable it was.As fatigue increased, everyone's mood gradually declined.At first they had been preoccupied with finding Caspian as soon as possible, and now they began to wonder how, even if they had found him, how a few tiny dwarfs and forest animals could defeat an army of grown men. army.

When they slowly rowed across Clear Water Bay, night had fallen—as the shore got closer, the twilight became thicker, and the branches protruding from the river bank touched their heads from time to time.The sound of the sea gradually disappeared behind them. It was so quiet here that one could even hear the gurgling stream flowing from the forest to Clear Water Bay. , They landed at last.No one has the strength to gather firewood and light a fire, let alone hunting to satisfy their hunger. They would rather eat another apple, although they have eaten too many apples, which can't arouse their appetite at all.They chewed their apples silently for a while,

He huddled into a ball and lay down on the thick layer of dead leaves under the four tall oak trees. All but Lucy fell down and fell asleep.Lucy wasn't that tired, so she tossed and turned and didn't feel comfortable lying down.To make matters worse, Trumpkin was snorting loudly, almost like thunder.She knew that the best thing to do in this situation was not to force sleep.So she opened her eyes and looked forward aimlessly.Through the gaps in the branches, she just saw a stream of clear water in the river.Turning over, she saw a starry sky again, which involuntarily aroused her memories of the past.She used to be so familiar with the stars of Narnia, because as the queen of Narnia, she was never controlled by others when she went to bed at night.At this moment, from where she lay, at least three summer constellations could be seen: the Ship, the Hammer, and the Leopard. "Dear old leopard." She called softly, as if reuniting with an old friend after a long absence.

In this way, instead of being sleepless, she became more refreshed--a strange, night-like dreamlike lucidity.The bay was as bright as day and she knew the moon had risen even though she couldn't see it.Suddenly, she felt that the whole forest came to life like herself.Out of an inexplicable impulse, she quickly stood up and quietly left the campsite The night air is cool and fresh, with a faint floral scent.Not far away, there is a nightingale singing, it stops and sings, leisurely.The light in front was relatively bright, so Lucy walked over and came to a place with few trees.The peaceful moonlight intertwined with the shadows of the trees, making it difficult to distinguish the surrounding scenery.At this moment, the nightingale finally settled on the tune and began to sing loudly

Lucy's eyes gradually adapted to the light here, and she carefully looked at the plants and trees around her, because her heart was full of nostalgia for the past years.In those days the trees of Narnia not only talked, they literally talked.She firmly believes that these trees are spiritual and can take human form.Look at that silver birch tree, it should have a clear and round voice, it looks like a slender girl, with long brown hair hanging on its shoulders, and its dancing posture is extremely graceful.Looking at the old tree again, it should be two kind and wise old people, with gray beards and hair, and the veins in their hands are bulging due to old age.And the beech tree beside me is beautiful, dignified, noble and serene.O you goddess of the forest!

"Oh, tree gods, my old friends!" Lucy could not help calling softly, "wake up, wake up! Are you really fast asleep? Have you forgotten me? Forest nymph, water nymph, come out, come to me," Although there was no wind in the woods, the trees swayed together beside her, their leaves rustling, as if they were whispering something.Strange to say, the nightingale also became quiet at this moment, as if it was also listening.Lucy thought she might understand what the trees were saying at any moment, and she was disappointed.The rustling faded away, and the nightingale resumed its song, which made Lucy feel lost and lost.Did she come at the wrong time, did something wrong, or said something wrong? She couldn't figure it out.

Suddenly, feeling a little tired, she turned and walked towards the camp, snuggled up between Susan and Peter, and fell asleep a few minutes later. In the morning, the air is chilly.When we woke up, we all felt exhausted and unable to cheer up.There was a gray ray of morning light in the forest (the sun had not yet risen), and everything looked damp and dirty. "Come, eat apples, big, sweet and crisp apples!" cried Trumpkin in a strange voice, picking up an apple, looking at it with a frown, and putting it down again. The children lazily stood up, shook their heads vigorously to wake themselves up, and looked around.The woods are so dense that you can't see very far in any direction.

"I bet you all know the way well?" asked the dwarf. "I'm not familiar with it," said Susan. "I've never seen these woods. In fact, I've been thinking we should go up the river." "Why didn't you say it at the time?" Peter's words were a bit harsh due to his bad mood. "Well, don't listen to her," said Edmund, "she's always a disappointment. Peter, have you got that pocket compass? Well, then we'll have nothing to fear, we'll just keep going northwest, and wear Cross that creek, what do you call it, Rush?

"Beluna Ferry, where the little river meets the big river," said Peter, "or, as the DLF calls it, the Beruna Bridge Crossing." "Yes, we'll walk across the bridge and up the hill, and we'll be at the Table, which is Aslan's Keep, before nine o'clock. I'm sure King Caspian will give us a good breakfast!" "I hope so," Susan said, "how come I have no impression of the terrain here?" "That's the worst thing about girls," said Edmund to Peter and the Dwarf. "They have no room in their heads for a map."

"That's because we have other things in our heads," retorted Lucy. At first, everything seemed to be going well, and they believed they were on the right track.However, if you have some basic knowledge of forests, you will know that people walking in the forest are often confused by imaginary paths.Because, within a few minutes, the road under your feet disappeared.So, your eyes immediately turn to another road, hoping that this is a continuation of the previous road.After a short walk, the road disappeared again.You will eventually find that there is no road at all under your feet.Fortunately, the two boys and the dwarf were used to walking in the forest, so there were not many detours.

They plodded along for about half an hour (three of them were still sore from yesterday's rowing), when suddenly Trumpkin whispered "Stop!" and they all stopped nervously. "Something is following us," the dwarf said in a low voice, "or maybe it's running parallel to us—over there to the left." The children stood nervously where they were, their eyes on the dwarf's fingers. In the place, there was no movement for a long time. "We'd better put an arrow on the bow, both of us," Susan said to Trumpkin.The little man nodded in agreement.When both bows were on the string, everyone felt a little more secure and continued to move forward. They walked a few tens of meters in an open forest very vigilantly, and then came to a place with dense bushes.Suddenly, with a whistling sound, a beast of some kind swooped up from behind the bushes.Lucy was caught off guard and was thrown to the ground and rolled a few times.The moment she fell, she heard a bowstring snap.When she woke up, she saw a big grizzly bear with a hideous face lying on the ground, already dead.There was also one of Trumpkin's arrows stuck in the bear's head. "The DLF beat you to this archery match, Sue." Peter forced a smile, trying to ease the tension caused by this false alarm. "I . . . fired the arrow too late," said Susan, looking embarrassed. "I was afraid it would be a, you know—a bear with nothing but spirit, a bear that could talk." And One unspoken word is that she is unwilling to harm any life. ' "That's the trouble," said Trumpkin. "It is true that some of the descendants of Narnia are still alive, but most of the animals are dumb and enemies, and you can't tell the difference." "I thought of old Bruen," said Susan. "Didn't you think it was Bruen?" "No," said the little man, "I saw the face and heard the whistling, and it only wanted the little girl for breakfast. You said you expected King Caspian to entertain you I don't want to spoil your fun with a big breakfast. To tell you the truth, there's very little meat in camp. Listen to me, my friends, bear meat sure tastes good. It'd be a shame if we didn't bring some bear meat with us. That's a pity. Well, we'll be delayed half an hour at most. I dare say you two boys—sorry, I should say Your Majesty—know how to skin a bear?"8 "Let's sit somewhere else for a while," Susan said to Lucy, "I know how dirty and disgusting that job is." Lucy shuddered, and immediately got up and followed her sister away, saying, "Sue, a very dreadful idea has crossed my mind." "what?" "If one day, in our own world, someone rushes towards you savagely, just like the beasts here, but still looks human, and you can't tell whether he is a human, a beast, an enemy or a friend, isn't that right? Is it scary?" "We've had enough trouble in Narnia," said Susan, very realistically, "you don't fancy things like that." The work of skinning the bear went well, and it was time to start again.They carry as much bear cuts as they can.The pockets were not easy to fit, so they carefully wrapped the meat in fresh leaves.Experience tells them that these squishy, ​​repulsive little bags will be of great use later when they are tired from walking and hungry. They continued on with difficulty.Until the sun rose and the birds began to sing again, they stopped by a stream and carefully washed three pairs of hands stained with bear's blood.Unknowingly, the soreness caused by rowing yesterday completely disappeared, and everyone's mood was lifted again. "Are we going in the right direction?" asked Edmund an hour later. "We haven't gone too far to the left, and I don't see anything wrong with the way we're going," Peter said. "If we go too far to the right, we'll be wasting a little time; Get closer to the river early, and from there the road to the bend will be harder." So they walked on without speaking, only the sound of their footsteps and the rustling of their clothes. "Where is this hateful estuary?" said Edmund after a while. "I thought I'd be here now," said Peter, "but now I have no choice but to go on." They both noticed that the little man was looking at them worriedly, and said nothing more. They kept walking and walking, and the armor on their bodies began to become heavy, making them feel very stuffy. "What's going on here?" Peter stopped suddenly. Before they knew it, they came to the edge of a cliff, from which they could see a canyon and a river at the bottom.The opposite cliff is much farther away.No one except Edmund (and perhaps Trumpkin) had ever climbed a rock. "Too bad," said Peter, "we got lost and never saw this place before. Sorry, it's all my fault." The little man whistled softly. "Well, why don't we go back and go the other way," said Susan grimly, "I knew we were going to get lost in these woods." "Susan!" Lucy gave her a reproachful look. "Don't say that, Peter has done his best." "Don't you talk to Susan like that, either," Edmund protested. "I think she's right." "Tut tut tut!" grumbled Trumpkin. "If we get lost, how are we going to find our way back? Besides, even if we went back to the island and started all over again—assuming that was possible—we'd just Delay everything. Because then Miraz will beat Caspian before we get there." "You think we should move on?" Lucy asked. "I don't know," Trumpkin shrugged. "Your Majesty, are you sure we've gone astray? Are you sure this isn't an estuary?" "Because the mouth of the river is not in the canyon," said Peter, trying not to lose his temper. "Your Majesty, shouldn't you say: 'The past is not in the canyon? Will it change? A big landslide may cut off one side of the mountain, leaving bare rocks, which become the cliffs on the other side of the canyon. After that, year after year, the rushing river kept rushing to the river channel, and the result was here One side formed the cliff under our feet. We can also imagine that there has been an earthquake or something here." "I never thought of that," said Peter. "Anyway," continued Trumpkin, "even though it's not the mouth of the river, it seems to me that I've been past this place on the way it trickles north and is bound to join the big mouth. So if we head downstream Go, turn right again.. "Look! Look! Look!" cried Lucy suddenly. "Where? What?" Everyone looked in the direction of her finger. "The Lion," said Lucy excitedly, with her big eyes shining, "it's Aslan, don't you see? U "You mean—Aslan?" Peter's eyes widened suddenly. "Where do you think it is?" Susan couldn't believe it. "I don't think so," Lucy stamped her foot vigorously, "it's true, I really saw Aslan!" "Where is it, Lou?" Peter asked. "On the top of the hill, between the trees. No, this side of the canyon, look up—it wants us to go there, in the opposite direction you've chosen." "How do you know it wants us?" Edmund asked. "It . . . I know anyway," said Lucy, "you can see it in its face." Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, but no one spoke. "Her Majesty Lucy may well have seen a lion," interrupted Trumpkin, "of course there are lions in these woods, and there must be more than one, I know all too well. But it may not be a friendly, A talking lion, just like the bear." "Oh, don't be silly," said Lucy, "do you think I won't recognize Aslan when I see it?" "He's an old lion by now," said Trumpkin, "if it's your old acquaintance, old friend! Besides, if it's him, who's to say that after all these years he won't look like a lion?" Like many other animals, go wild and become stupid Lucy blushed all of a sudden, and would have jumped at Trumpkin if Peter hadn't put a hand on her shoulder. "The DLF doesn't understand, how could he?" Peter reassured Lucy, turning to the dwarf, "You remember, Trumpkin, we don't really know Aslan, you can't talk about it like that anymore .Now it must be found out whether Aslan is really there." "I swear it was there just now," said Lucy, with tears in her eyes. "Perhaps so, Lou. But only you saw it, and none of us saw it." "We have nothing else to do, let's vote," said Edmund. "Okay," Peter replied, "you're the oldest, DLF, what do you vote for? Up, or down?" "Going down," said the dwarf without hesitation, "I don't know anything about Aslan, but I do know that if we turn left and go up the ravine, we may have to walk a day before we find a A place where the river can be crossed; but if we go downriver and turn to the right, we can certainly reach the river in two hours. Besides, if there are any lions in the vicinity, we should avoid them and not go near them ." "What do you say, Susan?' "Don't be angry, Lou," said Susan. "I really think we should go downriver. I'm so tired. Let's get out of this damn forest and into the open air. Like everyone else, I hope Saw Aslan. But none of us saw anything but you." "Edmund?" said Peter. "Well, it is," said Edmund quickly, flushing slightly, "a year ago, when we first discovered Narnia—maybe a thousand years ago, never mind that— — It was Lucy who discovered this wonderful country in the first place, and we all didn't believe her. I was the worst, I know that. But she was right, and I'm showing Lucy by supporting her this time Sorry. I voted for Upstream." "Oh, Edmund!" Lucy gripped his hand tightly. "Now it's your turn, Peter," said Susan, "I wish—" "Hey, don't talk! Let people think for themselves," interrupted Peter, "I guess I'd better not vote." "You are the Supreme King." Trumpkin reminded solemnly. "Down." After a long silence, Peter finally said, "I know Lucy is probably right, but... I have no other choice, we must choose one of the two. So they set off downstream, along the cliff on the right, with Lucy at the end, weeping bitterly.