"But she need never know," said the Witch, speaking more sweetly than you would have thought anyone with so fierce a face could speak.
"You wouldn't tell her how you'd got the apple. Your Father need never know. No one in your world need know anything about this whole story. You needn't take the little girl back with you, you know."
That was where the Witch made her fatal (致命的) mistake. Of course Digory knew that Polly could get away by her own ring as easily as he could get away by his. But apparently the Witch didn't know this.
And the meanness of the suggestion that he should leave Polly behind suddenly made all the other things the Witch had been saying to him sound false and hollow (虚伪的).
And even in the midst (当中) of all his misery, his head suddenly cleared, and he said (in a different and much louder voice):
"Look here; where do you come into all this? Why are you so precious fond of my Mother all of a sudden? What's it got to do with you? What's your game?"
"Good for you, Digs," whispered Polly in his ear. "Quick! Get away now." She hadn't dared to say anything all through the argument because, you see, it wasn't her mother who was dying.
"Up then," said Digory, heaving her on to Fledge's back and then scrambling up as quickly as he could. The horse spread its wings.
"Go then, Fools," called the Witch. "Think of me, Boy, when you lie old and weak and dying, and remember how you threw away the chance of endless youth! It won't be offered you again."
They were already so high that they could only just hear her. Nor did the Witch waste any time gazing up at them; they saw her set off northward down the slope of the hill.
They had started early that morning and what happened in the garden had not taken very long, so that Fledge and Polly both said they would easily get back to Narnia before nightfall (黄昏).
Digory never spoke on the way back, and the others were shy of speaking to him. He was very sad and he wasn't even sure all the time that he had done the right thing; but whenever he remembered the shining tears in Aslan's eyes he became sure.
All day Fledge flew steadily with untiring (不知疲倦的) wings; eastward with the river to guide him, through the mountains and over the wild wooded hills, and then over the great waterfall and down, and down, to where the woods of Narnia were darkened by the shadow of the mighty (强大的) cliff (悬崖), till at last,
when the sky was growing red with sunset behind them, he saw a place where many creatures were gathered together by the riverside.
And soon he could see Aslan himself in the midst of them. Fledge glided down (向下滑), spread out his four legs, closed his wings, and landed cantering (慢跑).
Then he pulled up. The children dismounted (下马). Digory saw all the animals, dwarfs (小矮人), satyrs (森林之神), nymphs (河泽仙女), and other things drawing back to the left and right to make way for him. He walked up to Aslan, handed him the apple and said:
"I've brought you the apple you wanted, sir."
"Well done," said Aslan in a voice that made the earth shake. Then Digory knew that all the Narnians had heard those words and that the story of them would be handed down from father to son in that new world for hundreds of years and perhaps forever.
But he was in no danger of feeling conceited (自负的) for he didn't think about it at all now that he was face to face with Aslan. This time he found he could look straight into the Lion's eyes. He had forgotten his troubles and felt absolutely content.
"Well done, son of Adam," said the Lion again. "For this fruit you have hungered (渴望) and thirsted (向往) and wept (哭泣).
No hand but yours shall sow (播种) the seed of the Tree that is to be the protection of Narnia. Throw the apple towards the river bank where the ground is soft."
Digory did as he was told. Everyone had grown so quiet that you could hear the soft thump (响声) where it fell into the mud.
"It is well thrown," said Aslan. "Let us now proceed to the Coronation (加冕礼) of King Frank of Narnia and Helen his Queen."
The children now noticed these two for the first time. They were dressed in strange and beautiful clothes, and from their shoulders rich robes (礼服) flowed out behind them to where four dwarfs (小矮人) held up the King's train and four river nymphs the Queen's.
Their heads were bare; but Helen had let her hair down and it made a great improvement (提升) in her appearance. But it was neither hair nor clothes that made them look so different from their old selves.
Their faces had a new expression, especially the King's. All the sharpness (尖刻) and cunning (狡诈) and quarrelsomeness (好争吵) which he had picked up as a London cabby seemed to have been washed away, and the courage and kindness which he had always had were easier to see.
Perhaps it was the air of the young world that had done it, or talking with Aslan, or both.
"Upon my word," whispered Fledge to Polly. "My old master's been changed nearly as much as I have! Why, he's a real master now."
"Yes, but don't buzz (嗡嗡叫) in my ear like that," said Polly. "It tickles (使发痒) so."
"Now," said Aslan, "some of you undo (解开) that tangle (缠结) you have made with those trees and let us see what we shall find there."
Digory now saw that where four trees grew close together their branches had all been laced (捆绑) together or tied together with switches so as to make a sort of cage (笼子).
The two Elephants with their trunks (鼻子) and a few dwarfs with their little axes (小斧子) soon got it all undone. There were three things inside.
One was a young tree that seemed to be made of gold; the second was a young tree that seemed to be made of silver; but the third was a miserable object in muddy clothes, sitting hunched up between them.
