"Oh dear!" whimpered Shift, "I wish youd all stop bothering me. My head does ache.
"Then, my Father," said Emeth, "I am utterly determined to go in.”
No one wants to meet a cat in that state. You could see animals getting out of his way to left and right. He dashed up a tree, whisked around, and hung head downwards. His tail was bristled out till it was nearly as thick as his whole body: his eyes were like saucers of green fire: along his back every single hair stood on end.
Thats your affair.”
"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you," said dozens of voices. "Thats what we wanted!
"Silence," said Rishda Tarkaan. "Am not I thy Captain? Thou hast nothing to do with this stable. It is for the Narnians.”
"Anyone can go in," he said. "But, one at a time. Wholl go first? He didnt say he was feeling very kind. Hes been licking his lips a lot since he swallowed up the wicked King the other night. Hes been growling a good deal this morning. I wouldnt much like to go into that stable myself tonight. But just as you please. Whod like to go in first? Dont blame me if he swallows you whole or blasts you into a cinder with the mere terror of his eyes. Thats your affair. Now then! Whos first? What about one of you Dwarfs?”
"I do wish we knew what is really inside there," said Eustace.
Then a most surprising thing happened. Ginger the Cat said in a cool, clear voice, not at all as if he was excited, "Ill go in, if you like.”
And the Cat got up and came out of its place in the crowd, walking primly and daintily, with its tail in the air, not one hair on its sleek coat out of place. It came on till it had passed the fire and was so close that Tirian, from where he stood with his shoulder against the end-wall of the stable, could look right into its face. Its big green eyes never blinked. ("Cool as a cucumber," muttered Eustace. "It knows it has nothing to fear.") The Ape, chuckling and making faces, shuttled across beside the Cat: put up his paw: drew
"Ho-ho!" cried the Ape. "So youre beginning to think theres something there, eh? Well, all you Beasts were making noise enough a minute ago. Whats struck you all dumb?
"Id give my beard," whispered Poggin, "to know whether that brute is only acting or whether it has really found something in there that frightened it!”
Next moment the astonished Narnians saw seven figures leap forth in front of the stable, four of them in shining mail. The Kings sword flashed in the firelight as he waved it above his head and cried in a great voice: "Here stand I, Tirian of Narnia, in Aslans name, to prove with my body that Tash is a foul fiend, the Ape a manifold traitor, and these Calormenes worthy of death. To my side, all true Narnians. Would you wait till your new masters have killed you all one by one?”
This was worse. The Ape was knocked head over heels by Ginger coming back out of the stable at top speed. If you had not known he was a cat, you might have thought he was a ginger-coloured streak of lightning. He shot across the open grass, back into the crowd.
"And after a horrid thing like that, Aslan - Tashlan - is angrier than ever. He says hes been a great deal too good to you, coming out every night to be looked at, see! Well, hes not coming out any more.”
But the Beasts all stood looking at one another and began backing away from the stable.
"Hark what the monkey says," it shouted. "We know why he isnt going to bring his precious Aslan out. Ill tell you why: because he hasnt got him. He never had anything except an old donkey with a lion-skin on its back. Now hes lost that and he doesnt know what to do.”
When next there was a moments quiet the Ape said: "You Dwarfs think youre very clever, dont you? But not so fast. I never said you couldnt see Tashlan. Anyone who likes can see him.”
The whole assembly became silent. Then, after nearly a minute, the Bear began in a slow, puzzled voice: "I dont quite understand all this," it grumbled, "I thought you said -”
WHO WILL GO INTO THE STABLE?
"Peace, Emeth," said the Captain, "Who called thee to counsel? Does it become a boy to speak?”
"Nay, my Father," answered Emeth. "Thou hast said that their Aslan and our Tash are all one. And if that is the truth, then Tash himself is in yonder. And how then sayest thou that I have nothing to do with him? For gladly would I die a thousand deaths if I might look once on the face of Tash.”
Howls and mewings and squeals and grunts were the Animals answer to this, but suddenly a quite different voice broke in with a loud laugh.
When Tirian saw that brave Beast getting ready to fight for its life - and Calormene soldiers beginning to close in on it with their drawn scimitars - and no one going to its help - something seemed to burst inside him. He no longer cared if this was the best moment to interfere or not.
"I thought you said," began the Bear, but Shift interrupted.
Tirian bent his head to hear something that Jill was trying to whisper in his ear. "What do you think is really inside the stable?" she said. "Who knows?" said Tirian. "Two Calormenes with drawn swords, as likely as not, one on each side of the door." "You dont think," said Jill, "it might be . . . you know . . . that horrid thing we saw?" "Tash himself?" whispered Tirian. "Theres no knowing. But courage, child: we are all between the paws of the true Aslan.”
"Aii-aii-aouwee! -" The most horrible caterwaul you ever heard made everyone jump.
"Ho-ho!" said the Ape. "So you, a pert Puss, would look upon him face to face. Come on, then! Ill open the door for you. Dont blame me if he scares the whiskers off your face.
We can go in and see him face to face. And now hell be kind and it will all be as it used to be." And the Birds chattered, and the Dogs barked excitedly. Then suddenly, there was a great stirring and a noise of creatures rising to their feet, and in a second the whole lot of them would have been rushing forward and trying to crowd into the stable door all together. But the Ape shouted: "Get back! Quiet! Not so fast.”
"Has the Ape lied to us?”
Emeth opened the door and went in, into the black mouth of the stable. He closed the door behind him. Only a few moments passed - but it seemed longer before the door opened again. A figure in Calormene armour reeled out, fell on its back, and lay still: the door closed behind it. The Captain leaped towards it and bent down to stare at its face. He gave a start of surprise. Then he recovered himself and turned to the crowd, crying out: "The rash boy has had his will. He has looked on Tash and is dead. Take warning, all of you.”
The Beasts stopped, many of them with one paw in the with tails wagging, and all of them with heads on one side.
"Look, look!" said the voice of the Bear. "It cant talk. It has forgotten how to talk! It has gone back to being a dumb beast. Look at its face." Everyone saw that it was true. And then the greatest terror of all fell upon those Narnians. For every one of them had been taught - when it was only a chick or a puppy or a cub - how Aslan at the beginning of the world had turned the beasts of Narnia into Talking Beasts and warned them that if they werent good they might one day be turned back again and be like the poor witless animals one meets in other countries. "And now it is coming upon us," they moaned.
Whos going in first?”
"My Father," said Emeth. "Truly I am younger than thou, yet I also am of the blood of the Tarkaans even as thou art, and I also am the servant of Tash. Therefore . . .”
"Now, Ginger," said the Captain. "Enough of that noise. Tell them what thou hast seen.”
"Dilly, dilly, come and be killed!" sneered Griffle. "How do we know what youve got in there?”
The Ape was speaking again.
Tirian could not see the faces on the other side of the fire very well but he guessed this was Griffle the Chief Dwarf. And he was quite certain of it when, a second later, all the Dwarfs voices joined in, singing: "Dont know what to do! Dont know what to do! Dont know what to do-o-o!”
Then, just as Ginger had done, Emeth came walking forward into the open strip of grass between the bonfire and the stable. His eyes were shining, his face very solemn, his hand was on his sword-hilt, and he carried his head high. Jill felt like crying when she looked at his face. And Jewel whispered in the Kings ear, "By the Lions Mane, I almost love this young warrior, Calormene though he be. He is worthy of a better god than Tash.”
"Aii - Aii - Aaow - Awah," screamed the Cat.
"O-o-mph," grunted the Boar, rising heavily to his feet. "Come on, then. Try my tusks.”
"You thought!" repeated the Ape. "As if anyone could call what goes on in your head thinking. Listen, you others. Anyone can see Tashlan. But hes not coming out. You have to go in and see him.”
"My Father," he said to the Captain, "I also desire to go in.”
"Ho-ho-ho," chuckled the Ape. "Any more? Anyone else want to go in? Well, as youre all shy, Ill choose the next. You, you Boar! On you come. Drive him up, Calormenes. He shall see Tashlan face to face.”
"Mercy! Mercy!" wailed the Beasts. "Spare us, Lord Shift, stand between us and Aslan, you must always go in and speak to him for us. We darent, we darent.”
"Fool," began Rishda Tarkaan, but at once the Dwarfs began shouting: "Come along, Darkie. Why dont you let him in? Why do you let Narnians in and keep your own people out? What have you got in there that you dont want your own men to meet?”
Every creature turned and fixed its eyes on the Cat. "Mark their subtleties, Sire," said Poggin to the King. "This cursed cat is in the plot, in the very centre of it. Whatever is in the stable will not hurt him, Ill be bound. Then Ginger will come out again and say that he has seen some wonder.”
You have been wakened yourself by cats quarrelling or making love on the roof in the middle of the night: you know the sound.
Very few tails were wagging now. The Ape waddled to and fro jeering at them. "Ho-ho-ho!" he chuckled. "I thought you were all so eager to see Tashlan face to face! Changed your mind, eh?”
"Swear it, Ape," said Emeth.
Tirian and his friends could only see the back of Rishda Tarkaan, so they never knew what his face looked like as he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Bear witness all that I am guiltless of this young fools blood. Get thee in, rash boy, and make haste.”
Tirian stood with his hand on his sword-hilt and his head bowed. He was dazed with the horrors of that night. Sometimeshe thought it would be best to draw his sword at once and rush upon the Calormenes: then next moment he thought it would be better to wait and see what new turn affairs might take. And now a new turn came.
"Silence!" thundered Rishda Tarkaan. "Silence, children of mud! Listen to me, you other Narnians, lest I give command to my warriors to fall upon you with the edge of the sword. The Lord Shift has already told you of that wicked Ass. Do you think, because of him that there is no real Tashlan in the stable! Do you? Beware, beware.”
Ginger disappeared further up into the tree. No one ever saw him again.
"No, no," shouted most of the crowd. But the Dwarfs said, "Thats right, Darkie, youve got it. Come on, Monkey, show us whats in the stable, seeing is believing.”
"Thou art a fool and understandest nothing," said Rishda Tarkaan. "These be high matters.”
"Of course theyre all one," said the Ape.
"My Father," came a clear, ringing voice from the left of the crowd. Tirian knew at once that it was one of the Calormenes speaking, for in The Tisrocs army the common soldiers call the officers "My Master" but the officers call their senior officers "My Father". Jill and Eustace didnt know this but, after looking this way and that, they saw the speaker, for of course people at the sides of the crowd were easier to see than people in the middle where the glare of the fire made all beyond it look rather black. He was young and tall and slender, and even rather beautiful in the dark, haughty, Calormene way.
"We will, we will," said the poor Beasts. But Tirian and his friends stared at the dead Calormene and then at one another. For they, being so close, could see what the crowd, being further off and beyond the fire, could not see: this dead man was not Emeth. He was quite different: an older man, thicker and not so tall, with a big beard.
"Art thou not called a Talking Beast?" said the Captain. "Then hold thy devilish noise and talk.”
But Tirian had no time to answer him. The Ape was calling the Cat to come forward.
What followed was rather horrible. Tirian felt quite certain (and so did the others) that the Cat was trying to say something: but nothing came out of his mouth except the ordinary, ugly cat-noises you might hear from any angry or frightened old Tom in a backyard in England. And the longer he caterwauled the less like a Talking Beast he looked. Uneasy whimperings and little sharp squeals broke out from among the other Animals.
Yes, yes, I swear it.”
"Swords out," he whispered to the others. "Arrow on string. Follow.”
JILL felt something tickling her ear. It was Jewel the Unicorn, whispering to her with the wide whisper of a horses mouth. As soon as she heard what he was saying she nodded and tip-toed back to where Puzzle was standing. Quickly and quietly she cut the last cords that bound the lion-skin to him. It wouldnt do for him to be caught with that on, after what the Ape had said! She would like to have hidden the skin somewhere very far away, but it was too heavy. The best she could do was to kick it in among the thickest bushes. Then she made signs to Puzzle to follow her and they both joined the others.
"Peace, friend," said Tirian, for the Captain and the Ape were also whispering and he wanted to hear what they said. He did not succeed, except that he heard the Ape once more whimpering "My head, my head," but he got the idea that those two were almost as puzzled by the cats behaviour as himself.
Emeths face grew sterner. "Is it then not true that Tash and Aslan are all one?" he asked.
the bolt and opened the door. Tirian thought he could hear the Cat purring as it walked into the dark doorway.
