Strawberry trotted (小跑) on with Digory on his back till the noise of the other animals died away, and now the little group of Aslan and his chosen councillors (议会议员) was quite close.
Digory knew that he couldn't possibly break in on so solemn (严肃的) a meeting, but there was no need to do so.
At a word from Aslan, the He-Elephant, the Ravens (渡鸦), and all the rest of them drew aside.
Digory slipped (滑) off the horse and found himself face to face with Aslan. And Aslan was bigger and more beautiful and more brightly golden and more terrible (可怕的) than he had thought. He dared not look into the great eyes.
"Please – Mr. Lion - Aslan - Sir," said Digory, "could you - may I - please, will you give me some magic fruit of this country to make Mother well?"
He had been desperately (极度地) hoping that the Lion would say "Yes"; he had been horribly afraid it might say "No". But he was taken aback when it did neither.
"This is the Boy," said Aslan, looking, not at Digory, but at his councillors. "This is the Boy who did it."
"Oh dear," thought Digory, "what have I done now?"
"Son of Adam," said the Lion. "There is an evil (邪恶的) Witch abroad in my new land of Narnia. Tell these good Beasts how she came here."
A dozen different things that he might say flashed (闪现) through Digory's mind, but he had the sense to say nothing except the exact truth.
"I brought her, Aslan," he answered in a low voice.
"For what purpose?"
"I wanted to get her out of my own world back into her own. I thought I was taking her back to her own place."
"How came she to be in your world, Son of Adam?"
"By - by Magic."
The Lion said nothing and Digory knew that he had not told enough.
"It was my Uncle, Aslan," he said. "He sent us out of our own world by magic rings, at least I had to go because he sent Polly first, and then we met the Witch in a place called Charn and she just held on to us when -"
"You met the Witch?" said Asian in a low voice which had the threat (威胁) of a growl (咆哮) in it.
"She woke up," said Digory wretchedly (可怜地). And then, turning very white, "I mean, I woke her. Because I wanted to know what would happen if I struck (撞击) a bell. Polly didn't want to. It wasn't her fault. I - I fought her.
"I know I shouldn't have. I think I was a bit enchanted (被施魔法的) by the writing under the bell."
"Do you?" asked Asian; still speaking very low and deep.
"No," said Digory. "I see now I wasn't. I was only pretending (假装)."
There was a long pause (间歇). And Digory was thinking all the time, "I've spoiled (破坏) everything. There's no chance of getting anything for Mother now."
When the Lion spoke again, it was not to Digory.
"You see, friends," he said, "that before the new, clean world I gave you is seven hours old, a force of evil has already entered it; waked and brought hither (到这里) by this son of Adam."
The Beasts (动物；野兽), even Strawberry, all turned their eyes on Digory till he felt that he wished the ground would swallow him up.
"But do not be cast down," said Aslan, still speaking to the Beasts. "Evil will come of that evil, but it is still a long way off, and I will see to it that the worst falls upon myself.
"In the meantime, let us take such order that for many hundred years yet this shall be a merry (愉快的) land in a merry world.
"And as Adam's race has done the harm, Adam's race shall help to heal it. Draw near, you other two."
The last words were spoken to Polly and the Cabby who had now arrived. Polly, all eyes and mouth, was staring at Aslan and holding the Cabby's hand rather tightly.
The Cabby gave one glance at the Lion, and took off his bowler (圆顶礼帽) hat: no one had yet seen him without it.
When it was off, he looked younger and nicer, and more like a countryman and less like a London cabman (马车夫).
"Son," said Aslan to the Cabby. "I have known you long. Do you know me?"
"Well, no, sir," said the Cabby. "Leastways (至少), not in an ordinary manner of speaking. Yet I feel somehow, if I may make so free, as 'ow we've met before."
"It is well," said the Lion. "You know better than you think you know, and you shall live to know me better yet. How does this land please you?"
"It's a fair treat, sir," said the Cabby.
"Would you like to live here always?"
"Well you see sir, I'm a married man," said the Cabby. "If my wife was here neither of us would ever want to go back to London, I reckon (料想). We're both country folks (人) really."
Aslan threw up his shaggy (蓬松的) head, opened his mouth, and uttered a long, single note (调子); not very loud, but full of power.
Polly's heart jumped in her body when she heard it. She felt sure that it was a call, and that anyone who heard that call would want to obey (服从) it and (what's more) would be able to obey it, however many worlds and ages lay between.
And so, though she was filled with wonder (疑惑), she was not really astonished (感到震惊的) or shocked when all of a sudden a young woman, with a kind, honest face stepped out of nowhere and stood beside her.
Polly knew at once that it was the Cabby's wife, fetched out of our world not by any tiresome (使人不耐烦的) magic rings, but quickly, simply and sweetly as a bird flies to its nest.
The young woman had apparently been in the middle of a washing day, for she wore an apron (围裙), her sleeves (袖子) were rolled up to the elbow (肘部), and there were soapsuds (肥皂水的泡沫) on her hands.
If she had had time to put on her good clothes (her best hat had imitation cherries on it) she would have looked dreadful; as it was, she looked rather nice.