CHAPTER FOURTEEN THE TRIUMPH OF THE WITCH（第2/3頁）

“Oh，children，children，why are you following me ？”

“We couldn’t sleep，”said Lucy-and then felt sure that she need say no more and that Aslan knew all they had been thinking．“Please，may we come with you-wherever you’re going ？” asked Susan．

“Well-”said Aslan，and seemed to be thinking．Then he said，“I should be glad of company tonight．Yes，you may come，if you will promise to stop when I tell you，and after that leave me to go on alone．”

“Oh，thank you，thank you．And we will，”said the two girls.

Forward they went again and one of the girls walked on each side of the Lion．But how slowly he walked ！ And his great，royal head drooped so that his nose nearly touched the grass．Presently he stumbled and gave a low moan．

“Aslan ！ Dear Aslan ！”said Lucy，“what is wrong ？ Can’t you tell us ？”

“Are you ill，dear Aslan ？”asked Susan．

“No，”said Aslan．“I am sad and lonely．Lay your hands on my mane so that I can feel you are there and let us walk like that．”

And so the girls did what they would never have dared to do without his permission，but what they had longed to do ever since they first saw him——buried their cold hands in the beautiful sea of fur and stroked it and，so doing，walked with him．And presently they saw that they were going with him up the slope of the hill on which the Stone Table stood．They went up at the side where the trees came furthest up，and when they got to the last tree（it was one that had some bushes about it）Aslan stopped and said，

“Oh，children，children．Here you must stop．And whatever happens，do not let yourselves be seen．Farewell．”

And both the girls cried bitterly（though they hardly knew why）and clung to the Lion and kissed his mane and his nose and his paws and his great，sad eyes．Then he turned from them and walked out on to the top of the hill．And Lucy and Susan，crouching in the bushes，looked after him，and this is what they saw．

A great crowd of people were standing all round the Stone Table and though the moon was shining many of them carried torches which burned with evil-looking red flames and black smoke. But such people ！ Ogres with monstrous teeth，and wolves，and bull-headed men；spirits of evil trees and poisonous plants；and other creatures whom I won’t describe because if I did the grownups would probably not let you read this book-Cruels and Hags and Incubuses，Wraiths，Horrors，Efreets，Sprites， Orknies，Wooses，and Ettins．In fact here were all those who were on the Witch’s side and whom the Wolf had summoned at her command．And right in the middle，standing by the Table，was the Witch herself．

A howl and a gibber of dismay went up from the creatures when they first saw the great Lion pacing towards them，and for a moment even the Witch seemed to be struck with fear．Then she recovered herself and gave a wild fierce laugh．

“The fool ！”she cried．“The fool has come．Bind him fast．”

Lucy and Susan held their breaths waiting for Aslan’s roar and his spring upon his enemies．But it never came．Four Hags， grinning and leering，yet also（at first）hanging back and half afraid of what they had to do，had approached him．“Bind him，I say ！”repeated the White Witch．The Hags made a dart at him and shrieked with triumph when they found that he made no resistance at all．Then others-evil dwarfs and apes-rushed in to help them， and between them they rolled the huge Lion over on his back and tied all his four paws together，shouting and cheering as if they had done something brave，though，had the Lion chosen，one of those paws could have been the death of them all．But he made no noise，even when the enemies，straining and tugging，pulled the cords so tight that they cut into his flesh．Then they began to drag him towards the Stone Table．

“Stop ！”said the Witch．“Let him first be shaved．”

Another roar of mean laughter went up from her followers as an ogre with a pair of shears came forward and squatted down by Aslan’s head．Snip-snip-snip went the shears and masses of curling gold began to fall to the ground．Then the ogre stood back and the children，watching from their hiding-place，could see the face of Aslan looking all small and different without its mane．The enemies also saw the difference．

“Why，he’s only a great cat after all ！”cried one．

“Is that what we were afraid of ？”said another．

And they surged round Aslan，jeering at him，saying things like“Puss，Puss ！ Poor Pussy，”and“How many mice have you caught today，Cat ？”and“Would you like a saucer of milk， Pussums ？”

“Oh，how can they ？”said Lucy，tears streaming down her cheeks．“The brutes，the brutes ！”for now that the first shock was over the shorn face of Aslan looked to her braver，and more beautiful，and more patient than ever．