And they did. And Aslan stood up and when he opened his mouth to roar his face became so terrible (可怕的) that they did not dare to look at it.
And they saw all the trees in front of him bend before the blast of his roaring as grass bends in a meadow (草地) before the wind. Then he said,
"We have a long journey to go. You must ride on me." And he crouched down and the children climbed onto his warm, golden back, and Susan sat first, holding on tightly to his mane and Lucy sat behind holding on tightly to Susan.
And with a great heave (举起) he rose underneath them and then shot off, faster than any horse could go, down hill and into the thick of the forest.
That ride was perhaps the most wonderful thing that happened to them in Narnia.
Have you ever had a gallop (疾驰) on a horse? Think of that; and then take away the heavy noise of the hoofs (蹄) and the jingle (叮当声) of the bits and imagine instead the almost noiseless padding (鞍垫) of the great paws.
Then imagine instead of the black or grey or chestnut back of the horse the soft roughness of golden fur, and the mane flying back in the wind.
And then imagine you are going about twice as fast as the fastest racehorse (赛马).
But this is a mount that doesn't need to be guided and never grows tired.
He rushes on and on, never missing his footing, never hesitating, threading his way with perfect skill between tree trunks, jumping over bush and briar (荆棘) and the smaller streams, wading the larger, swimming the largest of all. {1}
And you are riding not on a road nor in a park nor even on the downs, but right across Narnia, in spring, down solemn (庄严的) avenues of beech (山毛榉) and across sunny glades of oak (橡树), through wild orchards (果树林) of snow-white cherry trees, past roaring waterfalls and mossy rocks and echoing caverns, up windy slopes alight with gorse bushes, and across the shoulders of heathery mountains and along giddy (令人眩晕的) ridges and down, down, down again into wild valleys and out into acres of blue flowers. {2}
It was nearly midday when they found themselves looking down a steep hillside at a castle - a little toy castle it looked from where they stood - which seemed to be all pointed (尖的) towers.
But the Lion was rushing down at such a speed that it grew larger every moment and before they had time even to ask themselves what it was they were already on a level with it. {3}
And now it no longer looked like a toy castle but rose frowning in front of them.
No face looked over the battlements (城垛) and the gates were fast shut.
And Aslan, not at all slacking (放松) his pace, rushed straight as a bullet towards it.
"The Witch's home!" he cried. "Now, children, hold tight."
Next moment the whole world seemed to turn upside down, and the children felt as if they had left their insides behind them; for the Lion had gathered himself together for a greater leap than any he had yet made and jumped - or you may call it flying rather than jumping - right over the castle wall. {3}
The two girls, breathless but unhurt, found themselves tumbling off his back in the middle of a wide stone courtyard (院子) full of statues (雕像).
"WHAT an extraordinary (奇特的) place!" cried Lucy. "All those stone animals -and people too! It's -it's like a museum."
"Hush," said Susan, "Aslan's doing something."
He was indeed. He had bounded up to the stone lion and breathed on him.
Then without waiting a moment he whisked round - almost as if he had been a cat chasing its tail -and breathed also on the stone dwarf (小矮人), which (as you remember) was standing a few feet from the lion with his back to it.
Then he pounced (猛扑) on a tall stone dryad which stood beyond the dwarf, turned rapidly aside to deal with a stone rabbit on his right, and rushed on to two centaurs.
But at that moment Lucy said, "Oh, Susan! Look! Look at the lion."
I expect you've seen someone put a lighted match to a bit of newspaper which is propped (支撑) up in a grate against an unlit fire.
And for a second nothing seems to have happened; and then you notice a tiny streak (条痕) of flame creeping along the edge of the newspaper.
It was like that now. For a second after Aslan had breathed upon him the stone lion looked just the same.
Then a tiny streak of gold began to run along his white marble back then it spread - then the colour seemed to lick all over him as the flame licks all over a bit of paper - then, while his hindquarters (后腿) were still obviously stone, the lion shook his mane and all the heavy, stone folds rippled into living hair. {4}
Then he opened a great red mouth, warm and living, and gave a prodigious yawn. And now his hind legs had come to life.
He lifted one of them and scratched (抓) himself. Then, having caught sight of Aslan, he went bounding after him and frisking round him whimpering (呜咽) with delight and jumping up to lick (舔) his face.
Of course the children's eyes turned to follow the lion; but the sight they saw was so wonderful that they soon forgot about him.
Everywhere the statues were coming to life. The courtyard looked no longer like a museum; it looked more like a zoo.
Creatures were running after Aslan and dancing round him till he was almost hidden in the crowd.
Instead of all that deadly white the courtyard was now a blaze of colours; glossy chestnut sides of centaurs, indigo (靛蓝色的) horns of unicorns (独角兽), dazzling plumage of birds, reddy-brown of foxes, dogs and satyrs, yellow stockings and crimson hoods of dwarfs; and the birch-girls in silver, and the beech-girls in fresh, transparent green, and the larch-girls in green so bright that it was almost yellow.
And instead of the deadly silence the whole place rang (ring的过去式) with the sound of happy roarings, brayings, yelpings, barkings, squealings, cooings, neighings, stampings, shouts, hurrahs, songs and laughter. {5}
