CHAPTER TEN THE HERMIT OF THE SOUTHERN MARCH (第2/2页)

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Without waiting for an answer-and indeed they were too exhausted to speak-he took the bridles and saddles off both of them. Then he rubbed them both down,so well that a groom in a King' s stable could not have done it better.

"There, cousins,"he said,.dismiss it all from your minds and be comforted. Here is water and there is grass. You shall have a hot mash when I have milked my other cousins, the goats."

"Sir,"said Hwin, finding her voice at last,.will the Tarkheena live ? Has the lion killed her ?"

"I who know many present things by my art,"replied the Hermit with a smile,.have yet little knowledge of things future. Therefore I do not know whether any man or woman or beast in the whole world will be alive when the sun sets tonight.But be of good hope.The damsel is likely to live as long as any of her age."

When Aravis came to herself she found that she was lying on her face on a low bed of extraordinary softness in a cool, bare room with walls of undressed stone. She couldn' t understand why she had been laid on her face;but when she tried to turn and felt the hot, burning pains all over her back, she remembered, and realized why. She couldn' t understand what delightfully springy stuff the bed was made of, because it was made of heather (which is the best bedding) and heather was a thing she had never seen or heard of.

The door opened and the Hermit entered, carrying a large wooden bowl in his hand. After carefully setting this down, he came to the bedside, and asked:

"How do you find yourself, my daughter ?" "My back is very sore, father," said Aravis,"but there is nothing else wrong with me."

He knelt beside her, laid his hand on her forehead, and felt her pulse.

"There is no fever," he said."You will do well. Indeed there is no reason why you should not get up tomorrow. But now,drink this."

He fetched the wooden bowl and held it to her lips. Aravis couldn' t help making a face when she tasted it, for goats' milk is rather a shock when you are not used to it. But she was very thirsty and managed to drink it all and felt better when she had finished.

"Now, my daughter, you may sleep when you wish," said the Hermit. "For your wounds are washed and dressed and though they smart they are no more serious than if they had been the cuts of a whip. It must have been a very strange lion;for insteadof catching you out of the saddle and getting his teeth into you, he has only drawn his claws across your back.Ten scratches: sore, but not deep or dangerous."

"I say !" said Aravis."I have had luck. "

"Daughter," said the Hermit, "I have now lived a hundred and nine winters in this world and have never yet met any such thing as Luck. There is something about all this that I do not understand: but if ever we need to know it, you may be sure that we shall."

"And what about Rabadash and his two hundred horse ?" asked Aravis.

"They will not pass this way, I think,"said the Hermit. "They must have found a ford by now well to the east of us. From there they will try to ride straight to Anvard."

"Poor Shasta !" said Aravis."Has he far to go ? Will he get there first ?"

"There is good hope of it,"said the old man. Aravis lay down again (on her side this time) and said, "Have I been asleep for a long time ? It seems to be getting dark."

The Hermit was looking out of the only window, which faced north. "This is not the darkness of night, " he said presently. "The clouds are falling down from Stormness Head. Our foul weather always comes from there in these parts. There will be thick fog tonight."

Next day, except for her sore back, Aravis felt so well that after breakfast (which was porridge and cream) the Hermit said she could get up. And of course she at once went out to speak to the Horses. The weather had changed and the whole of that green enclosure was filled, like a great green cup, with sunlight. It was a very peaceful place, lonely and quiet.

Hwin at once trotted across to Aravis and gave her a horse-kiss.

"But where' s Bree ?"said Aravis when each had asked after the other' s health and sleep.

"Over there,"said Hwin,pointing with her nose to the far side of the circle..And I wish you' d come and talk to him. There' s something wrong,I can' t get a word out of him."

They strolled across and found Bree lying with his face towards the wall, and though he must have heard them coming, he never turned his head or spoke a word.

"Good morning, Bree,"said Aravis..How are you this morning ?"

Bree muttered something that no one could hear. "The Hermit says that Shasta probably got to King Lune in time,"continued Aravis,.so it looks as if all our troubles are over.Narnia,at last, Bree !"

"I shall never see Narnia,"said Bree in a low voice.

"Aren' t you well, Bree dear ?"said Aravis.

Bree turned round at last, his face mournful as only a horse' s can be.

"I shall go back to Calormen,"he said.

"What ?"said Aravis..Back to slavery !"

"Yes,"said Bree..Slavery is all I' m fit for. How can I ever show my face among the free Horses of Narnia ? -I who left a mare and a girl and a boy to be eaten by lions while I galloped all I could to save my own wretched skin !"

"We all ran as hard as we could,"said Hwin.

"Shasta didn' t !"snorted Bree..At least he ran in the right direction: ran back.And that is what shames me most of all. I, who called myself a warhorse and boasted of a hundred fights, to be beaten by a little human boy—a child,a mere foal, who had never held a sword nor had any good nurture or example in his life !"

"I know," said Aravis."I felt just the same. Shasta was marvellous. I' m just as bad as you, Bree. I' ve been snubbing him and looking down on him ever since you met us and now he turns out to be the best of us all. But I think it would be better to stay and say we' re sorry than to go back to Calormen."

"It's all very well for you," said Bree. "You haven't disgraced yourself.But I' ve lost everything."

"My good Horse,"said the Hermit, who had approached them unnoticed because his bare feet made so little noise on that sweet, dewy grass..My good Horse, you' ve lost nothing but your self-conceit. No, no, cousin. Don't put back your ears and shake your mane at me. If you are really so humbled as you sounded a minute ago, you must learn to listen to sense. You' re not quite the great Horse you had come to think, from living among poor dumb horses. Of course you were braver and cleverer than them. You could hardly help being that.It doesn' t follow that you' ll be anyone very special in Narnia. But as long as you know you' re nobody special, you' ll be a very decent sort of Horse, on the whole, and taking one thing with another. And now, if you and my other four-footed cousin will come round to the kitchen door we' ll see about the other half of that mash."