“GO on, Pole, do your stuff,” whispered Scrubb.
Jill found that her mouth was so dry that she couldn't speak a word. She nodded savagely at Scrubb.
Thinking to himself that he would never forgive her (or Puddleglum either), Scrubb licked his lips and shouted up to the King giant.
“If you please, Sire, the Lady of the Green Kirtle salutes you by us and said you'd like to have us for your Autumn Feast.”
The giant King and Queen looked at each other, nodded to each other, and smiled in a way that Jill didn't exactly like. She liked the King better than the Queen. He had a fine, curled beard and a straight eagle-like nose, and was really rather good-looking as giants go. The Queen was dreadfully fat and had a double chin and a fat, powdered face—which isn't a very nice thing at the best of times, and of course looks much worse when it is ten times too big. Then the King put out his tongue and licked his lips. Anyone might do that: but his tongue was so very large and red, and came out so unexpectedly, that it gave Jill quite a shock.
“Oh, what good children!” said the Queen. (“Perhaps she's the nice one after all,” thought Jill.)
“Yes indeed,” said the King. “Quite excellent children. We welcome you to our court. Give me your hands.”
He stretched down his great right hand—very clean and with any number of rings on the fingers, but also with terrible pointed nails. He was much too big to shake the hands which the children, in turn, held up to him; but he shook the arms.
“And what's that?” asked the King, pointing to Puddleglum.
“Reshpeckobiggle,” said Puddleglum.
“Oh!” screamed the Queen, gathering her skirts close about her ankles. “The horrid thing! It's alive.”
“He's quite all right, your Majesty, really, he is,” said Scrubb hastily. “You'll like him much better when you get to know him. I'm sure you will.”
I hope you won't lose all interest in Jill for the rest of the book if I tell you that at this moment she began to cry. There was a good deal of excuse for her. Her feet and hands and ears and nose were still only just beginning to thaw; melted snow was trickling off her clothes; she had had hardly anything to eat or drink that day; and her legs were aching so that she felt she could not go on standing much longer. Anyway, it did more good at the moment than anything else would have done, for the Queen said:
“Ah, the poor child! My lord, we do wrong to keep our guests standing. Quick, some of you! Take them away. Give them food and wine and baths. Comfort the little girl. Give her lollipops, give her dolls, give her physics, give her all you can think of-possets and comfits and caraways and lullabies and toys. Don't cry, little girl, or you won't be good for anything when the feast comes.”
Jill was just as indignant as you and I would have been at the mention of toys and dolls; and, though lollipops and comfits might be all very well in their way, she very much hoped that something more solid would be provided. The Queen's foolish speech, however, produced excellent results, for Puddleglum and Scrubb were at once picked up by gigantic gentlemen-in-waiting, and Jill by a gigantic maid of honour, and carried off to their rooms.
Jill's room was about the size of a church, and would have been rather grim if it had not had a roaring fire on the hearth and a very thick crimson carpet on the floor. And here delightful things began to happen to her. She was handed over to the Queen's old Nurse, who was, from the giants' point of view, a little old woman almost bent double with age, and, from the human point of view, a giantess small enough to go about an ordinary room without knocking her head on the ceiling. She was very capable, though Jill did wish she wouldn't keep on clicking her tongue and saying things like “Oh la, la! Ups-a-daisy” and “There's a duck” and “Now we'll be all right, my poppet”.
She filled a giant foot-bath with hot water and helped Jill into it. If you can swim (as Jill could) a giant bath is a lovely thing. And giant towels, though a bit rough and coarse, are lovely too, because there are acres of them. In fact you don't need to dry at all, you just roll about on them in front of the fire and enjoy yourself. And when that was over, clean, fresh, warmed clothes were put on Jill: very splendid clothes and a little too big for her, but clearly made for humans not giantesses. “I suppose if that woman in the green kirtle comes here, they must be used to guests of our size,” thought Jill.
She soon saw that she was right about this, for a table and chair of the right height for an ordinary grown-up human were placed for her, and the knives and forks and spoons were the proper size too. It was delightful to sit down, feeling warm and clean at last. Her feet were still bare and it was lovely to tread on the giant carpet. She sank in it well over her ankles and it was just the thing for sore feet. The meal—which I suppose we must call dinner, though it was nearer tea time—was cock-a-leekie soup, and hot roast turkey, and a steamed pudding, and roast chestnuts, and as much fruit as you could eat.
The only annoying thing was that the Nurse kept coming in and out, and every time she came in, she brought a gigantic toy with her—a huge doll, bigger than Jill herself, a wooden horse on wheels, about the size of an elephant, a drum that looked like a young gasometer, and a woolly lamb. They were crude, badly made things, painted in very bright colours, and Jill hated the sight of them. She kept on telling the Nurse she didn't want them, but the Nurse said:
“Tut-tut-tut-tut. You'll want 'em all right when you've had a bit of a rest, I know! Te-he-he! Beddy bye, now. A precious poppet!”
The bed was not a giant bed but only a big four-poster, like what you might see in an oldfashioned hotel; and very small it looked in that enormous room. She was very glad to tumble into it.
“Is it still snowing, Nurse?” she asked sleepily.
“No. Raining now, ducky!” said the giantess. “Rain'll wash away all the nasty snow. Precious poppet will be able to go out and play tomorrow!” And she tucked Jill up and said good night.
I know nothing so disagreeable as being kissed by a giantess. Jill thought the same, but was asleep in five minutes.
The rain fell steadily all the evening and all the night, dashing against the windows of the castle, and Jill never heard it but slept deeply, past supper time and past midnight. And then came the deadest hour of the night and nothing stirred but mice in the house of the giants. At that hour there came to Jill a dream. It seemed to her that she awoke in the same room and saw the fire, sunk low and red, and in the firelight the great wooden horse. And the horse came of its own will, rolling on its wheels across the carpet, and stood at her head. And now it was no longer a horse, but a lion as big as the horse. And then it was not a toy lion, but a real lion, The Real Lion, just as she had seen him on the mountain beyond the world's end. And a smell of all sweet-smelling things there arefilled the room. But there was some trouble in Jill's mind, though she c ould not think what it was, and the tears streamed down her face and wet the pillow. The Lion told her to repeat the signs, and she found that she had forgotten them all. At that, a great horror came over her. And Aslan took her up in his jaws (she could feel his lips and his breath but not his teeth) and carried her to the window and made her look out. The moon shone bright; and written in great letters across the world or the sky (she did not know which) were the words UNDER ME. After that, the dream faded away, and when she woke, very late next morning, she did not remember that she had dreamed at all.
She was up and dressed and had finished breakfast in front of the fire when the Nurse opened the door and said: “Here's pretty poppet's little friends come to play with her.”
In came Scrubb and the Marsh-wiggle.
“Hullo! Good morning,” said Jill. “Isn't this fun? I've slept about fifteen hours, I believe. I do feel better, don't you?”
“I do,” said Scrubb, “but Puddleglum says he has a headache. Hullo!—your window has a window seat. If we got up on that, we could see out.” And at once they all did so: and at the first glance Jill said, “Oh, how perfectly dreadful!”
The sun was shining and, except for a few drifts, the snow had been almost completely washed away by the rain. Down below them, spread out like a map, lay the flat hill-top which they had struggled over yesterday afternoon; seen from the castle, it could not be mistaken for anything but the ruins of a gigantic city. It had been flat, as Jill now saw, because it was still, on the whole, paved, though in places the pavement was broken. The criss-cross banks were what was left of the walls of huge buildings which might once have been giants' palaces and temples. One bit of wall, about five hundred feet high, was still standing; it was that which she had thought was a cliff. The things that had looked like factory chimneys were enormous pillars, broken off at unequal heights; their fragments lay at their bases like felled trees of monstrous stone. The ledges which they had climbed down on the north side of the hill—and also, no doubt the other ledges which they had climbed up on the south side—were the remaining steps of giant stairs. To crown all, in large, dark lettering across the centre of the pavement, ran the words UNDER ME.
The three travellers looked at each other in dismay, and, after a short whistle, Scrubb said what they were all thinking, “The second and third signs muffed.” And at that moment Jill's dream rushed back into her mind.
“It's my fault,” she said in despairing tones. “I—I'd given up repeating the signs every night. If I'd been thinking about them I could have seen it was the city, even in all that snow.”
“I'm worse,” said Puddleglum. “I did see, or nearly. I thought it looked uncommonly like a ruined city.”
“You're the only one who isn't to blame,” said Scrubb. “You did try to make us stop.”
“Didn't try hard enough, though,” said the Marshwiggle. “And I'd no call to be trying. I ought to have done it. As if I couldn't have stopped you two with one hand each!”
“The truth is,” said Scrubb, “we were so jolly keen on getting to this place that we weren't bothering about anything else. At least I know I was. Ever since we met that woman with the knight who didn't talk, we've been thinking of nothing else. We'd nearly forgotten about Prince Rilian.”
“I shouldn't wonder,” said Puddleglum, “if that wasn't exactly what she intended.”
“What I don't quite understand,” said Jill, “is how we didn't see the lettering? Or could it have come there since last night. Could he—Aslan—have put it there in the night? I had such a queer dream.” And she told them all about it.
“Why, you chump!” said Scrubb. “We did see it. We got into the lettering. Don't you see? We got into the letter E in ME. That was your sunk lane. We walked along the bottom stroke of the E, due north—turned to our right along the upright—came to another turn to the right—that's the middle stroke—and then went on to the top left-hand corner, or (if you like) the north-eastern corner of the letter, and came back. Like the bally idiots we are.” He kicked the window seat savagely, and went on, “So it's no good, Pole. I know what you were thinking because I was thinking the same. You were thinking how nice it would have been if Aslan hadn't put the instructions on the stones of the ruined city till after we'd passed it. And then it would have been his fault, not ours. So likely, isn't it? No. We must just own up. We've only four signs to go by, and we've muffed the first three.”
“You mean I have,” said Jill. “It's quite true. I've spoiled everything ever since you brought me here. All the same—I'm frightfully sorry and all that—all the same, what are the instructions? UNDER ME doesn't seem to make much sense.”
“Yes it does, though,” said Puddleglum. “It means we've got to look for the Prince under that city.”
“But how can we?” asked Jill.
“That's the question,” said Puddleglum, rubbing his big, frog-like hands together. “How can we now? No doubt, if we'd had our minds on our job when we were at the Ruinous City, we'd have been shown how—found a little door, or a cave, or a tunnel, met someone to help us. Might have been (you never know) Aslan himself. We'd have got down under those paving-stones somehow or other. Aslan's instructions always work: there are no exceptions. But how to do it now—that's another matter.”
“Well, we shall just have to go back, I suppose,” said Jill.
“Easy, isn't it?” said Puddleglum. “We might try opening that door to begin with.” And they all looked at the door and saw that none of them could reach the handle, and that almost certainly no one could turn it if they did.
“Do you think they won't let us out if we ask?” said Jill. And nobody said, but everyone thought, “Supposing they don't.”
It was not a pleasant idea. Puddleglum was dead against any idea of telling the giants their real business and simply asking to be let out; and of course the children couldn't tell without his permission, because they had promised. And all three felt pretty sure that there would be no chance of escaping from the castle by night. Once they were in their rooms with the doors shut, they would be prisoners till morning. They might, of course, ask to have their doors left open, but that would rouse suspicions.
“Our only chance,” said Scrubb, “is to try to sneak away by daylight. Mightn't there be an hour in the afternoon when most of the giants are asleep?—and if we could steal down into the kitchen, mightn't there be a back door open?”
“It's hardly what I call a Chance,” said the Marshwiggle. “But it's all the chance we're likely to get.” As a matter of fact, Scrubb's plan was not quite so hopeless as you might think. If you want to get out of a house without being seen, the middle of the afternoon is in some ways a better time to try it than the middle of the night. Doors and windows are more likely to be open; and if you are caught, you can always pretend you weren't meaning to go far and had no particular plans. (It is very hard to make either giants or grown-ups believe this if you're found climbing out of a bedroom window at one o'clock in the morning.)
“We must put them off their guard, though,” said Scrubb. “We must pretend we love being here and are longing for this Autumn Feast.”
“That's tomorrow night,” said Puddleglum. “I heard one of them say so.”
“I see,” said Jill. “We must pretend to be awfully excited about it, and keep on asking questions. They think we're absolute infants anyway, which will make it easier.”
“Gay,” said Puddleglum with a deep sigh. “That's what we've got to be. Gay. As if we hadn't a care in the world. Frolicsome. You two youngsters haven't always got very high spirits, I've noticed. You must watch me, and do as I do. I'll be gay. Like this”—and he assumed a ghastly grin. “And frolicsome”—here he cut a most mournful caper. “You'll soon get into it, if you keep your eyes on me. They think I'm a funny fellow already, you see. I dare say you two thought I was a trifle tipsy last night, but I do assure you it was—well, most of it was—put on. I had an idea it would come in useful, somehow.”
The children, when they talked over their adventures afterwards, could never feel sure whether this last statement was quite strictly true; but they were sure that Puddleglum thought it was true when he made it.
“All right. Gay's the word,” said Scrubb. “Now, if we could only get someone to open this door. While we're fooling about and being gay, we've got to find out all we can about this castle.”
Luckily, at that very moment the door opened, and the giant Nurse bustled in saying, “Now, my poppets. Like to come and see the King and all the court setting out on the hunting? Such a pretty sight!”
They lost no time in rushing out past her and climbing down the first staircase they came to. The noise of hounds and horns and giant voices guided them, so that in a few minutes they reached the courtyard. The giants were all on foot, for there are no giant horses in that part of the world, and the giants' hunting is done on foot; like beagling in England. The hounds were also of normal size.
When Jill saw that there were no horses she was at first dreadfully disappointed, for she felt sure that the great fat Queen would never go after hounds on foot; and it would never do to have her about the house all day. But then she saw the Queen in a kind of litter supported on the shoulders of six young giants. The silly old creature was all got up in green and had a horn at her side.
Twenty or thirty giants, including the King, were assembled, ready for the sport, all talking and laughing fit to deafen you: and down below, nearer Jill's level, there were wagging tails, and barking, and loose, slobbery mouths and noses of dogs thrust into your hand. Puddleglum was just beginning to strike what he thought a gay and gamesome attitude (which might have spoiled everything if it had been noticed) when Jill put on her most attractively childish smile, rushed across to the Queen's litter and shouted up to the Queen.
“Oh, please! You're not going away, are you? You will come back?”
“Yes, my dear,” said the Queen. “I'll be back tonight.”
“Oh, good. How lovely!” said Jill. “And we may come to the feast tomorrow night, mayn't we? We're so longing for tomorrow night! And we do love being here. And while you're out, we may run over the whole castle and see everything, mayn't we? Do say yes.”
The Queen did say yes, but the laughter of all the courtiers nearly drowned her voice.
“趕緊上,波爾,該你表現(xiàn)了?!彼箍肆_布壓低聲音說。
吉爾感覺嘴唇干澀,一個字也說不出來。她拼命地向斯克羅布示意。
斯克羅布心想,他永遠(yuǎn)都不會原諒她(也不會原諒普登格倫姆),他舔了舔嘴唇,向巨人國王喊道:“陛下,請聽我說,綠裙女士讓我們向你問好,她還說你會讓我們加入你的秋日盛宴。”
巨人國王和王后對視一眼,彼此點了點頭,然后微微一笑,吉爾真不喜歡他們笑的模樣。相比來說,她更喜歡國王一些。國王長著精致拳曲的胡子,直挺的鷹鉤鼻,真的比一般的巨人好看很多。王后胖得要命,雙下巴,大胖臉上涂了厚厚的粉——她的臉即便在最好的比例下也不怎么漂亮,更何況還放大了十倍,當(dāng)然看起來就更糟糕了。然后國王探出舌頭,舔了舔嘴唇。雖然任何人都有可能做這樣的動作,但是他的舌頭又大又紅,而且是出人意料地探出來的,真的把吉爾嚇了一大跳。
“哦,多好的孩子啊!”王后說。(“可能她才是和氣的那個?!奔獱栃南搿#?/p>
“的確是。”國王說,“真是很棒的孩子。我們歡迎你們來到我們的王庭。把你們的手給我?!?/p>
他伸出碩大的右手——非常干凈,手指上還戴了不知道多少戒指,不過他的指甲都尖尖的,十分嚇人。而且他的手也太大了,根本沒辦法和孩子們伸過來的手相握,于是,他握了握孩子們的胳膊。
“那是什么?”國王指著普登格倫姆問。
“尊金鬼。”普登格倫姆說。
“啊!”王后尖叫道,她收攏裙子,圍住腳踝,“好可怕!是活的?!?/p>
“他很好的,陛下,真的,他很好?!彼箍肆_布急忙解釋說,“等你們了解了他,就會非常喜歡他的。我肯定你們會的。”
要是我告訴你就在這時吉爾哭了起來,希望你們看到下文不要對吉爾失去興趣。她之所以哭是有充足理由的。她的雙腳、雙手、耳朵和鼻子才剛剛開始解凍,融化的雪水滴滴答答地從她衣服上滴落,那天她幾乎沒有吃過東西,也沒有喝過什么,她的雙腿酸疼,感覺快站不住了。不管怎么說,在這個時候,她哭起來這個舉動,比任何其他舉動都要好,因為王后說:“啊,可憐的孩子!陛下,我們讓我們的客人一直這么站著,真是不對??禳c兒,快來人!帶他們走。給他們食物和酒水,讓他們洗個熱水澡。哄哄那個小姑娘。給她棒棒糖,給她娃娃,給她吃藥,想到什么統(tǒng)統(tǒng)給她——牛乳酒、酒心糖、香菜、搖籃曲,還有玩具。別哭了,小姑娘,不然盛宴開始時你就不好了?!?/p>
吉爾就如同你我可能有的反應(yīng)一樣,一聽到玩具和娃娃,就大為光火,盡管棒棒糖和酒心糖應(yīng)該挺好的,但她真希望可以得到一些實在的東西。不過,王后的一席蠢話產(chǎn)生了極佳的效果,因為普登格倫姆和斯克羅布立刻就被身形巨大的侍從抱起來,抱起吉爾的是一個身形巨大的女侍從,他們就這樣被送去了各自的房間。吉爾的房間有一間教堂那么大,如果壁爐里面沒有熊熊燃燒的火,地上沒鋪著厚厚的猩紅色地毯,整個房間就會顯得相當(dāng)陰森。而到了這里,令她愉快的事情開始發(fā)生了。她被轉(zhuǎn)交給王后的老保姆,以巨人的角度來看,老保姆是個小個子老婦人,因為上了年紀(jì)背駝得很厲害,身體幾乎像是對折了一般,而從人類的角度來看,她依然是個女巨人,只是身形較小,進(jìn)入一個普通房間不會把頭撞在屋頂上。她很能干,不過吉爾真希望她不要老是喋喋不休,說些“哦啦啦!起來沒事啦”,“這是只鴨子”,“現(xiàn)在我們沒事啦,我的小乖乖”之類的話。
她將熱水倒入巨人的洗腳盆中,然后幫吉爾爬進(jìn)去。如果你會游泳的話(吉爾就可以),就會覺得巨人的浴盆是個非常好的東西。而巨人的毛巾呢,雖然有點兒粗糙,也非常好,因為足有幾英畝大小。實際上,你根本不需要擦干,只需要在爐火前攤開毛巾,然后在上面滾來滾去滾著玩就可以了。等這一切搞定后,吉爾穿上了干凈、清爽又已經(jīng)被烘暖了的衣服。這些衣服非常漂亮,只是對她來說大了一點兒,但看得出來這些衣服是做給人類的,而不是做給女巨人的?!拔也?,如果那個穿著綠裙子的女人常來這里,他們肯定已經(jīng)習(xí)慣了招待我們這種體型的客人了?!奔獱栂?。
她很快就發(fā)現(xiàn),她猜對了,因為他們給她安排了一套高度剛好合適,普通的成年人類用的桌椅,刀、叉、勺子的大小也正合適。終于可以暖暖和和的,干干凈凈的,坐下來了,這感覺真是太讓人開心了。她的腳還光著,不過踩在巨人的地毯上非常舒服。她踩下去,腳在里面一直能陷到足踝,這正是酸痛的腳所需要的。而那餐飯——我覺得我們該稱其為晚餐,盡管現(xiàn)在是接近下午茶的時間——包括韭菜雞湯、熱騰騰的烤火雞、蒸布丁、烤板栗,還有想吃多少就吃多少的水果。
唯一煩人的事情是保姆一直進(jìn)進(jìn)出出的,每次進(jìn)來,都會拿進(jìn)來一個巨大的玩具——一個比吉爾還大的大娃娃,一個足有大象那么大的帶輪子的木馬,一個仿佛小煤氣罐一樣的鼓,還有一個羊毛制的小羊。這些東西都是粗制濫造的,涂著非常刺眼的顏色,吉爾一看就覺得討厭。她不斷地跟保姆說她不想要,但保姆說:“噓噓噓噓!等你休息一會兒,你就會想要了,我知道的!嘻嘻嘻!寶寶得睡覺啦。寶貝小乖乖!”
這不是巨人的床,只是一張有四個柱子的大床,和你在老式旅館中可能會見到的差不多,放在這間大房間里顯得格外小。她很開心能攤在床上。
“現(xiàn)在還在下雪嗎,保姆?”她困懨懨地問。
“不下了?,F(xiàn)在在下雨,寶貝兒!”女巨人說,“雨會把討厭的雪都沖走。寶貝小乖乖明天就可以出去玩了!”她給吉爾裹好被子,說了聲晚安。
我真不知道還有什么事會比被女巨人親吻更讓人不舒服的了。吉爾也是這么想的,不過她沒用五分鐘就睡著了。
那天傍晚的雨一直不停地下了整整一夜,雨水沖刷著城堡的窗戶,不過吉爾完全沒聽到,她睡得非常沉,睡過了整個晚飯時間,一直睡到后半夜。到了夜里最沉寂的時刻,在這座巨人的房子里面,除了老鼠就沒有其他醒著的東西了。在這個時候,吉爾做了一個夢。在她看來,她似乎就在這個房間里醒了過來,看到那堆火,火苗低低的,紅紅的,借著火光,她看到了那個巨大的木馬。那木馬似乎有了自己的意識,輪子自己滾動起來,滾過地毯,在她頭邊停住?,F(xiàn)在,它的樣子不再是一匹馬了,而是一頭像馬一樣大的獅子。而且,不是一個玩具獅子,而是一頭真正的獅子。真正的獅子,就像她在世界盡頭之外的山上見到的一樣。一股混合了所有甜美氣息的味道充斥整個房間。吉爾的思緒有點兒混亂,盡管她想不明白是怎么回事,眼淚還是從她臉上滑落,打濕了枕頭。獅子讓她重復(fù)一下那些提示,而她發(fā)現(xiàn)自己已經(jīng)全部忘掉了。想到這里,她感到恐慌至極。阿斯蘭將她叼了起來(她能感覺到他的雙唇,他的呼吸,但沒有感覺到他的牙齒),叼著她到了窗戶邊,讓她透過窗戶向外看。月光明亮皎潔,整個大地,也可能是整個天空(她不知道到底是哪兒)上寫著大大的字母,拼出來的詞語是:在我之下。之后,這個夢就漸漸消失了,第二天早上她很晚才醒來,這時她已經(jīng)完全不記得自己做過的夢了。
她起床穿好衣服,在爐火邊吃了早飯,這時保姆打開門,說:“漂亮小乖乖的小朋友來找她玩啦?!?/p>
斯克羅布和沼澤怪進(jìn)了門。
“嘿!早上好?!奔獱栒f,“奇不奇怪?我相信我睡了大約有十五個鐘頭。我感覺好多了,你們呢?”
“我也是。”斯克羅布說,“不過普登格倫姆說他頭疼。嘿!——你的窗戶有靠窗座。如果我們能夠上去,就可以看看外面了?!彼麄兞⒖叹瓦@樣做了,只看了一眼,吉爾就說:“啊,真是糟透了啊!”
外面陽光普照,雪基本上已經(jīng)徹底被雨水沖沒了,只剩下幾堆殘雪。在他們的下方,像地圖一樣攤開著的是他們昨天下午跋涉過的平頂山丘的山頂,從城堡中望過去,那分明就是巨人城市的遺跡,不可能被錯當(dāng)成別的。吉爾現(xiàn)在才看出來,那里那么平,是因為那兒鋪著磚石,只是有些地方的路面裂開了。而那縱橫交錯的堤壩,則是這片巨大建筑留下的殘垣斷壁,那里可能一度是巨人的宮殿或廟宇。有一面墻,大約有五百英尺高,依然矗立在那里,之前她本以為那是一道懸崖。而那些像工廠煙囪的東西,則是巨大的支柱,都已經(jīng)斷裂成了高高低低錯落不等的殘樁,斷裂下來的碎片就在柱子的底座旁邊,仿佛是被砍倒的大石頭樹。而他們從山的北坡爬下的巖壁,是巨人樓梯殘留下來的臺階——毫無疑問,他們從南坡爬上的那些巖壁也是如此。而更糟的是,在路的正中,有大大的黑色字母,寫著單詞:“在我之下?!?/p>
三個旅行者沮喪地面面相覷,斯克羅布吹了一聲短促的口哨,然后說出了三個人都在想的事情?!暗诙l和第三條提示被錯過了?!本驮诖藭r,吉爾的夢又回到了她的腦海。
“是我的錯?!彼^望地說,“我——我沒有堅持每天晚上背誦那些提示。如果我能時刻想著,應(yīng)該可以看出來那就是城市的,即便是冒著那么大的雪?!?/p>
“我更不行?!逼盏歉駛惸氛f,“我真看出來了,差不多看出來了。我想過它格外像一座城市遺跡?!?/p>
“最不該怪的就是你了。”斯克羅布說,“你試過讓我們停下來。”
“不過卻不夠堅持。”沼澤怪說,“我不該只是試試,我應(yīng)該做到的。我一手一個,難道攔不住你們倆嗎!”
“實際上,”斯克羅布說,“我們都只想著快點兒到這里,全都沒有費心思去理會別的事情。至少我知道自己是這樣。自從遇到那個女人和那個不說話的騎士,我們就再也沒有想過別的。我們幾乎都忘了瑞利安王子了?!?/p>
“我一點兒都不覺得奇怪,”普登格倫姆說,“這正是她真正的目的?!?/p>
“我不明白的是,”吉爾說,“我們怎么會沒看到那些字母呢?還是那是昨天晚上才出現(xiàn)的?是不是他——阿斯蘭——在夜里留在那里的?我做了一個奇怪的夢?!彼龑舳几嬖V了他們。
“啊呀,你個笨蛋!”斯克羅布說,“我們看到了。我們進(jìn)到字母里面去了。你不明白嗎?我們進(jìn)入ME后一個字母E里面了。就是你掉下去的那個地道。我們沿著E底下的橫走了一段,這段是向北的——右拐到了豎著的那一筆上——然后遇到了第一個右轉(zhuǎn)的路口——這是中間那一橫——我們繼續(xù)走,到了左上角,也就是這個字母的東北角(如果你喜歡用方向表示),然后我們又走了回去。我們可真是大笨球?!彼莺萏咧看白纸又f,“這樣沒用,波爾。我知道你在想什么,因為我也在那么想。你在想,如果是阿斯蘭在我們經(jīng)過后才把那些提示留在了城市遺跡的石頭上該有多好啊。那樣,就是他的錯,不是我們的錯了。差不多是這樣,對不對?不行。我們必須實事求是。我們現(xiàn)在只剩下第四條提示了,前三條都被我們錯過了。”
“你是說被我錯過了?!奔獱栒f,“千真萬確。自從你把我?guī)У竭@里,我把一切都搞砸了。不過——我真的感到非常非常抱歉——但不過,那些提示是什么意思?‘在我之下’,聽起來說不通啊?!?/p>
“說得通的,”普登格倫姆說,“意思是我們要到那座城市的下面去尋找王子?!?/p>
“但我們怎么才能去呢?”吉爾問。
“的確是個問題?!逼盏歉駛惸反曛袂嗤茏ψ右粯拥拇笫?,“我們現(xiàn)在怎么才能去呢?毫無疑問,如果我們在遺跡里面一直都想著我們的任務(wù),也許就會得知怎么走了——發(fā)現(xiàn)一道小門,或是一個山洞,或是一條隧道,然后碰到能幫助我們的人。也許是阿斯蘭自己,這可說不好。我們肯定會找到辦法去到這些大石頭下面。阿斯蘭的提示一向管用,毫無例外。但現(xiàn)在該怎么辦呢——這就是另一回事了?!?/p>
“好吧,我們必須得回去,我估計?!奔獱栒f。
“很容易,是不是?”普登格倫姆說,“我們也許應(yīng)該先打開那扇門?!彼麄?nèi)纪蜷T,沒有一個可以夠到把手,而且即便他們可以夠到把手,也幾乎可以肯定沒有人能轉(zhuǎn)動把手。
“你們覺得,如果我們自己提出來,他們會讓我們出去嗎?”吉爾說。沒有人說話,不過大家都在想,“假如他們不肯呢?!?/p>
這真不是個讓人開心的想法。普登格倫姆堅決反對向巨人透露他們真正要做的事情以及直接要求離開的想法,當(dāng)然,孩子們沒有他的許可不會去說,因為他們都承諾過。三個人都非??隙?,在夜里逃出城堡是萬萬不可能的。他們一進(jìn)屋,門就會被關(guān)上,直到天亮前他們都得像囚犯一樣待在里面。當(dāng)然,他們可以要求讓門開著,但那樣會引來懷疑。
“我們唯一的機(jī)會,”斯克羅布說,“就是趁著天亮偷偷溜出去。中午時候,大多數(shù)巨人是不是都要睡上一個小時?——如果我們可以偷偷溜到廚房里去,會不會有一扇后門是開著的?”
“在我看來,這真的很難算作機(jī)會?!闭訚晒终f,“不過這似乎是我們僅有的機(jī)會了?!睂嶋H上,斯克羅布的計劃并不像你們想象的那么希望渺茫。如果你們想偷偷溜出一座房子,從某些方面來講,下午過半之時比午夜之時要好。門和窗都極有可能是開著的,如果你被抓住,你總是能假裝你并不想走遠(yuǎn),并沒有什么特別的計劃。(而如果在凌晨一點,你從臥室窗戶往外爬時被抓住了,就很難讓巨人或是大人相信你的話了。)
“不過,我們必須讓他們放下戒備?!彼箍肆_布說,“我們必須假裝我們喜歡留在這里,渴望參加那個秋日盛宴?!?/p>
“秋日盛宴就在明天晚上。”普登格倫姆說,“我聽一個巨人這么說?!?/p>
“我明白了。”吉爾說,“我們必須假裝對秋日盛宴非常期待非常興奮,一直跟他們打聽。反正他們完全把我們當(dāng)成了小孩子,這樣事情辦起來會更容易些?!?/p>
“開開心心!”普登格倫姆深深嘆了一口氣,“我們就這么做。開開心心的,假裝我們什么都不在乎,玩玩鬧鬧。我注意到了,你們兩個小家伙的興致并不總是很高,你們必須看著我,跟著我學(xué)。我要開開心心的,就像這樣?!闭f著,他硬擠出了一個超級難看的笑容,“玩玩鬧鬧?!彼嗥嗲星械靥艘幌隆!澳銈冎灰⒅铱?,很快就能學(xué)會的。他們已經(jīng)覺得我是個好玩的家伙了。我敢說,你們兩個昨天晚上肯定認(rèn)為我喝得有點兒醉了,不過我跟你們保證那是——基本上是——假裝的。我知道會有用的,就是知道。”
兩個孩子后來談?wù)撈鹚麄兊拿半U經(jīng)歷時,從來都不敢肯定這最后一句話到底是真是假,不過他們都肯定普登格倫姆在說的時候自己真的認(rèn)為是那么回事。
“好吧。開開心心,這是關(guān)鍵?!彼箍肆_布說,“好吧,但愿能有個人來把這扇門打開。我們四處閑逛假裝開心的時候,得盡量摸清這座城堡的情況?!?/p>
很幸運,就在這個時候,門開了,巨人保姆急匆匆地說:“好啦,我的小乖乖們。想不想出來見見國王和整個王庭去打獵?可壯觀啦!”
他們立即從保姆身邊沖過去,爬下他們遇到的第一段階梯。獵犬、號角,還有巨人們說話的聲音,都是引路的信號,沒一會兒,他們就到了庭院。巨人們?nèi)疾叫?,因為這片地區(qū)沒有巨馬,所以巨人們打獵都是徒步的,和英國人攜比格犬步行追獵一樣。獵犬們也都是普通體型的。
吉爾沒有看到馬,起初失望得要命,因為她肯定體型巨大肥胖的王后絕對不會徒步跟在獵犬后面,而讓她全天都留在屋子里是萬萬不可能的。不過,這時,她看到王后坐在一個類似擔(dān)架的東西上,由六個年輕的巨人抬在肩膀上。這個老蠢貨穿了一身綠衣裳,身側(cè)帶著一個號角。
這里集合了二三十個巨人,包括國王在內(nèi),全都做好了狩獵的準(zhǔn)備,一片歡聲笑語的喧嘩,聲音大得可以把你的耳朵震聾,而在他們腳下,和吉爾差不多高的,是一條條擺來擺去的尾巴,汪汪叫著的松垮而又潮乎乎的狗嘴和狗鼻子硬往你手里擠。普登格倫姆正準(zhǔn)備擺出他認(rèn)為是開開心心、玩玩鬧鬧的姿態(tài)來(如果有人看到的話,肯定會把一切都搞砸的),這時吉爾露出了她最具吸引力的孩子氣的微笑,沖到王后的擔(dān)架邊,大聲對王后叫道:“噢,拜托了!你不是要出去吧,是不是?你會回來的吧?”
“是的,親愛的。”王后說,“我今晚就回來?!?/p>
“啊,真好。太棒了!”吉爾說,“我們明天晚上可以參加盛宴,是不是?我們都特別期待明天晚上呢!我們真喜歡留在這里。你們不在的時候,我們在整個城堡里四處轉(zhuǎn)著看看,可以嗎?請一定要答應(yīng)啊。”
王后真的答應(yīng)了,不過所有侍從都哈哈大笑,幾乎淹沒了她說話的聲音。
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