CHAPTER FOUR
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SHASTA FALLS IN WITH THE NARNIANS AT first Shasta could see nothing in the valley below him but a sea of mist with a few domes and pinnacles rising from it; but as the light increased and the mist cleared away he saw more and more. A broad river divided itself into two streams and on the islaweeood the city of Tashbaan, one of the wonders of the world. Round the very edge of the island, so that the water lapped against the stone, ran high walls strengthened with so many towers that he soon gave up trying to t them. Ihe walls the island rose in a hill and every bit of that hill, up to the Tisrocs palad the great temple of Tash at the top, was pletely covered with buildings - terrace above terrace, street above street, zigzag roads e fl<u>..</u>ights of steps bordered with e trees and lemon trees, roofgardens, balies, deep archways, pillared nades, spires, battlements, mis, pinnacles. And when at last the sun rose out of the sea and the great silver-plated dome of the temple flashed back its light, he was almost dazzled."Get on, Shasta," Bree kept saying.
The river banks on each side of the valley were such a mass of gardens that they looked at first like forest, until you got closer and saw the white walls of innumerable houses peeping out from beh the trees. Soon after that, Shasta noticed a delicious smell of flowers and fruit. About fifteen minutes later they were down among them, plodding on a level road with white walls on each side and trees bending over the walls.
"I say," said Shasta in an awed voice. "This is a wonderful place!”
"I daresay," said Bree. "But I wish we were safely through it and out at the other side.
Narnia and the North!”
At that moment a low, throbbing noise began which gradually swelled louder and louder till the whole valley seemed to be swaying with it. It was a musioise, but s and solemn as to be a little frightening.
"Thats the horns blowing for the city gates to be open," said Bree. "We shall be there in a minute. Now, Aravis, do droop your shoulders a bit and step heavier and try to look less like a princess. Try to imagine youve been kicked and cuffed and called names all your life.”
"If it es to that," said Aravis, "what about you drooping your head a bit more and arg your neck a bit less and trying to look less like a war-horse?”
"Hush," said Bree. "Here we are.”
And they were. They had e to the rivers edge and the road ahead of them ran along a many-arched bridge. The water danced brightly in the early sunlight; away to the right he rivers mouth, they caught a glimpse ships masts. Several other travellers were before them on the bridge, mostly peasants driving laden donkeys and mules or carrying baskets on their heads. The children and horses joihe crowd.
"Is anything wrong?" whispered Shasta to Aravis, who had an odd look on her face.
"Oh its all very well for you," whispered Aravis rather savagely. "What would you care about Tashbaan? But I ought to be riding in on a litter with soldiers before me and slaves behind, and perhaps going to a feast iisrocs palace (may he live for ever) - not sneaking in like this. Its different for you.”
Shasta thought all this very silly.
At the far end of the bridge the walls of the city towered high above them and the brazen gates stood open ieway which was really wide but looked narrow because it was so very high. Half a dozen soldiers, leaning on their spears, stood on each side. Aravis couldhinking, "Theyd all jump to attention and salute me if they knew whose daughter I am." But the others were only thinking of how theyd get through and hoping the soldiers would not ask any questions. Fortuhey did not. But one of them picked a carrot out of a peasants basket and threw it at Shasta with a rough laugh, saying: "Hey! Horse-boy! Youll catch it if your master finds youve been using his saddle-horse for pack work.”
This frightened him badly for of course it showed that no one who knew anything about horses would mistake Bree for anything but a charger.
"Its my masters orders, so there!" said Shasta. But it would have beeer if he had held his tongue for the soldier gave him a box on the side of his face that nearly knocked him down and said, "Take that, you young filth, to teach you how to talk to freemen." But
they all slunk into the city without being stopped. Shasta cried only a very little; he was used to hard knocks.
Ihe gates Tashbaan did not at first seem so splendid as it had looked from a distahe first street was narrow and there were hardly any windows in the walls on each side. It was much more crowded than Shasta had expected: crowded partly by the peasants (on their way to market) who had e in with them, but also with watersellers, sweetmeat sellers, porters, soldiers, beggars, ragged children, hens, stray dogs, and bare-footed slaves. What you would chiefly have noticed if you had been there was the smells, which came from unwashed people, unwashed dogs, st, garliions, and the piles of refuse which lay everywhere.
Shasta retending to lead but it was really Bree, who khe way and kept guiding him by little nudges with his hey soon turo the left and began going up a steep hill. It was much fresher and pleasanter, for the road was bordered by trees and there were houses only on the right side; oher they looked out over the roofs of houses in the lower town and could see some the river. Then they went round a hairpio their right and tinued rising. They were zigzagging up to the tre of Tashbaan. Soon they came to fireets. Great statues of the gods and heroes of en - who are mostly impressive rather than agreeable to look at- rose on shinials. Palm trees and pillared arcades cast shadows over the burning pavements. And through the arched gateways of many a palace Shasta caught sight of green branches, cool fountains, and smooth lawns. It must be niside, he thought.
At every turn Shasta hoped they were getting out of the crowd, but they never did. This made their progress very slow, and every now and then they had to stop altogether. This usually happened because a loud voice shouted out "Way, way, way, for the Tarkaan", or "for the Tarkheena", or "for the fifteenth Vizier", "or for the Ambassador", and everyone in the crowd would crush back against the walls; and above their heads Shasta would sometimes see the great lord or lady for whom all the fuss was being made, lolling upon a litter which four or even six gigantic slaves carried on their bare shoulders. For in Tashbaan there is only oraffic regulation, which is that everyone who is less important has to get out of the way for everyone who is more important; unless you want a cut from a whip or punch from the butt end of a spear.
It was in a splendid street very he top of the city (the Tisrocs palace was the only thing above it) that the most disastrous of these stoppages occurred.
"Way! Way! Way!" came the voice. "Way for the White Barbarian King, the guest of the Tisroc (may he live for ever)! Way for the Narnian lords.”
Shasta tried to get out of the way and to make Bree go back. But no horse, not even a Talking Horse from Narnia, backs easily. And a woman with a very edgy basket in her hands, who was just behind Shasta, pushed the basket hard against his shoulders, and said, "Now then! Who are you shoving!" And then someone else jostled him from the side and in the fusion of the moment he lost hold of Bree. And then the whole crowd
behind him became so stiffened and packed tight that he couldnt move at all. So he found himself, uionally, in the first row and had a fine sight of the party that was ing dowreet.
It was quite unlike any other party they had seen that day. The crier who went before it shouting "Way, way!" was the only ene in it. And there was no litter; everyone was on foot. There were about half a dozen men and Shasta had never seen anyone like them before. For ohing, they were all as fair-skinned as himself, and most of them had fair hair. And they were not dressed like men of en. Most of them had legs bare to the kheir tunics were of fine, bright, hardy colours - woodland green, ay yellow, or fresh blue. Instead of turbans they wore steel or silver caps, some of them set with jewels, and oh little wings on each side of it. A few were bare-headed. The swords at their sides were long and straight, not curved like ene scimitars. And instead of being grave and mysterious like most ehey walked with a swing aheir arms and shoulders free, and chatted and laughed. One was whistling. You could see that they were ready to be friends with anyone who was friendly and didnt give a fig for anyone who wasnt. Shasta thought he had never seen anything so lovely in his life.
But there was not time to enjoy it for at once a really dreadful thing happehe leader of the fair-headed men suddenly poi Shasta, cried out, "There he is! Theres our runaway!" and seized him by the shoulder. moment he gave Shasta a smack - not a cruel oo make you cry but a sharp oo let you know you are in disgrad added, shaking: "Shame on you, my lord! Fie for shame! Queen Susans eyes are red with weeping because of you. What! Truant for a whole night! Where have you been?”
Shasta would have darted under Brees body and tried <cite></cite>to make himself scarce in the crowd if he had had the least ce; but the fair-haired men were all round him by now and he was held firm.
Of course his first impulse was to say that he was only poor Arsheesh the fishermans son and that the fn lord must have mistaken him for someone else. But then, the very last thing he wao do in that crowded place was to start explaining who he was and what he was doing. If he started on that, he would soon be asked where he had got his horse from, and who Aravis was - and then, goodbye to any ce of getting through Tashbaan. His impulse was to look at Bree for help. But Bree had no iion of letting all the crowd know that he could talk, and stood looking just as stupid as a horse . As for Aravis, Shasta did not even dare to look at her for fear of drawing attention.
And there was no time to think, for the leader of the Narnians said at once: "Take one of his little lordships hands, Peridan, of your courtesy, and Ill take the other.
And now, on. Our royal sisters mind will be greatly eased when she sees our young scapegrace safe in our lodging.”
And so, before they were half-way through Tashbaan, all their plans were ruined, and without even a ce to say good-bye to the others Shasta found himself being marched off among strangers and quite uo guess what might be going to happe. The Narnian King - for Shasta began to see by the way the rest spoke to him that he must be a king - kept on asking him questions; where he had been, how he had got out, what he had doh his clothes, and didnt he know that he had been very naughty. Only the king called it "naught" instead of naughty.
And Shasta said nothing in answer, because he couldnt think of anything to say that would not be dangerous.
"What! All mum?" asked the king. "I must plainly tell you, prihat this hangdog silence bees one of your blood evehan the scape itself. To run away might pass for a boys frolic with some spirit in it. But the kings son of Arland should avouch his deed; not hang his head like a ene slave.”
This was very unpleasant, for Shasta felt all the time that this young king was the very kind of grown-up and would have liked to make a good impression on him.
The strangers led him-held tightly by both hands-along a narrow street and down a flight of shallow stairs and then up ao a wide doorway in a white wall with two tall, dark cypress trees, one on each side of it. Ohrough the arch, Shasta found himself in a courtyard which was also a garden. A marble basin of clear water in the tre was kept tinually rippling by the fountain that fell into it. e trees grew round it out of smooth grass, and the four white walls which surrouhe lawn were covered with climbing roses. The noise and dust and crowding of the streets seemed suddenly fad away. He was led rapidly across the garden and then into a dark doorway. The crier remained outside. After that they took him along a corridor, where the stone floor felt beautifully cool to his hot feet, and up some stairs. A moment later he found himself blinking in the light of a big, airy room with wide open windows, all looking North so that no sun came in. There was a carpet on the floor more wonderfully coloured than anything he had ever seen and his feet sank down into it as if he were treading in thick moss. All round the walls there were low sofas with rich cushions on them, and the room seemed to be full of people; very queer people some of them, thought Shasta. But he had no time to think of that before the most beautiful lady he had ever seen rose from her plad threw her arms round him and kissed him, saying: "Oh , , how could you? And thou and I such close friends ever sihy mother died. And what sho<big></big>uld I have said to thy royal father if I came home without thee? Would have been a cause almost of war between Arland and Narnia which are friends time out of mind. It was naught, playmate, very naught of thee to use us so.”
"Apparently," thought Shasta to himself, "Im being mistaken for a prince of Arland, wherever that is. And these must be the Narnians. I wonder where the real is?" But these thoughts did not help him say anything out loud.
"Where hast been, ?" said the lady, her hands still on Shastas shoulders.
"I- I dont know," stammered Shasta.
"There it is, Susan," said the King. "I could get no tale out of him, true or false.”
"Your Majesties! Queen Susan! King Edmund!" said a voice: and when Shasta turo look at the speaker he nearly jumped out of his skin with surprise. For this was one of these queer people whom he had noticed out of the er of his eye when he first came into the room. He was about the same height as Shasta himself. From the waist upwards he was like a man, but his legs were hairy like a goats, and shaped like a goats and he had goats hooves and a tail. His skin was rather red and he had curly hair and a short pointed beard and two little horns. He was in fact a Faun, which is a creature Shasta had never seen a picture of or even heard of. And if youve read a book called The Lion, the Witd the Wardrobe you may like to know that this was the very same Faun, Tumnus by name, whom Queen Susans sister Lucy had met on the very first day when she found her way into Narnia. But he was a good deal older now for by this time Peter and Susan and Edmund and Lucy had been Kings and Queens of Narnia for several years.
"Your Majesties," he was saying, "His little Highness has had a touch of the sun. Look at him! He is dazed. He does not know where he is.”
Then of course everyoopped scolding Shasta and asking him questions and he was made much of and laid on a sofa and cushions were put under his head and he was given iced sherbet in a golden cup to drink and told to keep very quiet.
Nothing like this had ever happeo Shasta in his life before. He had never even imagined lying on anything so fortable as that sofa or drinking anything so delicious as that sherbet. He was still w what had happeo the others and how oh he was going to escape ahem at the Tombs, and what would happen when the real turned up again. But none of these worries seemed so pressing now that he was fortable. And perhaps, later on, there would be hings to eat!
Meanwhile the people in that cool airy room were very iing. Besides the Faun there were two Dwarfs (a kind of creature he had never seen before) and a very large Raven.
The rest were all humans; grown-ups, but young, and all of them, both men and women, had nicer faces and voices than most enes. And soon Shasta found himself taking an i in the versation. "Now, Madam," the King was saying to Queen Susan (the lady who had kissed Shasta). "What think you? We have been in this city fully three weeks. Have you yet settled in your mind whether you will marry this dark- faced lover of yours, this Prince Rabadash, or no?”
The lady shook her head. "No, brother," she said, "not for all the jewels in Tashbaan.”
("Hullo!" thought Shasta. "Although theyre king and queen, theyre brother and sister, not married to one another.")
"Truly, sister," said the King, "I should have loved you the less if you had taken him. And I tell you that at the first ing of the Tisrocs ambassadors into Narnia to treat of this marriage, and later when the Prince was uest at Cair Paravel, it was a woo me that ever you could find it in your heart to show him so much favour.”
"That was my folly, Edmund," said Queen Susan, "of which I cry you mercy. Yet when he was with us in Narnia, truly this Prince bore himself in another fashion than he does now in Tashbaan. For I take you all to witness what marvellous feats he did in that great tour and hastilude which our brother the High King made for him, and how meekly and courteously he sorted with us the space of seven days. But here, in his own city, he has shown another face.”
"Ah!" croaked the Raven. "It is an old saying: see the bear in his own den before you judge of his ditions.”
"Thats very true, Sallowpad," said one of the Dwarfs. "And another is, e, live with me and youll know me.”
"Yes," said the King. "We have now seen him for what he is: that is, a most proud, bloody, luxurious, cruel, and selfpleasing tryant.”
"Then in the name of<bdi>.</bdi> Aslan," said Susan, "let us leave Tashbaan this very day.”
"Theres the rub, sister," said Edmund. "For now I must open to you all that has been growing in my mind these last two days and more. Peridan, of your courtesy look to the door ahat there is no spy upon us. All well? So. For now we must be secret.”
Everyone had begun to look very serious. Queen Susan jumped up and ran to her brother.
"Oh, Edmund," she cried. "What is it? There is something dreadful in your face.”
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