CHAPTER FOUR
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THE DWARF TELLS OF PRINCE CASPIAN PRINCE CASPIAN lived in a great castle in the tre of Narnia with his uncle, Miraz, the King of Narnia, and his aunt, who had red hair and was called Queen Prunaprismia.His father and mother were dead and the person whom Caspian loved best was his nurse, and though (being a prince) he had wonderful toys which would do almost anything but talk, he liked best the last hour of the day wheoys had all been put ba their cupboards and Nurse would tell him stories.
He did not care much for his uncle and aunt, but about twice a week his uncle would send for him and they would walk up and down to<samp></samp>gether for half an hour oerrace at the south side of the castle. One day, while they were doing this, the King said to him, "Well, boy, we must soon teach you to ride and use a sword. You know that your aunt and I have no children, so it looks as if you might have to be King when Im gone. How shall you like that, eh?”
"I dont know, Uncle," said Caspian.
"Dont know, eh?" said Miraz. "Why, I should like to know what more anyone could wish for!”<q></q>
"All the same, I do wish," said Caspian.
"What do you wish?" asked the King.
"I wish - I wish - I wish I could have lived in the Old Days," said Caspian. (He was only a very little boy at the time.)
Up till now King Miraz had been talking iiresome way that some grown-ups have, which makes it quite clear that they are not really ied in what you are saying, but now he suddenly gave Caspian a very sharp look.
"Eh? Whats that?" he said. "What old days do you mean?”
"Oh, dont you know, Uncle?" said Caspian. "Whehing was quite different. When all the animals could talk, and there were nice people who lived ireams and the trees. Naiads and Dryads they were called. And there were Dwarfs. And there were lovely little Fauns in all the woods. They had feet like goats. And -”
"Thats all nonsense, for babies," said the King sternly. "Only fit for babies, do you hear?
Yetting too old for that sort of stuff. At ye you ought to be thinking of battles and adventures, not fairy tales.”
"Oh, but there were battles and adventures in those days," said Caspian. "Wonderful adventures. Ohere was a White Witd she made herself Queen of the who<s>?</s>le try. And she made it so that it was always winter. And then two boys and two girls came from somewhere and so they killed the Witd they were made Kings and Queens of Narnia, and their names were Peter and Susan and Edmund and Lucy. And so they reigned for ever so long and everyone had a lovely time, and it was all because of Aslan -”
"Whos he?" said Miraz. And if Caspian had been a very little older, the tone of his uncles voice would have warned him that it would be wiser to shut up. But he babbled on, "Oh, dont you know?" he said. "Aslan is the great Lion who es from over the sea.”
"Who has been telling you all this nonsense?" said the King in a voice of thunder.
Caspian was frightened and said nothing.
"Your Royal Highness," said King Miraz, letting go of Caspians hand, which he had been holding till now, "I insist upon being answered. Look me in the face. Who has been telling you this pack of lies?”
"N - Nurse," faltered Caspian, and burst into tears.
"Stop that noise," said his uaking Caspian by the shoulders and giving ham a shake.
"Stop it. And never let me catch you talking - or thinkiher - about all those silly stories again. There never were those Kings and Queens. How could there be two Kings at the same time? And theres no such person as Aslan. And there are no such things as lions. And there never was a time when animals could talk. Do you hear?”
"Yes, Uncle," sobbed Caspian.
"Thes have no more of it," said the King. Then he called to one of the gentlemen-in-waiting who were standing at the far end of the terrad said in a cold voice, "duct His Royal Higho his apartments and send His Royal Highnesss o me AT ONCE.”
day Caspian found what a terrible thing he had done, for Nurse had bee away without even being allowed to say good-bye to him, and he was told he was to have a Tutor.
Caspian missed his nurse very mud shed many tears; and because he was so miserable, he thought about the old stories of Narnia far more than before. He dreamed of Dwarfs and Dryads every night and tried very hard to make the dogs and cats in the castle talk to him. But the dogs only wagged their tails and the cats only purred.
Caspia sure that he would hate the utor, buy when the utor arrived about a week later he turns out to be the sort of person it is almost impossible not to like.
He was the smallest, and also the fattest, man Caspian had ever seen. He had a long, silvery, pointed beard which came down to his waist, and his face, which was brown and covered with wrinkles, looked very wise, very ugly, and very kind. His voice was grave and his eyes were merry so that, until you got to know him really well, it was hard to know when he was joking and when he was serious. His name was Doctor elius.
Of all his lessons with Doctor elius the ohat Caspian liked best was History. Up till now, except for ories, he had known nothing about the History of Narnia, and he was very surprised to learn that the royal family were newers in the try.
"It was yhnesss aor, Caspian the First," said Doctor elius, "who first quered Narnia and made it his kingdom. It was he whht all your nation into the try. 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 queror.”
"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 Telmariook it," said Doctor elius.
"Then who did my great-great-graers quer?”
"Whom, not who, yhness," said Doctor elius. "Perhaps it is time to turn from History to Grammar.”
"Oh please, not yet!" said Caspian.
"I mean, wasnt there a battle? Why is he called Caspian the queror 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 strahrough his great spectacles.
For a moment Caspian uzzled 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 elius, laying his head very close to Caspians. "Not a word more. Dont you know your Nurse was sent away for telling you about Old Narnia? The King doesnt like it. If he fouelling you secrets, youd be whipped and I should have my head cut off.”
"But why?" asked Caspian.
"1t is high time we turo Grammar now," said Doctor elius 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 Acce pleasantlie opend to Tender Wits?”
After that it was all nouns and verbs till lunchtime, but I dont think Caspian learned much. He was too excited. He felt sure that Doctor elius would not have said so muless 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 plas, Tarva and Alambil, will pass within one degree of each other. Such a jun has not occurred for two hundred years, and yhness will not live to see it again. It will be best if you go to bed a little earlier than usual. Wheime of the jun draws near I will e and wake you.”
This dido have anyt<cite>.</cite>hing to do with Old Narnia, which was what Caspian really wao hear about, but getting up in the middle of the night is always iing 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 someoly shaking him.
He sat up in bed and saw that the room was full of moonlight. Doctor elius, 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 ed 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, oher 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 tral tower of the whole castle: Doctor elius unlocked it and they began to climb the dark winding stair of the tower. Caspian was beied; 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 pig out the two stars they had e to see.
They hung rather low in the southern sky, almost as bright as two little moons and very close together.
"Are they going to have a collision?" he asked in aruck voice.
"Nay, dear Prince," said the Doctor (aoo spoke in a whisper). "The great lords of the upper sky know the steps of their daoo well for that. Look well upoheir meeting is fortunate and means some great good for the sad realm of Narnia. Tarva, the Lord of Victory, salutes Alambil, the Lady of Peace. They are just ing to their .”
"Its a pity that tree gets in the way," said Caspian. "Wed really see better from the West Tower, though it is not so high.”
Doctor elius said nothing for about two minutes, but stood still with his eyes fixed on Tarva and Alambil. Then he drew a deep breath and turo Caspian.
"There," he said. "You have seen what no man now alive has seen, nor will see again.
And you are right. We should have seen it eveer from the smaller tower. I brought you here for another reason.”
Caspian looked up at him, but the Doctors hood cealed most of his face.
"The virtue of this tower," said Doctor elius, "is that we have six empty rooms beh us, and a long stair, and the door at the bottom of the stair is locked. We ot be overheard.”
"Are you going to tell me what you wouldnt tell me the other day?" said Caspian.
"I am," said the Doctor. "But remember. You and I must alk about these things except here - on the very top of the Great Tower.”
"No. Thats a promise," said Caspian. "But do go on, please.”
"Listen," said the Doctor. "All you have heard about Old Narnia is true. It is not the land of Men. It is the try of Aslan, the try of the Waking Trees and Visible Naiads, of Fauns and Satyrs, of Dwarfs and Giants, of the gods and the taurs, of Talkis. It was against these that the first Caspian fought. It is you Telmarines who silehe beasts and the trees and the fountains, and who killed and drove away the Dwarfs and Fauns, and are n to cover up even the memory of them. The King does not allow them to be spoken of.”
"Oh, I do wish we hadnt," said Caspian. "And I am glad it was all true, even if it is all over.”
"Many of your race wish that i," said Doctor elius.
"But, Doctor," said Caspian, "why d<bdi></bdi>o you say my race? After all, I suppose youre a Telmarioo.”
"Am I?" said the Doctor.
"Well, youre a Man anyway," said Caspian.
"Am I?" repeated the Doctor in a deeper voice, at the same moment throwing back his hood so that Caspian could see his face clearly in the moonlight.
All at once Caspian realized the truth ahat he ought to have realized it long before. Doctor elius was so small, and so fat, and had such a very long beard. Two thoughts came into his head at the same moment. One was a thought of terror - "Hes not a real man, not a man at all, hes a Dwarf, and hes brought me up here to kill me." The other was sheer delight - "There are real Dwarfs still, and Ive see last.”
"So youve guessed it in the end," said Doctor elius. &quuessed it nearly right. Im not a pure Dwarf. I have human blood ioo. Many Dwarfs escaped in the great battles and lived on, shaving their beards and wearing highheeled shoes and pretending to be men. They have mixed with your Telmarines. I am one of those, only a halfDwarf, and if any of my kihe true Dwarfs, are still alive anywhere in the world, doubtless they would despise me and call me a traitor. But never in all these years have we fotten our own people and all the other happy creatures of Narnia, and the long-lost days of freedom.”
"Im - Im sorry, Doctor," said Caspian. "It wasnt my fault, you know.”
"I am not saying these things in blame of you, dear Prince," answered the Doctor. "You may well ask why I say them at all. But I have two reasons. Firstly, because my old heart has carried these secret memories so long that it aches with them and would burst if I did not whisper them to you. But sedly, for this: that when you bee King you may help us, for I know that you also, Telmarihough you are, love the Old Things.”
"I do, I do," said Caspian. "But how I help?”
"You be kind to the poor remnants of the Deople, like myself. You gather learned magis and try to find a way of awaking the trees once more. You search through all the nooks and wild places of the land to see if any Fauns or Talkis or Dwarfs are perhaps still alive in hiding.”
"Do you think there are any?" asked Caspian eagerly.
"I dont know - I dont know," said the Doctor with a deep sigh. "Sometimes I am afraid there t be. I have been looking for traces of them all my life. Sometimes I have thought I heard a Dwarf-drum in the mountains. Sometimes at night, in the woods, I thought I had caught a glimpse of Fauns and Satyrs dang a long way off; but when I came to the place, there was never anything there. I have often despaired; but something always happens to start me hoping again. I dont know. But at least you try to be a King like the High Kier of old, and not like your uncle.”
"Then its true about the Kings and Queens too, and about the White Witch?" said Caspian.
"Certainly it is true," said elius. "Their reign was the Golden Age in Narnia and the land has never fotten them.”
"Did they live in this castle, Doctor?”
"Nay, my dear," said the old man. "This castle is a thing of yesterday. Yreat-great-grandfather built it. But whewo sons of Adam and the two daughters of Eve were made Kings and Queens of Narnia by Aslan himself, they lived in the castle of Cair Paravel. No man alive has seen that blessed plad perhaps even the ruins of it have now vanished. But we believe it was far from here, down at the mouth of the Great River, on the very shore of the sea.”
"Ugh!" said Caspian with a shudder. "Do you mean in the Black Woods? Where all the - the - you know, the ghosts live?”
"Yhness speaks as you have been taught," said the Doctor. "But it is all lies.
There are no ghosts there. That is a story ied by the Telmarines. Your Kings are in deadly fear of the sea because they ever quite fet that in all stories Aslan es from over the sea. They dont want to go near it and they dont want anyone else to go near it. So they have let great woods grow up to cut their people off from the coast. But because they have quarrelled with the trees they are afraid of the woods. And because they are afraid of the woods they imagihat they are full of ghosts. And the Kings and great men, hating both the sea and the wood, partly believe these stories, and partly ence them. They feel safer if no one in Narnia dares to go down to the coast and look out to sea towards Aslans land and the m and the eastern end of the world.”
There was a deep sileween them for a few mihen Doctor elius said, "e. We have been here long enough. It is time to go down and to bed.”
"Must we?" said Caspian. "Id like to go on talking about these things for hours and hours and hours.”
"Someone might begin looking for us, if we did that," said Doctor elius.
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