CHAPTER FOUR THE DWARF TELLS OF PRINCE CASPIAN（第2/4頁）

Of all his lessons with Doctor Cornelius the one that Caspian liked best was History．Up till now，except for Nurse’s stories，he had known nothing about the History of Narnia，and he was very surprised to learn that the royal family were newcomers in the country.

“It was your Highness’s ancestor，Caspian the First，”said Doctor Cornelius，“who first conquered Narnia and made it his kingdom．It was he who brought all your nation into the country．You are not native Narnians at all．You are all Telmarines—that is，you all came from the Land of Telmar，far beyond the Western Mountains．That is why Caspian the First is called Caspian the Conqueror．”

“Please，Doctor，”asked Caspian one day，“who lived in Narnia before we all came here out of Telmar？”

“No men—or very few—lived in Narnia before the Telmarines took it，”said Doctor Cornelius．

“Then who did my great-great-grandcesters conquer？”

“Whom，not who，your Highness，”said Doctor Cornelius．“Perhaps it is time to turn from History to Grammar．”

“Oh please，not yet！”said Caspian．

“I mean，wasn’t there a battle？ Why is he called Caspian the Conqueror if there was nobody to fight with him？”

“I said there were very few men in Narnia，”said the Doctor，looking at the little boy very strangely through his great spectacles．

For a moment Caspian was puzzled and then suddenly his heart gave a leap．“Do you mean，”he gasped，“that there were other things？ Do you mean it was like in the stories？ Were there-？”

“Hush！”said Doctor Cornelius，laying his head very close to Caspian’s．“Not a word more．Don’t you know your Nurse was sent away for telling you about Old Narnia？ The King doesn’t like it．If he found me telling you secrets，you’d be whipped and I should have my head cut off．”

“But why？”asked Caspian．

“1t is high time we turned to Grammar now，”said Doctor Cornelius in a loud voice．“Will your Royal Highness be pleased to open Pulverulentus Siccus at the fourth page of his Grammatical garden or the Arbour of Accidence pleasantlie open’d to Tender Wits？”

After that it was all nouns and verbs till lunchtime，but I don’t think Caspian learned much．He was too excited．He felt sure that Doctor Cornelius would not have said so much unless he meant to tell him more sooner or later．

In this he was not disappointed．A few days later his Tutor said，“Tonight I am going to give you a lesson in Astronomy．At dead of night two noble planets，Tarva and Alambil，will pass within one degree of each other．Such a conjunction has not occurred for two hundred years，and your Highness will not live to see it again．It will be best if you go to bed a little earlier than usual．When the time of the conjunction draws near,I will come and wake you．”

This didn’t seem to have anything to do with Old Narnia，which was what Caspian really wanted to hear about，but getting up in the middle of the night is always interesting and he was moderately pleased．When he went to bed that night，he thought at first that he would not be able to sleep; but he soon dropped off and it seemed only a few minutes before he felt someone gently shaking him．

He sat up in bed and saw that the room was full of moonlight．

Doctor Cornelius，muffled in a hooded robe and holding a small lamp in his hand，stood by the bedside．

Caspian remembered at once what they were going to do．He got up and put on some clothes．Athough it was a summer night he felt colder than he had expected and was quite glad when the Doctor wrapped him in a robe like his own and gave him a pair of warm，soft buskins for his feet．A moment later，both muffled so that they could hardly be seen in the dark corridors，and both shod so that they made almost no noise，master and pupil left the room．

Caspian followed the Doctor through many passages and up several staircases，and at last，through a little door in a turret，they came out upon the leads．On one side were the battlements，on the other a steep roof; below them，all shadowy and shimmery，the castle gardens; above them，stars and moon．Presently they came to another door，which led into the great central tower of the whole castle: Doctor Cornelius unlocked it and they began to climb the dark winding stair of the tower．Caspian was becoming excited; he had never been allowed up this stair before．

It was long and steep，but when they came out on the roof of the tower and Caspian had got his breath，he felt that it had been well worth it．Away on his right he could see，rather indistinctly，the Western Mountains．On his left was the gleam of the Great River，and everything was so quiet that he could hear the sound of the waterfall at Beaversdam，a mile away．There was no difficulty in picking out the two stars they had come to see．They hung rather low in the southern sky，almost as bright as two little moons and very close together．