a parliament of owls

it is a very funny thing that the sleepier you are, the longer you take about getting to bed; especially if you are lucky enough to have a fire in your room. jill felt she couldn't even start undressing unless she sat down in front of the fire for a bit first. and once she had sat down, she didn't want to get up again. she had already said to herself about five times, "i must go to bed", when she was startled by a tap on the window.

she got up, pulled the curtain, and at first saw nothing but darkness. then she jumped and started backwards, for something very large had dashed itself against the window, giving a sharp tap on the glass as. it did so. a very unpleasant idea came into her head - "suppose they have giant moths in this country! ugh!" but then the thing came back, and this time she was almost sure she saw a beak, and that the beak had made that tapping noise. "it's some huge bird," thought jill. "could it be an eagle?" she didn't very much want a visit even from an eagle, but she opened the window and looked out. instantly, with a great whirring noise, the creature alighted on the window-sill and stood there filling up the whole window, so that jill had to step back to make room for it. it was the owl.

"hush, hush! tu-whoo, tu-whoo," said the owl. "don't make a noise. now, are you two really in earnest about what you've got to do?"

"about the lost prince, you mean?" said jill. "yes, we've got to be." for now she remembered the lion's voice and face, which she had nearly forgotten during the feasting and story-telling in the hall.

"good!" said the owl. "then there's no time to waste.

you must get away from here at once. i'll go and wake the other human. then i'll come back for you. you'd better change those court clothes and put on something you can travel in. i'll be back in two twos. tu-whoo!" and without waiting for an answer, he was gone.

if jill had been more used to adventures, she might have doubted the owl's word, but this never occurred to her: and in the exciting idea of a midnight escape she forgot her sleepiness. she changed back into sweater and shorts there was a guide's knife on the belt of the shorts which might come in useful - and added a few of the things that had been left in the room for her by the girl with the willowy hair. she chose a short cloak that came down to her knees and had a hood ("just the thing, if it rains," she thought), a few handkerchiefs and a comb. then she sat down and waited.

she was getting sleepy again when the owl returned.

"now we're ready," it said.

"you'd better lead the way," said jill. "i don't know all these passages yet."

"tu-whoo!" said the owl. "we're not going through the castle. that would never do. you must ride on me. we shall fly."

"oh!" said jill, and stood with her mouth open, not much liking the idea. "shan't i be too heavy for you?"

"tu-whoo, tu-whoo! don't you be a fool. i've already carried the other one. now. but we'll put out that lamp first."

as soon as the lamp was out, the bit of the night which you saw through the window looked less dark - no longer black, but grey. the owl stood on the window-sill with his back to the room and raised his wings. jill had to climb on to his short fat body and get her knees under the wings and grip tight. the feathers felt beautifully warm and soft but there was nothing to hold on by. "i wonder how scrubb liked his ride!" thought jill. and just as she was thinking this, with a horrid plunge they had left the window-sill, and the wings were making a flurry round her ears, and the night air, rather cool and damp, was flying in her face.

it was much lighter than she expected, and though the sky was overcast, one patch of watery silver showed where the moon was hiding above the clouds. the fields beneath her looked grey, and the trees black. there was a certain amount of wind - a hushing, ruffling sort of wind which meant that rain was coming soon.

the owl wheeled round so that the castle was now ahead of them. very few of the windows showed lights. they flew right over it, northwards, crossing the river: the air grew colder, and jill thought she could see the white reflection of the owl in the water beneath her. but soon they were on the north bank of the river, flying above wooded country.

the owl snapped at something which jill couldn't see.

"oh, don't, please!" said jill. "don't jerk like that. you nearly threw me off."

"i beg your pardon," said the owl. "i was just nabbing a bat. there's nothing so sustaining, in a small way, as a nice plump little bat. shall i catch you one?"

"no, thanks," said jill with a shudder.

he was flying a little lower now and a large, black looking object was looming up towards them. jill had just time to see that it was a tower - a partly ruinous tower, with a lot of ivy on it, she thought - when she found herself ducking to avoid the archway of a window, as the owl squeezed with her through the ivied cobwebby opening, out of the fresh, grey night into a dark place inside the top of the tower. it was rather fusty inside and, the moment she slipped off the owl's back, she knew (as one usually does somehow) that it was quite crowded and when voices began saying out of the darkness from every direction "tuwhoo! tu-whoo!" she knew it was crowded with owls. she was rather relieved when a very different voice said:

"is that you, pole?"

"is that you, scrubb?" said jill.

"now," said glimfeather, "i think we're all here. let us hold a parliament of owls."

"tu-whoo, tu-whoo. true for you. that's the right thing to do," said several voices.

"half a moment," said scrubb's voice. "there's something i want to say first."

"do, do, do," said the owls; and jill said, "fire ahead."

"i suppose all you chaps-owls, i mean," said scrubb, "i suppose you all know that king caspian the tenth, in his young days, sailed to the eastern end of the world. well, i was with him on that journey: with him and reepicheep the mouse, and the lord drinian and all of them. i know it sounds hard to believe, but people don't grow older in our world at the same speed as they do in yours. and what i want to say is this, that i'm the king's man; and if this parliament of owls is any sort of plot against the king, i'm having nothing to do with it."

"tu-whoo, tu-whoo, we're all the king's owls too," said the owls.

"what's it all about then?" said scrubb.

"it's only this," said glimfeather. "that if the lord regent, the dwarf trumpkin, hears you are going to look for the lost prince, he won't let you start. he'd keep you under lock and key sooner."

"great scott!" said scrubb. "you don't mean that trumpkin is a traitor? i used to hear a lot about him in the old days, at sea. caspian - the king, i mean - trusted him absolutely."

"oh no," said a voice. "trumpkin's no traitor. but more than thirty champions (knights, centaurs, good giants, and all sorts) have at one time or another set out to look for the lost prince, and none of them have ever come back. and at last the king said he was not going to have all the bravest narnians destroyed in the search for his son. and now nobody is allowed to go."

"but surely he'd let us go," said scrubb. "when he knew who i was and who had sent me."

("sent both of us," put in jill.)

"yes," said glimfeather, "i think, very likely, he would. but the king's away. and trumpkin will stick to the rules. he's as true as steel, but he's deaf as a post and very peppery. you could never make him see that this might be the time for making an exception to the rule."

"you might think he'd take some notice of us, because we're owls and everyone knows how wise owls are," said someone else. "but he's so old now he'd only say, `you're a mere chick. i remember you when you were an egg. don't come trying to teach me, sir. crabs and crumpets!'"

this owl imitated trumpkin's voice rather well, and there were sounds of owlish laughter all round. the children began to see that the narnians all felt about trumpkin as people feel at school about some crusty teacher, whom everyone is a little afraid of and everyone makes fun of and nobody really dislikes.

"how long is the king going to be away?" asked scrubb.

"if only we knew!" said glimfeather. "you see, there has been a rumour lately that aslan himself has been seen in the islands - in terebinthia, i think it was. and the king said he would make one more attempt before he died to see aslan face to face again, and ask his advice about who is to be king after him. but we're all afraid that, if he doesn't meet aslan in terebinthia, he'll go on east, to seven isles and lone islands - and on and on. he never talks about it, but we all know he has never forgotten that voyage to the world's end. i'm sure in his heart of hearts he wants to go there again."

"then there's no good waiting for him to come back?" said jill.

"no, no good," said the owl. "oh, what a to-do! if only you two had known and spoken to him at once! he'd have arranged everything - probably given you an army to go with you in search of the prince."

jill kept quiet at this and hoped scrubb would be sporting enough not to tell all the owls why this hadn't happened. he was, or very nearly. that is, he only muttered under his breath, "well, it wasn't my fault," before saying out loud:

"very well. we'll have to manage without it. but there's just one thing more i want to know. if this owls' parliament, as you call it, is all fair and above board and means no mischief, why does it have to be so jolly secret- meeting in a ruin in dead of night, and all that?"

"tu-whoo! tu-whoo!" hooted several owls. "where should we meet? when would anyone meet except at night?"

"you see," explained glimfeather, "most of the creatures in narnia have such unnatural habits. they do things by day, in broad blazing sunlight (ugh!) when everyone ought to be asleep. and, as a result, at night they're so blind and stupid that you can't get a word out of them. so we owls have got into the habit of meeting at sensible hours, on our own, when we want to talk about things."

"i see," said scrubb. "well now, let's get on. tell us all about the lost prince." then an old owl, not glimfeather, related the story.

about ten years ago, it appeared, when rilian, the son of caspian, was a very young knight, he rode with the queen his mother on a may morning in the north parts of narnia. they had many squires and ladies with them and all wore garlands of fresh leaves on their heads, and horns at their sides; but they had no hounds with them, for they were maying, not hunting. in the warm part of the day they came to a pleasant glade where a fountain flowed freshly out of the earth, and there they dismounted and ate and drank and were merry. after a time the queen felt sleepy, and they spread cloaks for her on the grassy bank, and prince rilian with the rest of the party went a little way from her, that their tales and laughter might not wake her. and so, presently, a great serpent came out of the thick wood and stung the queen in her hand. all heard her cry out and rushed towards her, and rilian was first at her side. he saw the worm gliding away from her and made after it with his sword drawn. it was great, shining, and as green as poison, so that he could see it well: but it glided away into thick bushes and he could not come at it. so he returned to his mother, and found them all busy about her.

but they were busy in vain, for at the first glance of her face rilian knew that no physic in the world would do her good. as long as the life was in her she seemed to be trying hard to tell him something. but she could not speak clearly and, whatever her message was, she died without delivering it. it was then hardly ten minutes since they had first heard her cry.

they carried the dead queen back to cair paravel, and she was bitterly mourned by rilian and by the king, and by all narnia. she had been a great lady, wise and gracious and happy, king caspian's bride whom he had brought home from the eastern end of the world. and men said that the blood of the stars flowed in her veins. the prince took his mother's death very hardly, as well he might. after that, he was always riding on the northern marches of narnia, hunting for that venomous worm, to kill it and be avenged. no one remarked much on this, though the prince came home from these wanderings looking tired and distraught. but about a month after the queen's death, some said they could see a change in him. there was a look in his eyes as of a man who has seen visions, and though he would be out all day, his horse did not bear the signs of hard riding. his chief friend among the older courtiers was the lord driman, he who had been his father's captain on that great voyage to the east parts of the earth.

one evening drinian said to the prince, "your highness must soon give over seeking the worm. there is no true vengeance on a witless brute as there might be on a man. you weary yourself in vain." the prince answered him, "my lord, i have almost forgotten the worm this seven days." drinian asked him why, if that were so, he rode so continually in the northern woods. "my lord," said the prince, "i have seen there the most beautiful thing that was ever made." "fair prince," said drinian, "of your courtesy let me ride with you tomorrow, that i also may see this fair thing." "with a good will," said rilian.

then in good time on the next day they saddled their horses and rode a great gallop into the northern woods and alighted at that same fountain where the queen got her death. drinian thought it strange that the prince should choose that place of all places, to linger in. and there they rested till it came to high noon: and at noon drinian looked up and saw the most beautiful lady he had ever seen; and she stood at the north side of the fountain and said no word but beckoned to the prince with her hand as if she bade him come to her. and she was tall and great, shining, and wrapped in a thin garment as green as poison. and the prince stared at her like a man out of his wits. but suddenly the lady was gone, driman knew not where; and the two returned to cair paravel. it stuck in drinian's mind that this shining green woman was evil.

drinian doubted very much whether he ought not to tell this adventure to the king, but he had little wish to be a blab and a tale-bearer and so he held his tongue. but afterwards he wished he had spoken. for next day prince rilian rode out alone. that night he came not back, and from that hour no trace of him was ever found in narnia nor any neighbouring land, and neither his horse nor his hat nor his cloak nor anything else was ever found. then drinian in the bitterness of his heart went to caspian and said, "lord king, slay me speedily as a great traitor: for by my silence i have destroyed your son." and he told him the story. then caspian caught up a battle-axe and rushed upon the lord drinian to kill him, and drinian stood still as a stock for the death blow. but when the axe was raised, caspian suddenly threw it away and cried out, "i have lost my queen and my son: shall i lose my friend also?" and he fell upon the lord drinian's neck and embraced him and both wept, and their friendship was not broken.

such was the story of rilian. and when it was over, jill said, "i bet that serpent and that woman were the same person."

"true, true, we think the same as you," hooted the owls.

"but we don't think she killed the prince," said glimfeather, "because no bones -"

"we know she didn't," said scrubb. "aslan told pole he was still alive somewhere."

"that almost makes it worse," said the oldest owl. "it means she has some use for him, and some deep scheme against narnia. long, long ago, at the very beginning, a white witch came out of the north and bound our land in snow and ice for a hundred years. and we think this may be some of the same crew."

"very well, then," said scrubb. "pole and i have got to `find this prince. can you help us?"

"have you any clue, you two?" asked glimfeather.

"yes," said scrubb. "we know we've got to go north. and w e know we've got to reach the ruins of a giant city."

at this there was a greater tu-whooing than ever, and noise of birds shifting their feet and ruffling their feathers, and then all the owls started speaking at once. they all explained how very sorry they were that they themselves could not go with the children on their search for the lost prince "you'd want to travel by day, and we'd want to travel by night," they said. "it wouldn't do, wouldn't do." one or two owls added that even here in the ruined tower it wasn't nearly so dark as it had been when they began, and that the parliament had been going on quite long enough. in fact, the mere mention of a journey to the ruined city of giants seemed to have damped the spirits of those birds. but glimfeather said:

"if they want to go that way - into ettinsmoor - we must take them to one of the marsh-wiggles. they're the only people who can help them much."

"'true, true. do," said the owls.

"come on, then," said glimfeather. "i'll take one. who'll take the other? it must be done tonight."

"i will: as far as the marsh-wiggles," said another owl.

"are you ready?" said glimfeather to jill.

"i think pole's asleep," said scrubb.

4、猫头鹰的会议

说来有趣，你越是困，你准备上床的时间就越长，尤其是如果你房间里侥幸还生着火的时候。吉尔就觉得她要不先在火边坐一会儿，甚至不能动手脱衣服。可她一坐下，就不愿再站起来。她大约已经对自己说了五回”我得上床了”，这时响起了轻轻的敲窗声，把她吓了一跳。

她起来拉开窗帘，开头除了一片黑暗，什么也看不见。接着她跳起来，开始朝后退，因为有样庞然大物冲到窗子上，在玻璃上猛地敲了一下。她脑子里出现了一个很不愉快的念头——”是不是他们这个国家有巨型蛾子呢?啊!”谁知这东西又回来了，这一回她几乎肯定自己看见了一只尖尖的嘴，就是这只尖嘴在敲窗子。”这是什么大鸟?”吉尔想，

“会不会是鹰呢?”她可不大希望一只鹰上门来找她，不过她还是开了窗，往外看看。顿时间，只听得呼呼声响，那只鸟就停在窗台上，而且站在那儿把整个窗户都堵住了，吉尔只好后退几步让它。原来是那只猫头鹰。

“嘘，嘘!喔嗬，喔嗬，”猫头鹰说，”别出声。好了，你们俩是真心诚意要去干你们一定得干的事吗？”

“你是说，那失踪的王子的事?”吉尔说，”是啊，我们一定得干。”因为这时她想起了狮王的声音和面容，这事在大厅赴宴和听故事时她几乎全忘了。

“好，”猫头鹰说，”那么没时间可浪费了。你必须立刻离开这儿。我去叫醒另外那个人。然后我再回来接你。你最好把这些宫廷的衣服换掉，穿上几件能在路上穿的。我马上就回来。喔嗬i”它不等吉尔回话就飞走了。

要是吉尔一向冒险惯了，她也许会怀疑猫头鹰的话，但她从来没这么想过;半夜逃走这个令人激动的主意，让她就此忘了自己的困倦。她重新换上羊毛衫和短裤——短裤裤带上有一把向导用的刀，可能用得上——又加了几样东西，是那个有垂柳似的头发的姑娘留在房间里给她用的。她选了一件长到膝盖的连风帽的短斗篷(“要是下雨，正好用得着。”她想道)i几块手帕和一把梳子。于是她坐下等着。

等猫头鹰回来时，她已经又困了。

“我们准备好了。”它说。

“你最好带带路，”吉尔说，”我还不熟悉这些走廊。”

“喔嗬，”猫头鹰说，”我们不穿过城堡。那是绝对不行的。你得骑在我身上。我们要飞。”

“哦i”吉尔说着，嘴巴张得老大，她不大喜欢这个主意，”你不嫌我太重吗?”

“喔嗬，喔嗬!你别犯傻了。我已经送走了另外一个。得了。可我们先得把灯灭了。

灯一灭，从窗子里望出去看到的那一小块夜空就不那么黑了——不再是黑色，而是灰色。猫头鹰站在窗台上，背朝里，抬起双翅。吉尔只好爬上它那又胖又矮的身体，膝盖抵着翅膀下面，紧紧夹住。它的羽毛非常暖和柔软，就是没个抓处。”我真想知道斯克罗布觉得这次飞行怎么样!”吉尔想道。她正想着，他们猛地向前一冲，就离开了窗台，那对翅膀在她耳边振起一阵疾风，晚上的空气凉风里陋、湿润润，扑面而来。

这次飞行比她预想中轻松得多，尽管天空阴云密布，一片水汪汪的银光，显示月亮就躲在云层上面。她下面的田野看上去灰蒙蒙，树林黑沉沉。这时有一股大风——沙沙沙、呼呼呼的直响，说明就要下雨了。

猫头鹰改变了方向，因此城堡这会儿就在他们前方了。

只有很少几扇窗户露出灯光。他们飞过城堡，向北，飞过河。空气变得更冷了，吉尔感到自己能看见猫头鹰在她下面水中白色的倒影。但不一会儿他们就飞到这条河的北岸，飞在林区上空。

猫头鹰猛地咬住了吉尔没看见的什么东西。

“哦，请你别那样i”吉尔说，”你别那么猛地一动。差点把我摔下去了。”

“请原谅，”猫头鹰说，”我只是抓了一只蝙蝠，吃得省些，没有比一只胖胖的小蝙蝠更耐饥的东西了。要我给你抓一只吗?”

“不，谢谢。”吉尔说着打了个哆嗦。

猫头鹰这会儿飞得低些了。一个黑乎乎的庞然大物隐隐出现在他们眼前。吉尔刚好看出这是一座塔，一座已经部分倾圮的塔，上面有好多常春藤，她心里想。猫头鹰带着她挤进满是常春藤、蛛网密布的空隙，从清新、灰色的夜空钻进塔顶的一个黑咕隆咚的地方，这时她不知不觉地急忙弯下身子，免得撞上窗户的拱洞。里头尽是一股霉湿味儿，从她打猫头鹰背上溜下来那一刻起，她就知道(人家一般总会知道的)这地方很挤。她听见黑暗中四面八方都有声音开始说话，”喔嗬，喔嘀!ii这才知道挤在这儿的都是猫头鹰。听到一个与众不同的声音在说话，她顿时轻松多了。

“是你吗，波尔?”

“是你吗，斯克罗布?”吉尔说。

“行了，”格里姆费瑟说，”我想我们全到齐了。让我们举行一次猫头鹰会议吧。”

“喔嗬，喔嗬!你说得不错。这么做是对的。”好几个声音都这么说。

“等一下，”斯克罗布的声音说，”我有点事要先说说。”

“说吧，说吧。”猫头鹰都说;吉尔也说”说下去。”

“我猜你们大伙儿——我意思是猫头鹰们，”斯克罗布说，”我猜你们都知道国王凯斯宾十世年轻的时候，航海到过世界东部的尽头。说起来，那次旅程我就跟他在一起：跟他、雷佩契普老鼠将军，还有德里宁勋爵以及所有的人口我知道听起来这不大可信，但人们在我们的世界里变老的速度跟你们在你们的世界里不一样。而我要说的就是，我是国王的人;要是这次猫头鹰会议有任何反对国王的阴谋，那可跟我无关。”

“喔嗬，喔嗬，我们也都是国王的猫头鹰啊。”那些猫头鹰说。

“那么这是怎么回事呢?”斯克罗布说。

“是这样的，”格里姆费瑟说，”要是摄政王，小矮人杜鲁普金听到你们要去找失踪的王子，他决不会让你们动身的，宁可把你们关起来。”

“老天爷！”斯克罗布说，”你意思不是说杜鲁普金是个卖国贼吧。以前，在海上的时候，我听到过好多关于他的事。凯斯宾——我意思是说国王——绝对信任他。”

“哦，不，”一个声音说，”杜鲁普金不是卖国贼。但已有三十几个勇士(骑士、人头马、善良的巨人等等)先后出发去寻找失踪的王子，他们没有一个回来的。最后国王说他不打算为寻找他的儿子而毁了纳尼亚所有的勇士。如今，什么人也不准去了。”

“但等他知道了我是谁，以及谁派我们来的时候，肯定会让我们去的。”斯克罗布说。

“派我们俩来的。”吉尔插话说。

“是啊，”格里姆费瑟说，”我想，他很可能会的。但国王不在。而杜鲁普金总是照章办事。他非常忠实，但他耳朵完全聋了，而且脾气又很暴躁。你根本没法让他明白这回该破例办理了。”

“你可能认为他多少会理会我们，因为我们是猫头鹰，大家都知道猫头鹰有多么聪明。”另一只猫头鹰说，”可他现在已经那么老了，他只会说，’你只是只小鸟儿罢了，我还记得你是鸟蛋的时候呢。别想来教训我，先生。多嘴多舌!'“

这只猫头鹰模仿杜鲁普金的声调，学得惟妙惟肖，四周响起了猫头鹰那种笑声。孩子们开始明白纳尼亚人对杜鲁普金的心情就像人们在学校对一个爱发脾气的老师一样，人人都有点怕他，人人都取笑他，但没人真的不喜欢他。

“国王要去多长时间呢?”斯克罗布问。

“我们知道就好了!”格里姆费瑟说，”你们知道，最近有个谣言说有人看见向斯兰本人就在群岛上——在特里宾西亚岛，我想是这个地方吧。国王说他临死前要再试一回，再跟阿斯兰见见面，请教他谁来继承王位。但我们都生怕一旦他在特里宾西亚没见到阿斯兰，他就要上东边去，到七群岛和孤独群岛去——直往前。虽然他从来没提起过，但我们都知道他从来没忘记过那次到世界尽头的航行。我肯定在他内心深处，他想再上那儿去。”

“那么说等他回来就没用了?”吉尔说。

“是没用了，”猫头鹰说，”哦，乱哄哄的！如果你们俩认出他，马上跟他说话就好了。他会安排一切——也许会拨给你们一支军队，跟你们一起去寻找王子呢。”

吉尔听了一言不发，她希望斯克罗布够男子汉气派，别把真相告诉所有的猫头鹰。他的确有这份气派，或者说差不多有吧。就是说，他只是小声嘀咕着，”嗯，那可不是我的错。”然后才大声说：

“好极了。我们只好在没有军队的情况下想办法了。但还有一件事我想知道。要是你们所说的这个猫头鹰会议是完全公正，光明磊落，毫无恶意的，那干吗要这么保密——而且，还要深更半夜在废墟里开呢?”

“喔嗬!喔嗬!”几只猫头鹰叫了起来，”我们该上哪儿去碰头呢?除了晚上还有什么时候碰头呢?”

“你瞧，”格里姆费瑟解释说，”在纳尼亚，大多数动物都有那种不合自然规律的习惯。他们办事都在白天，在耀眼的太阳光下办事，哼!这时大家应该是在睡觉的呀。而结果呢，到了晚上，他们就又瞎又笨，你别想听他们说一句话。因此我们猫头鹰才养成在合情合理的时间开会的习惯，当我们要议论什么事的时候，我们就自己开会。”

“原来如此，”斯克罗布说，”好吧，大家继续开会。跟我们谈谈失踪王子的全部情况。”于是一只老猫头鹰(不是格里姆费瑟)，讲述了这个故事。

大约十年以前，那时凯斯宾的儿子瑞廉还是一个很年轻的骑士。五月里一天早晨，他陪母后一起骑马去纳尼亚北部。他们一行中还有好多乡绅和贵妇人，大家头上都戴着用新鲜树叶编的花环，身边都带着号角，但没带猎狗，因为他们是在采花，不是打猎。白天天气暖和的时候，他们来到一片舒适的林中空地，那儿还有一股凉爽的喷泉从地上喷涌而出。他们在那儿下马，又吃又喝，十分高兴。过了一段时间，王后觉得困了，他们就把斗篷铺在草地上，瑞廉王子跟同行的其他人都走开一点，免得他们谈天说笑的声音吵醒她。就这样，不一会儿，密林里出来了一条大毒蛇，在王后手上咬了一口。大家都听见她叫起来，就朝她身边赶去，瑞廉第一个赶到她身边，他看见那条蛇正从王后身边溜走，就拔出剑追了过去。那是一条又大又亮，青绿色的蛇。他看得很清楚;但它溜到密密的灌木丛中去了，他进不去。因此他回到母亲身边，发现大家都在为她忙个不停。但他们白白忙了一阵，因为瑞廉一眼看见她脸色，就知道世界上什么医药都对她没用了。她临死前似乎拼命要告诉他什么事。但她已经口齿不清，不管她想留下什么话，可没说出来就死了。这时离他们初次听见她喊叫还不到十分钟。

他们把死去的王后运回凯尔帕拉维尔，瑞廉和国王，以及纳尼亚全国上下都沉痛悼念她。她是一位伟大的王后，聪明、文雅、无忧无虑，就是凯斯宾当初从世界东部尽头带回家的那个新娘。人们说她血管里流的是星星的血。王子对他母亲的死非常悲伤。从那以后，他常骑马出没在纳尼亚北部

沼泽地区，寻找那条毒蛇，要杀了它报仇。尽管王子漫游归来，总是神色疲劳，忧心忡忡，但大家对此倒不以为意。王后死后大约一个月，人家说他们看得出，王子变了。他的眼神就像一个人看见了绝色美女那样失魂落魄，尽管他整天在外面，他的马却并没有跑得筋疲力尽的样子。在那些年长的大臣中，王子最主要的朋友就是德里宁勋爵，勋爵曾在他父亲到世界东部去的那次伟大远航中担任船长。

一天傍晚，德里宁对王子说，”殿下一定得赶快放弃寻找那条毒蛇的念头。对一条无知的野兽，不比对一个人，谈不上真正的报仇。你白白把自己累坏了。”王子回答说，”爵爷，这星期以来，我几乎已忘掉那条毒蛇了。”德里宁问要是这样他为什么还不断骑马到北部树林里去呢。”爵爷，我在那儿看见了天下最美的东西。”王子说。”王子殿下，”德里宁说，”请恩准，让我明天陪你骑马一起去，让我也瞧瞧这美丽的东西。””我很乐意。”瑞廉说。,

于是第二天他们立刻套上马，飞驰到北部森林，停在王后遇难的那个喷泉附近。德里宁觉得很奇怪，王子为什么偏偏挑中这个地方停留口他们在那儿休息，一直歇到正午:到了正午，德里宁抬头一看，就看到了他生平见过的最美丽的女人;她就站在喷泉北面，一言不发，只对王子招手，好像要叫王子到她那儿去。她个子高高的，长得很美，光彩照人，裹着一件薄薄的青绿色长外套。王子失魂落魄地盯着她。没想到那女人突然不见了，德里宁不知道她上哪儿去了。他们俩就此回到凯尔帕拉维尔。德里宁心头总觉得这光彩照人的绿衣女人是魔鬼。

德里宁拿不准自己是否应该把这次奇遇报告国王，但又不想做个乱说乱讲、搬弄是非的人，因此他对此事闭口不谈。可是事后他倒但愿自己说了就好了。因为瑞廉王子第二天一个人骑马外出，晚上竟没回来，从那时起不管是在纳尼亚，或是任何邻近地区都没发现他的踪影，连他的马、帽子、斗篷，或任何别的东西也没发现。当时德里宁心里十分痛苦，就去见凯斯宾，说道，”陪下，赶紧把我当作一个大叛徒杀了吧，因为都怪我一声不吭，我害了你的儿子。”于是他把这事告诉国王。凯斯宾听罢抓起一把战斧，对准德里宁勋爵冲过来要杀了他，德里宁就像根木头，一动也不动，等着他一斧砍下来。但国王刚举起斧子，又突然把斧子扔开，叫道，”我已经失去了我的王后和儿子，难道我还要失去我的朋友吗?”他搂着德里宁的脖子，拥抱他，两人都哭了，他们的友谊没有破裂。

这就是瑞廉的故事。故事说完以后，吉尔说”我敢说那毒蛇和那个女人就是一个人。”

“不错，不错，我们的想法跟你二样。”猫头鹰都叫着说。

“但我们认为她没杀王子，”格里姆费瑟说，”因为没有骨头…

“我们知道她不杀，”斯克罗布说，”阿斯兰告诉波尔，他仍然活着待在什么地方。”

“那样更糟，”那最老的猫头鹰说，”那就是说他对她还有点用，她有个反对纳尼亚的险恶阴谋。很久很久以前，北方来了个白女巫，把我们这里都冻成冰天雪地，足有一百年。我们认为这个也是一路货。”

“那么好吧，”斯克罗布说，”我和波尔必须去找这位王子。你们能帮助我们吗?”

“你们俩有什么线索吗?”格里姆费瑟问。

“有，”斯克罗布说，”我们知道自己得上北方去。还有我们得到一个巨人城的废墟去。”

一听到这句话，那些猫头鹰喔嗬喔响地叫得更响，还发出换脚、竖起羽毛的声音，接着所有的猫头鹰立刻七嘴八舌地说起话来。它们都解释说，它们为不能陪这两个孩子去寻找失踪的王子是多么遗憾。”你们要在白天赶路，而我们要在晚上。”它们说，”这不行，这不行。”还有一两只猫头鹰又说，连这儿这个倾圮的塔里，也没有刚才开会时那么黑了，而且这次会也开得够长的了。其实只不过提到要去巨人城废墟，那些猫头鹰似乎就泄气了。但格里姆费瑟说：

“要是他们想走那条路——到艾丁斯荒原去——我们一定得把他们带到一个沼泽怪那儿去。沼泽怪是惟一能帮这两个孩子大忙的人。”

“不错，不错，去吧。”猫头鹰们说。

“那么来吧，”格里姆费瑟说，”我带一个。另一个谁来带?这事一定得在今晚办好。”

“我愿意去，就到沼泽怪那儿为止。”另一只猫头鹰说。

”你准备好了吗?”格里姆费瑟问吉尔。

“我想波尔睡着了。”斯克罗布说。