CHAPTER SIXTEEN FAREWELL TO SHADOWLANDS（第2/4页）

“Further up and further in!”roared the Unicorn，and no one held back. They charged straight at the foot of the hill and then found themselves running up it almost as water from a broken wave runs up a rock out at the point of some bay. Though the slope was nearly as steep as the roof of a house and the grass was smooth as a bowling green，no one slipped. Only when they had reached the very top did they slow up; that was because they found themselves facing great golden gates. And for a moment none of them was bold enough to try if the gates would open. They all felt just as they had felt about the fruit-“Dare we ？ Is it right ？ Can it be meant for us ？”

But while they were standing thus a great horn，wonderfully loud and sweet，blew from somewhere inside that walled garden and the gates swung open．

Tirian stood holding his breath and wondering who would come out. And what came was the last thing he had expected：a little，sleek，bright-eyed Talking Mouse with a red feather stuck in a circlet on its head and its left paw resting on a long sword. It bowed，a most beautiful bow，and said in its shrill voice：

“Welcome，in the Lion’s name. Come further up and further in.”

Then Tirian saw King Peter and King Edmund and Queen Lucy rush forward to kneel down and greet the Mouse and they all cried out“Reepicheep!”And Tirian breathed fast with the sheer wonder of it，for now he knew that he was looking at one of the great heroes of Narnia，Reepicheep the Mouse who had fought at the great Battle of Beruna and afterwards sailed to the World’s end with King Caspian the Seafarer. But before he had had much time to think of this he felt two strong arms thrown about him and felt a bearded kiss on his cheeks and heard a well remembered voice saying：

“What，lad ？Art thicker and taller since I last touched thee!”

It was his own father，the good King Erlian：but not as Tirian had seen him last when they brought him home pale and wounded from his fight with the giant，nor even as Tirian remembered him in his later years when he was a grey-headed warrior. This was his father，young and merry，as he could just remember him from very early days when he himself had been a little boy playing games with his father in the castle garden at Cair Paravel，just before bedtime on summer evenings. The very smell of the bread-and-milk he used to have for supper came back to him．

Jewel thought to himself，“I will leave them to talk for a little and then I will go and greet the good King Erlian. Many a bright apple has he given me when I was but a colt.”But next moment he had something else to think of，for out of the gateway there came a horse so mighty and noble that even a Unicorn might feel shy in its presence：a great winged horse. It looked a moment at the Lord Digory and the Lady Polly and neighed out“What，cousins!”and they both shouted“Fledge! Good old Fledge!”and rushed to kiss it．

But by now the Mouse was again urging them to come in. So all of them passed in through the golden gates，into the delicious smell that blew towards them out of that garden and into the cool mixture of sunlight and shadow under the trees，walking on springy turf that was all dotted with white flowers. The very first thing which struck everyone was that the place was far larger than it had seemed from outside. But no one had time to think about that for people were coming up to meet the newcomers from every direction．

Everyone you had ever heard of (if you knew the history of these countries) seemed to be there. There was Glimfeather the Owl and Puddleglum the Marshwiggle，and King Rilian the Disenchanted，and his mother the Star’s daughter and his great father Caspian himself. And close beside him were the Lord Drinian and the Lord Berne and Trumpkin the Dwarf and Truffle-hunter the good Badger with Glenstorm the Centaur and a hundred other heroes of the great War of Deliverance. And then from another side came Cor the King of Archenland with King Lune his father and his wife Queen Aravis and the brave prince Corin Thunder-Fist， his brother，and Bree the Horse and Hwin the Mare. And then-which was a wonder beyond all wonders to Tirian-there came from further away in the past，the two good Beavers and Tumnus the Faun. And there was greeting and kissing and hand-shaking and old jokes revived，(you’ve no idea how good an old joke sounds when you take it out again after a rest of five or six hundred years) and the whole company moved forward to the centre of the orchard where the Phoenix sat in a tree and looked down upon them all，and at the foot of that tree were two thrones and in those two thrones a King and Queen so great and beautiful that everyone bowed down before them. And well they might，for these two were King Frank and Queen Helen from whom all the most ancient Kings of Narnia and Archenland are descended. And Tirian felt as you would feel if you were brought before Adam and Eve in all their glory．

About half an hour later-or it might have been half a hundred years later，for time there is not like time here-Lucy stood with her dear friend，her oldest Narnian friend，the Faun Tumnus，looking down over the wall of that garden，and seeing all Narnia spread out below. But when you looked down you found that this hill was much higher than you had thought：it sank down with shining cliffs，thousands of feet below them and trees in that lower world looked no bigger than grains of green salt. Then she turned inward again and stood with her back to the wall and looked at the garden．