When they had eaten enough, Eustace said to King Peter, "You havent yet told us how you got here. You were just going to, when King Tirian turned up.”
"But it isnt dark, you poor stupid Dwarfs," said Lucy. "Cant you see? Look up! Look round! Cant you see the sky and the trees and the flowers? Cant you see me?”
"Friend," said Tirian softly, "you hinder the lady in her tale.”
"None of that!" he shouted. "How dare you! What do you mean by shoving a lot of filthy stable-litter in my face? There was a thistle in it too. Its like your sauce! And who are you anyway?”
"Look out!" said one of them in a surly voice. "Mind where youre going. Dont walk into our faces!”
"After the shock and the noise," said Lucy, "we found ourselves here. And we wondered at the door, as you did. Then the door opened for the first time (we saw darkness through the doorway when it did) and there came through a big man with a naked sword. We saw by his arms that he was a Calormene. He took his stand beside the door with his sword raised, resting on his shoulder, ready to cut down anyone who came through. We went to him and spoke to him, but we thought he could neither see nor hear us. And he never looked round on the sky and the sunlight and the grass: I think he couldnt see them either. So then we waited a long time. Then we heard the bolt being drawn on the other side of the door. But the man didnt get ready to strike with his sword till he could see who was coming in. So we supposed he had been told to strike some and spare others.
"Your people, High King?" said Tirian.
"Are you blind?" said Tirian.
"The door?" said Tirian.
"Oh the poor things! This is dreadful," said Lucy. Then she had an idea. She stopped and picked some wild violets. "Listen, Dwarf," she said. "Even if your eyes are wrong, perhaps your nose is all right: can you smell that?" She leaned across and held the fresh, damp flowers to Diggles ugly nose. But she had to jump back quickly in order to avoid a blow from his hard little fist.
"Why were they?" asked Jill. "You dont mean to say they know about Narnia?”
"And what has been happening since you got here?" asked Eustace.
"Aslan," said Lucy through her tears, "could you - will you - do something for these poor Dwarfs?”
"Anyone that knows the smell of baccy could tell that," said Diggle.
"Well, its not very easy to describe, is it, Edmund?" said the High King.
"Yes," said the Lord Digory. "Its inside is bigger than its outside.”
And -”
"And what happened then?" said Jill.
"It was much the same for us in the railway carriage," said the Lord Digory, wiping the last traces of the fruit from his golden beard. "Only I think you and I, Polly, chiefly felt
Trying to frighten us. They do it with a machine of some kind. Dont take any notice.
Everyone raised his hand to pick the fruit he best liked the look of, and then everyone paused for a second. This fruit was so beautiful that each felt "It cant be meant for me... surely were not allowed to pluck it.”
"Its all right," said Peter. "I know what were all thinking. But Im sure, quite sure, we neednt. Ive a feeling weve got to the country where everything is allowed.”
"No, he didnt," said Lucy. "And dont be horrid. Theryre still here. In fact you can see them from here. And Ive tried and tried to make friends with them but its no use.”
They wont take us in again!”
"Theres not much to tell," said Peter. "Edmund and I were standing on the platform and we saw your train coming in. I remember thinking it was taking the bend far too fast. And I remember thinking how funny it was that our people were probably in the same train though Lucy didnt know about it -”
"I mean my Father and Mother - Edmunds and Lucys and mine.”
"There is no black hole, save in your own fancy, fool," cried Tirian. "Come out of it.”
The Door flew open.
"Youngsters, indeed!" said Jill. "I dont believe you two really are much older than we are here.”
"Why you bone-head, in here of course," said Diggle. "In this pitch-black, poky, smelly little hole of a stable.”
But at the very moment when the door opened, all of a sudden Tash was there, on this side of the door; none of us saw where he came from. And through the door there came a big Cat. It gave one look at Tash and ran for its life: just in time, for he pounced at it and the door hit his beak as it was shut. The man could see Tash. He turned very pale and bowed down before the Monster: but it vanished away.
Id had a rather sore knee, from a hack at rugger. I noticed it had suddenly gone. And I felt very light. And then - here we were.”
Tirian put his eye to the hole. At first he could see nothing but blackness. Then, at his eyes grew used to it, he saw the dull red glow of a bonfire that was nearly going out, and above that, in a black sky, stars. Then he could see dark figures moving about or standing between him and the fire: he could hear them talking and their voices were like those of Calormenes. So he knew that he was looking out through the stable door into the darkness of Lantern Waste where he had fought his last battle. The men were discussing
"Oh dear!" said Lucy, "What are we to do for them?”
whether to go in and look for Rishda Tarkaan (but none of them wanted to do that) or to set fire to the stable.
"Dearest," said Aslan, "I will show you both what I can, and what I cannot, do." He came close to the Dwarfs and gave a low growl: low, but it set all the air shaking. But the Dwarfs said to one another, "Hear that? Thats the gang at the other end of the stable.
"I hope Tash ate the Dwarfs too," said Eustace. "Little swine.”
"Yes," said Queen Lucy. "In our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world." It was the first time she had spoken, and from the thrill in her voice, Tirian now knew why. She was drinking everything in even more deeply than the others. She had been too happy to speak. He wanted to hear her speak again, so he said: "Of yourcourtesy, Madam, tell on. Tell me your whole adventure.”
"How in the name of all Humbug can I see what aint there? And how can I see you any more than you can see me in this pitch darkness?”
"Well," said Peter, "for a long time (at least I suppose it was a long time) nothing happened. Then the door opened -”
One said he was trying to eat hay and another said he had a bit of an old turnip and a third said hed found a raw cabbage leaf. And they raised golden goblets of rich red wine to their lips and said "Ugh! Fancy drinking dirty water out of a trough that a donkeys been at! Never thought wed come to this." But very soon every Dwarf began suspecting that every other Dwarf had found something nicer than he had, and they started grabbing and snatching, and went on to quarrelling, till in a few minutes there was a free fight and all the good food was smeared on their faces and clothes or trodden under foot. But when at last they sat down to nurse their black eyes and their bleeding noses, they all said: "Well, at any rate theres no Humbug here. We havent let anyone take us in. The Dwarfs are for the Dwarfs.”
"Well if that doesnt beat everything!" exclaimed Diggle. "How can you go on talking all that rot? Your wonderful Lion didnt come and help you, did he? Thought not. And now - even now - when youve been beaten and shoved into this black hole, just the same as the rest of us, youre still at your old game. Starting a new lie! Trying to make us believe were none of us shut up, and it aint dark, and heaven knows what.”
He went to the Door and they all followed him. He raised his head and roared, "Now it is time!" then louder, "Time!"; then so loud that it could have shaken the stars, "TIME.”
"Then we waited a long time again. At last the door opened for the third time and there came in a young Calormene. I liked him. The sentinel at the door started, and looked very surprised, when he saw him. I think hed been expecting someone quite different -”
Aslan raised his head and shook his mane. Instantly a glorious feast appeared on the Dwarfs knees: pies and tongues and pigeons and trifles and ices, and each Dwarf had a goblet of good wine in his right hand. But it wasnt much use. They began eating and drinking greedily enough, but it was clear that they couldnt taste it properly. They thought they were eating and drinking only the sort of things you might find in a stable.
"It seems, then," said Tirian, smiling himself, "that the stable seen from within and the stable seen from without are two different places.”
"But I can see you," said Lucy. "Ill prove I can see you. Youve got a pipe in your mouth.”
"After that," said Edmund, "someone flung a monkey through the door. And Tash was there again. My sister is so tender-hearted she doesnt like to tell you that Tash made one peck and the Monkey was gone!”
"Look," said Peter and pointed.
And, leaning forward, he caught Diggle by the belt and the hood and swung him right out of the circle of Dwarfs. But the moment Tirian put him down, Diggle darted back to his place among the others, rubbing his nose and howling: "Ow! Ow! What dyou do that for! Banging my face against the wall. Youve nearly broken my nose.”
"It is the door you came through with that Calormene five minutes ago," said Peter smiling.
He looked round again and could hardly believe his eyes. There was the blue sky overhead, and grassy country spreading as far as he could see in every direction, and his new friends all round him laughing.
"Well if we arent, we have been," said the Lady Polly.
"I can feel no great love for Dwarfs today," said Tirian. "Yet at your asking, Lady, I would do a greater thing than this.”
"Oh stop it, Eustace," said Lucy. "Do come and see them. King Tirian, perhaps you could do something with them.”
Lucy led the way and soon they could all see the Dwarfs. They had a very odd look. They werent strolling about or enjoying themselves (although the cords with which they had been tied seemed to have vanished) nor were they lying down and having a rest. They were sitting very close together in a little circle facing one another. They never looked round or took any notice of the humans till Lucy and Tirian were almost near enough to touch them. Then the Dwarfs all cocked their heads as if they couldnt seeanyone but were listening hard and trying to guess by the sound what was happening.
"And after that," said Edmund, "came about a dozen Dwarfs: and then Jill, and Eustace, and last of all yourself.”
Tirian looked and saw the queerest and most ridiculous thing you can imagine. Only a few yards away, clear tobe seen in the sunlight, there stood up a rough wooden door and, round it, the framework of the doorway: nothing else, no walls, no roof. He walked towards it, bewildered, and the others followed, watching to see what he would do. He walked round to the other side of the door. But it looked just the same from the other side: he was still in the open air, on a summer morning. The door was simply standing up by itself as if it had grown there like a tree.
We tried to talk to him but he was rather like a man in a trance. He kept on saying Tash, Tash, where is Tash? I go to Tash. So we gave it up and he went away somewhere - over there. I liked him. And after that ... ugh!" Lucy made a face.
"Here goes, then!" said Eustace. And they all began to eat.
"Fair Sir," said Tirian to the High King, "this is a great marvel.”
HOW THE DWARFS REFUSED TO BE TAKEN IN TIRIAN had thought - or he would have thought if he had time to think at all - that they were inside a little thatched stable, about twelve feet long and six feet wide. In reality they stood on grass, the deep blue sky was overhead, and the air which blew gently on their faces was that of a day in early summer. Not far away from them rose a grove of trees, thickly leaved, but under every leaf there peeped out the gold or faint yellow or purple or glowing red of fruits such as no one has seen in our world. The fruit made Tirian feel that it must be autumn but there was something in the feel of the air that told him it could not be later than June. They all moved towards the trees.
"But did I not come in out of the wood into the stable? Whereas this seems to be a door leading from nowhere to nowhere.”
"Well," said Lucy, "the sentry was surprised. That gave the other man just time to get on guard. They had a fight. He killed the sentry and flung him outside the door. Then he came walking slowly forward to where we were. He could see us, and everything else.
But I cant describe it. You cant find out what it is like unless you can get to that country and taste it for yourself.
"I see it all now," said Eustace (he had the bad habit of interrupting stories). "The Cat was to go in first and the sentry had orders to do him no harm. Then the Cat was to come out and say hed seen their beastly Tashlan and pretend to be frightened so as to scare the other Animals. But what Shift never guessed was that the real Tash would turn up; so Ginger came out really frightened. And after that, Shift would send in anyone he wanted to get rid of and the sentry would kill them.
"Yes," said Peter. "The door you came in - or came out - by. Have you forgotten?”
"Friends with them!" cried Eustace. "If you knew how those Dwarfs have been behaving!”
"Oh no, it had nothing to do with Narnia. They were on their way to Bristol. Id only heard they were going that morning. But Edmund said theyd be bound to be going by that train." (Edmund was the sort of person who knows about railways.)
"Let em alone," said Eustace: but as he spoke the earth trembled. The sweet air grew suddenly sweeter. A brightness flashed behind them. All turned. Tirian turned last because he was afraid. There stood his hearts desire, huge and real, the golden Lion, Aslan himself, and already the others were kneeling in a circle round his forepaws and burying their hands and faces in his mane as he stooped his great head to touch them with his tongue. Then he fixed his eyes upon Tirian, and Tirian came near, trembling, and flung himself at the Lions feet, and the Lion kissed him and said, "Well done, last of the Kings of Narnia who stood firm at the darkest hour.”
"Serve him right!" said Eustace. "All the same, I hope hell disagree with Tash too.”
that wed been unstiffened. You youngsters wont understand. But we stopped feeling old.”
"It looks like that if you walk round it," said Peter. "But put your eye to that place where there is a crack between two of the planks and look through.”
What was the fruit like? Unfortunately no one can describe a taste. All I can say is that, compared with those fruits, the freshest grapefruit youve ever eaten was dull, and the juiciest orange was dry, and the most melting pear was hard and woody, and the sweetest wild strawberry was sour. And there were no seeds or stones, and no wasps. If you had once eaten that fruit, all the nicest things in this world would taste like medicines after it.
"You see, " said Aslan. "They will not let us help them. They have chosen cunning instead of belief. Their prison is only in their own minds, yet they are in that prison; and so afraid of being taken in that they cannot be taken out. But come, children. I have other work to do.”
"Not very," said Edmund. "It wasnt at all like that other time when we were pulled out of our own world by Magic. There was a frightful roar and something hit me with a bang, but it didnt hurt. And I felt not so much scared as - well, excited. Oh - and this is one queer thing.
"Earth-man," said Tirian, "she is the Queen Lucy, sent hither by Aslan out of the deep past. And it is for her sake alone that I, Tirian your lawful King, do not cut all your heads from your shoulders, proved and twice-proved traitors that you are.”
"They must be darn good ones if you can see in here," said the same Dwarf whose name was Diggle.
"In where?" asked Edmund.
"Aint we all blind in the dark!" said Diggle.
"All right!" said Eustace indignantly. "Were not blind. Weve got eyes in our heads.”
"But where is it?”
