Chapter 5 Chapter 4 Turkish Delight

"But what exactly do you do?" the woman asked again. "Are you a very tall little demon with a shaved beard?" "No, sire," said Edmund, "I haven't grown a beard yet. I'm a boy." "A boy!" she said. "You mean you are Adam's son?" Edmund was taken aback, but did not speak.He was inexplicably asked, and he didn't understand the meaning of this sentence at all. "You look like an idiot to me, whatever you do," said the queen. "Answer my question, just for once, and don't make me angry. Are you human?"

"Yes, sire," said Edmund. "So, I ask you, how did you come to this place where I rule?" "Your Majesty, I'm sorry, I came in through a wardrobe." "A wardrobe? What's the matter?" "Your Majesty, I, I opened the cupboard door, and as soon as I ran in, I found myself here," replied Edmund. "Ha ha!" the queen seemed to be talking to herself, "a door, a door to the human world! I've heard of such things before. This is terrible. But he's only one person, It's easy to deal with." She said as she stood up from her seat, staring at Edmund's face with a fierce gleam in her eyes.She waved the stick in her hand.She must have done something dreadful, thought Edmund.He seemed to feel that he could not move.Just when he felt that he was going to die, the queen seemed to change her mind.

"My poor child," she said in a different tone, "see how you are frozen! Come and sit in my sleigh, and I will wrap you in my cloak, and we can talk." Reluctant, but not daring to resist, Edmund climbed into the sleigh and sat at her feet.She draped the corner of the fur cloak over him, wrapping him tightly. "Would you like something warm to drink?" asked the Queen. "Thank you, Your Majesty," said Edmund, chattering his teeth. The queen drew from her side a very small bottle, which seemed to be made of copper.Then she stretched out her arm and poured a drop from the bottle onto the snow beside the sled.Edmund saw that the drop shone like a jewel before it hit the ground, but when it hit the snow it hissed and changed into a jeweled cup, filled with drink, and Steaming.The goblin immediately picked up the cup, handed it to Edmund, and bowed to him with a half-smile.Edmund took a sip and felt better.It was a creamy drink he had never tasted before, very sweet and frothy, and it warmed him up to his heels after he drank it.

"Son of Adam, you are a fool to drink and not eat," said the Queen after a while. "What is your favorite thing to eat?" "Turkish Delight, Your Majesty," said Edmund. Then the Queen poured another drop from the bottle onto the snow, and immediately a round box appeared on the ground, tied with a green ribbon, and when it was opened, there were several pounds of the best Turkish Delight in it.Each piece was sweet and soft, and nothing better than Edmund's had never eaten.He feels very warm and comfortable now. As he ate the fudge, the queen asked him many questions.At first Edmund tried to remind himself that it was bad manners to talk with his mouth full, but he forgot all about it before long, and was just wolfing down the fudge.The more he ate, the more he craved it, and it never occurred to him why the Queen asked him so many questions.At last he told her everything: that he had a brother, a sister, and a sister, and that his sister had also been to Narnia, and had met a Faun, and that there was no one but the four of them. Who knows what's going on in Narnia.The queen seemed particularly interested to hear that they had four brothers and sisters, and she asked repeatedly: "Are you sure that you are exactly four? The two sons of Adam and the two daughters of Eve, no more and no less." ?” With his mouth full of fudge, Edmund replied over and over, “Yes, I told you.” He had forgotten to call her “Your Majesty” now, but she didn’t seem to care.

At last the Turkish Delight was all gone, and Edmund kept his eyes on the empty box, longing for her to ask him again if he wanted any more.It is likely that the queen knew what was going on in his mind at this time.Because, although Edmund didn't say it out loud, she knew very well that this Turkish delight is a kind of ecstasy candy that has been enchanted. No matter who eats it, it will eat more and more, as long as there is something to eat , he will not shut up and eat until he is poisoned to death.The queen did not feed him any more, but said: "Son of Adam, how I wish I could see your brothers and sisters! Will you please bring them to me?"

"I will do it," said Edmund, keeping his eyes fixed on the empty box. "If you come again—bringing them with you, of course—I'll give you more Turkish delight. But not now, because the magic can only be used once. Of course, at my house , the situation is different." "Then shall we go to your house now?" Edmund asked tentatively.When he first got into the sleigh, he had feared that she would take him to a very strange place from which he would never return, but now his fears were forgotten. "My house is a very comfortable place," said the Queen. "I'm sure you'll like it. There are rooms dedicated to Turkish Delight. Besides, I have no children of my own, and I'd love to have a handsome boy for a prince. You The day you bring the other three people to my house, the day I make you a prince."

"Why don't you let me go now?" said Edmund, turning red and sticky over his mouth and fingers.No matter what the queen praised her, he was neither bright nor beautiful at first glance. "Oh, if I take you home now," she said, "I shall never see your brothers and sisters and sisters. I should like to know them. You shall be a prince and a king afterward, But you must also have ministers and nobles. I will make your brother a duke, and your sister and sister a duchess." "They have nothing that deserves your particular attention," said Edmund, "and I can bring them any day I like."

"True, but if you came to my house now," said the Queen, "you would forget them all, and you would be too interested in looking for them any more than to entertain yourself. No! You must now go back to Go to your own country and come to me with them in a few days, and it is impossible not to come with them." "But I don't know my way back," pleaded Edmund. "That's easy," replied the Queen. "Do you see that lamp?" She pointed with the stick in her hand, and Edmund, turning round, saw the one where Lucy had met the Faun. lamp post. "Go straight ahead and reach the lamp post, and you will find the way to the world. Well, now please look at another road," she asked, pointing in the opposite direction, "Look up the treetops , do you see two hills?"

"I see," replied Edmund. "Well, I live between those two hills. When you come next time, just find the lamp post, head in the direction of those two hills, walk through this forest, and you can come to my house place. You must keep the river close to your right. But you must remember that you must bring your brother, sister, and sister with you. If you come alone, don’t blame me for being angry.” "I will do my best," replied Edmund. "Well, by the way," said the Queen, "you needn't tell them about me. We'll both have to keep it a secret, and it will be very interesting, don't you think? To surprise them when they come. You Just find a way to get them into those two hills--not an easy excuse for a kid as bright as you--and when you get to my house, just say, 'Let's see who lives in Here' or something of that sort will do. As far as I'm concerned, that's the way to go. If your sister has ever seen a Faun, she's probably heard something bad about me. She Probably afraid to come to me. Those fauns are the best at talking nonsense, and now . . . ”

"Your Majesty," interrupted Edmund, "will you please give me another Turkish delight to eat on the way home?" "No, no," said the queen, laughing, "it must wait until the next time," she said, signaling to the goblin to go on, and the sleigh sped away, and Queen Edmund waved and shouted. Said, "Wait until the next time, wait until the next time. Don't forget, come to my house in a few days." While Edmund was gazing at the sleigh going away, he suddenly heard someone calling his name.He turned and saw Lucy coming towards him from the other side of the woods.

"Oh, Edmund!" she exclaimed, "you're in too! Is it fun?" "Yes," said Edmund, "you see, what you said before is true, it is indeed a mysterious wardrobe. I must apologize to you, but where were you just now? I have been looking for you everywhere." .” "If I knew you were coming in, I should have waited for you," said Lucy, so delighted that she did not notice how impatiently Edmund spoke; how red and strange he looked. "I dined with dear Faun Mr. Tumnus. He was safe and sound. Last time he let me go, the White Witch did nothing to him. He said the witch didn't know about it. He probably won't be in any trouble." "The White Witch?" asked Edmund. "Who is she?" "She is a very terrible witch," said Lucy. "She calls herself Queen of Narnia, but she is not qualified to be queen at all. All fauns, water gods, dryads and animals, who are kind-hearted They all hated her. She could turn people to stone, and she could do all kinds of horrible things. She performed a kind of witchcraft, so that it was always winter in Narnia, and it would never pass. Christmas. She's running around in a sleigh drawn by reindeer, with a wand in her hand and a crown on her head." Already feeling ill from eating too much fudge, Edmund felt even more so when he heard that the woman he had befriended turned out to be a dangerous witch.Still, he prefers Turkish delight to anything else. "Who told you all this?" he asked. "Mr Tumnus the Faun," said Lucy. "Don't always believe what the Faun says," said Edmund, pretending to know the Faun better than Lucy. "Who said that?" asked Lucy. "Everybody knows," said Edmund, "ask any one you like. But what's the fun of standing here in the snow, let's go back." "Very well," said Lucy, "oh, Edmund, I'm glad you're here too. We've both been to Narnia, and people will believe us. How interesting that will be!" Edmund thought to himself that Narnia was not as interesting to him as Lucy said, but he had to admit in front of everyone that Lucy was right.He was sure that everyone else was on the side of the Faun and the other animals, but he was on the side of the witch.If everyone knew what was going on in Narnia, he would have difficulty speaking, and he would not be able to keep his secret. Unknowingly, they had walked a long way, and suddenly they found that there were no longer branches around them but clothes, and in an instant, the two of them were standing in the empty room of the wardrobe. "Why," said Lucy, "how ugly you look, Edmund, are you ill?" "I'm fine," replied Edmund, but it was not the truth, and he felt very uncomfortable. "Come on, then," said Lucy, "we'll go to them, and we've got a lot to tell them! If all four of us get inside, we'll see many strange things!"