CHAPTER TEN THE FIRST JOKE AND OTHER MATTERS（第3/3頁）

“Come on ！”said several voices．“Let’s go and find out．”So， while Strawberry was briskly trotting away with Digory in one direction（and Polly and the Cabby were following on foot）most of the creatures rushed towards Uncle Andrew with roars，barks， grunts，and various noises of cheerful interest．

We must now go back a bit and explain what the whole scene had looked like from Uncle Andrew’s point of view．It had not made at’ all the same impression on him as on the Cabby and the children．For what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing：it also depends on what sort of person you are．

Ever since the animals had first appeared，Uncle Andrew had been shrinking further and further back into the thicket．He watched them very hard of course；but he wasn’t really interested in seeing what they were doing，only in seeing whether they were going to make a rush at him．Like the Witch，he was dreadfully practical．He simply didn’t notice that Aslan was choosing one pair out of every kind of beasts．All he saw，or thought he saw，was a lot of dangerous wild animals walking vaguely about．And he kept on wondering why the other animals didn’t run away from the big Lion．

When the great moment came and the Beasts spoke，he missed the whole point；for a rather interesting reason．When the Lion had first begun singing，long ago when it was still quite dark， he had realized that the noise was a song．And he had disliked the song very much．It made him think and feel things he did not want to think and feel．Then，when the sun rose and he saw that the singer was a lion（“only a lion”，as he said to himself）he tried his hardest to make believe that it wasn’t singing and never had been singing-only roaring as any lion might in a zoo in our own world．“Of course it can’t really have been singing，”he thought， “I must have imagined it．I’ve been letting my nerves get out of order．Who ever heard of a lion singing ？”And the longer and more beautiful the Lion sang，the harder Uncle Andrew tried to make himself believe that he could hear nothing but roaring．Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed．Uncle Andrew did．He soon did hear nothing but roaring in Aslan’s song．Soon he couldn’t have heard anything else even if he had wanted to．And when at last the Lion spoke and said，“Narnia awake，”he didn’t hear any words： he heard only a snarl．And when the Beasts spoke in answer，he heard only barkings，growlings，bayings，and howlings．And when they laughed-well，you can imagine．That was worse for Uncle Andrew than anything that had happened yet．Such a horrid， bloodthirsty din of hungry and angry brutes he had never heard in his life．Then，to his utter rage and horror，he saw the other three humans actually walking out into the open to meet the animals．

“The fools ！”he said to himself．“Now those brutes will eat the rings along with the children and I’ll never be able to get home again．What a selfish little boy that Digory is ！ And the others are just as bad．If they want to throw away their own lives，that’s their business．But what about me ？ They don’t seem to think of that．No one thinks of me．”

Finally，when a whole crowd of animals came rushing towards him，he turned and ran for his life．And now anyone could see that the air of that young world was really doing the old gentleman good．In London he had been far too old to run：now，he ran at a speed which would have made him certain to win the hundred yards’ race at any Prep school in England．His coat—tails flying out behind him were a fine sight．But of course it was no use． Many of the animals behind him were swift ones；it was the first run they had ever taken in their lives and they were all longing to use their new muscles．“After him ！ After him ！”they shouted．“Perhaps he’s that Neevil ！ Tally-ho ！ Tantivy ！ Cut him off ！ Round him up ！ Keep it up ！ Hurrah ！”

In a very few minutes some of them got ahead of him．They lined up in a row and barred his way．Others hemmed him in from behind．Wherever he looked he saw terrors．Antlers of great elks and the huge face of an elephant towered over him．Heavy， serious-minded bears and boars grunted behind him．Cool-looking leopards and panthers with sarcastic faces（as he thought） stared at him and waved their tails．What struck him most of all was the number of open mouths．The animals had really opened their mouths to pant；he thought they had opened their mouths to eat him．

Uncle Andrew stood trembling and swaying this way and that． He had never liked animals at the best of times，being usually rather afraid of them；and of course years of doing cruel experiments on animals had made him hate and fear them far more．

“Now，sir，”said the Bulldog in his business-like way，“are you animal，vegetable，or mineral ？”That was what it really said；but all Uncle Andrew heard was“Gr-r-rarrh-ow ！”