CHAPTER NINE IN THE WITCH’S HOUSE（第2/3頁）

But at last he came to a part where it was more level and the valley opened out．And there，on the other side of the river，quite close to him，in the middle of a little plain between two hills，he saw what must be the White Witch’s House．And the moon was shining brighter than ever．The House was really a small castle． It seemed to be all towers；little towers with long pointed spires on them，sharp as needles．They looked like huge dunce’s caps or sorcerer’s caps．And they shone in the moonlight and their long shadows looked strange on the snow．Edmund began to be afraid of the House．

But it was too late to think of turning back now．He crossed the river on the ice and walked up to the House．There was nothing stirring；not the slightest sound anywhere．Even his own feet made no noise on the deep newly fallen snow．He walked on and on，past corner after corner of the House，and past turret after turret to find the door．He had to go right round to the far side before he found it．It was a huge arch but the great iron gates stood wide open．

Edmund crept up to the arch and looked inside into the courtyard，and there he saw a sight that nearly made his heart stop beating．Just inside the gate，with the moonlight shining on it， stood an enormous lion crouched as if it was ready to spring．And Edmund stood in the shadow of the arch，afraid to go on and afraid to go back，with his knees knocking together．He stood there so long that his teeth would have been chattering with cold even if they had not been chattering with fear．How long this really lasted I don’t know，but it seemed to Edmund to last for hours．

Then at last he began to wonder why the lion was standing so still-for it hadn’t moved one inch since he first set eyes on it． Edmund now ventured a little nearer，still keeping in the shadow of the arch as much as he could．He now saw from the way the lion was standing that it couldn’t have been looking at him at all. （“But supposing it turns its head ？”thought Edmund．）In fact it was staring at something else—namely a little：dwarf who stood with his back to it about four feet away．“Aha ！”thought Edmund. “When it springs at the dwarf then will be my chance to escape.” But still the lion never moved，nor did the dwarf．And now at last Edmund remembered what the others had said about the White Witch turning people into stone．Perhaps this was only a stone lion. And as soon as he had thought of that he noticed that the lion’s back and the top of its head were covered with snow．Of course it must be only a statue ！ No living animal would have let itself get covered with snow．Then very slowly and with his heart beating as if it would burst，Edmund ventured to go up to the lion．Even now he hardly dared to touch it，but at last he put out his hand，very quickly，and did．It was cold stone．He had been frightened of a mere statue ！

The relief which Edmund felt was so great that in spite of the cold he suddenly got warm all over right down to his toes，and at the same time there came into his head what seemed a perfectly lovely idea．“Probably，”he thought，“this is the great Lion Aslan that they were all talking about．She’s caught him already and turned him into stone．So that’s the end of all their fine ideas about him ！ Pooh ！ Who’s afraid of Aslan ？”

And he stood there gloating over the stone lion，and presently he did something very silly and childish．He took a stump of lead pencil out of his pocket and scribbled a moustache on the lion’s upper lip and then a pair of spectacles on its eyes．Then he said，“Yah ！ Silly old Aslan ！ How do you like being a stone ？ You thought yourself mighty fine，didn’t you ？”But in spite of the scribbles on it the face of the great stone beast still looked so terrible，and sad，and noble，staring up in the moonlight，that Edmund didn’t really get any fun out of jeering at it．He turned away and began to cross the courtyard．

As he got into the middle of it he saw that there were dozens of statues all about-standing here and there rather as the pieces stand on a chess-board when it is half-way through the game．There were stone satyrs，and stone wolves，and bears and foxes and cat-mountains of stone．There were lovely stone shapes that looked like women but who were really the spirits of trees．There was the great shape of a centaur and a winged horse and a long lithe creature that Edmund took to be a dragon．They all looked so strange standing there perfectly life-like and also perfectly still，in the bright cold moonlight，that it was eerie work crossing the courtyard. Right in the very middle stood a huge shape like a man，but as tall as a tree，with a fierce face and a shaggy beard and a great club in its right hand．Even though he knew that it was only a stone giant and not a live one，Edmund did not like going past it．

He now saw that there was a dim light showing from a doorway on the far side of the courtyard．He went to it；there was a flight of stone steps going up to an open door．Edmund went up them． Across the threshold lay a great wolf．