"Go ahead, Jill, it's your turn to show off your skills."
Eustace whispered.Jill noticed that her mouth was dry and she couldn't say a word, so she nodded desperately at Eustace.Eustace thought to himself that he would never forgive her for being the same to Pudgren, and then he licked his lips and looked up at the Giant King and shouted, "Your Majesty, let me report that the Lady of the Green Dress has asked us to salute you on her behalf, and she says that you will gladly let us attend your autumn feast." ”The Giant King and Queen looked at each other, nodded to each other, and smiled at each other.Jill didn't like their smiles at all.Compared to the queen, Jill still prefers the king.He has a beautiful curly beard and a straight hooked nose, which is really quite a mark for a giant.The queen was extremely fat, with a double chin, and a fat, powdered face, which was not pretty, even in the best of circumstances, and even worse when the face looked ten times larger.The king stuck out his tongue and licked his lips, as anyone could have done, but his tongue was so big and red that it came out so unexpectedly that it startled Gil firmly."
Oh, what a beautiful child," said the Queen."
Maybe she's still a good person at heart."
Jill pondered."
Yes, indeed," the king nodded approvingly, "quite a good boy.Welcome to our royal palace.Hand me your hands. ”He stretched out his huge right hand downward, very clean, with many rings on his fingers, but also with horrible pointed nails.His hands were too big to shake the hands of the two children in turn, and he shook their arms."
And what is that?"
asked the King, pointing to Pudgren."
Respectable monster."
Pudgren slurred."
Oh," the queen screamed, pulling up her skirt to her ankles, "this nasty thing is still alive," "Your Majesty, it's very good, really, it's very good," Eustace said hurriedly, "and when you get to know it, you'll like it."
I'm sure you'll love it. ”If I tell you that Jill is crying at this very moment, I hope you will not lose interest in Jill for the rest of the book.There were quite a few excuses for her, her feet, her hands, her ears, her nose had just begun to thaw, and the melted snow was dripping from her clothes.And she had barely eaten or drunk anything that day; Her legs were aching, and she felt like she couldn't stand any longer.In any case, it would have been better for her to cry than to do anything else, for the queen said, "Oh, what a poor child, Your Majesty, it is our fault that we have kept our distinguished guests standing.Hurry up, someone will take them away.Get them some food and wine, and take a good bath.Comfort the little girl, give her lollipops, give her dolls, give her medicine, give her everything you can think of, milk wine, candy, coriander, lullabies, toys.Don't cry, little girl, or you won't be good enough anyway when the autumn feast comes. ”Jill, like you and me, is annoyed at the mention of toys and dolls; And, while lollipops and candies might be very good in their terms, she really wanted to offer something more affordable.In any case, the Queen's foolish speech yielded excellent results, for Pudgren and Eustace were immediately picked up by several giant male attendants, and Gil was carried away by a giant maid and taken to their chambers.Jill's room was about the size of a church, and if there wasn't a blazing fire in the fireplace and a thick red carpet on the floor, it would be pretty cold and terrible.Here, something pleasant begins to happen to Jill.She was handed over to the queen's old nanny.From a giant's point of view, she is a little old woman who has become hunched over with age, and from a human point of view, she is a small giantess, small enough to enter a normal room without hitting the ceiling with her head.She's very capable, but Jill wishes she hadn't been babbling "oh, la, spirited", "what a cutie", "we're all going to be okay now, my good boy".She poured hot water into a giant's footbath and helped Jill climb in.If you know how to swim, Jill can, and bathing in the huge tub is a real pleasure.And the giant's big towels, a little rough and of poor quality, but just as pleasant, because they were acres in size.In fact, you don't need to dry it at all, just put a towel in front of the stove, roll it back and forth, and have fun.After taking a shower, Jill put on clean, new, warm clothes.The clothes were gorgeous, a little too big for her, but it was clear that they were made for humans, not for giantesses."
I guess if the woman in the long green dress had come here, it would have been used for a guest of our size."
Jill thought to himself.She soon realized that she was right, because the tables and chairs for the height of the average adult were already set up for her, and the knives, forks, and spoons were just the right size.She was overjoyed to finally be able to sit down and feel warm and clean.Jill's feet were still there, and it was so comfortable to step on the giant's carpet.Her feet sank into the carpet, all the way down to her ankles, which was just enough to relieve the pain in the soles of her feet.I think we have to call it a full meal, even though it's close to tea time, and it's chicken and leek soup, hot roast turkey, steamed pudding, roasted chestnuts, and endless fruit.The only unpleasant thing was that the old nanny was always coming in and out, and every time she came in, she brought with her a huge toy, a huge doll, bigger than Gil himself, a wooden horse with wheels, about the size of an elephant, a drum that looked like a gas canister, and a little fluffy lamb.These things are very rough and shoddy in workmanship, and they are dyed in very bright colors.Jill hated to see them, and she kept telling the old nanny that she didn't want them, but the nanny said, "Tsk, tsk, when you rest a little bit, you'll want them, I know hee-hee, go to sleep right now, cute little girl" The bed was not a giant bed, but a big bed with four draperies, like you might see in an old-fashioned hotel.In this huge room, the bed looked very small.Jill happily climbed into bed."
Is it still snowing, babysitter?"
she asked sleepily."
Nope.It's raining now, dear darling," said the giantess, "and the rain will wash away all the nasty snow, and the little girl will be able to go out to-morrow," and she covered Gil and said goodnight."
I don't know what could be more annoying than being kissed by a giantess."
Jill thought.But within five minutes, she was asleep.It began to rain in the evening and continued all night, and the raindrops beat against the windows of the castle, and Jill did not hear it at all, and slept past suppertime, past midnight, and into the dead of night.There was no movement in the giant's palace except for the sound of rats.It was at this time that Jill had a dream.In the dream, she seemed to wake up in this room, and saw the fire, which was already small and red, and the huge wooden horse appeared in the firelight.The Trojan turned the wheel of its own volition, passed through the carpet, and stood in front of her.Now it is no longer a horse, but a lion the size of a horse.Then, it was not a toy lion, but a real lion, a real lion king, just as she had seen before in the mountains beyond the end of the world.The room was filled with all sorts of scents, but something was wrong with Jill's mind, and although she couldn't remember what it was, tears kept pouring down her face, soaking the pillow.The Lion King told her to repeat the instructions, and she found that she had forgotten them all.Therefore, she was terrified at that time.At this point, Aslan latched her up, she could feel her lips and breathing, but she couldn't feel the sharp teeth, and led her to the window and told her to look out.The bright moon poured out the bright moonlight, and huge letters were written on the earth or in the sky, converging into a few words "below me".After that, the dream vanished.When she woke up, it was late the next morning, and she didn't remember dreaming at all.She got up, dressed and finished her breakfast by the fire.At this time, the nanny opened the door and said, "The beautiful little boy has come to play with her." ”Eustace and the swamp monster Pudgren walked in."
Hey, good morning," said Jill happily, "isn't it funny, I'm sure I slept for fifteen hours."
I'm feeling better, aren't you too" "Me too," Eustace said, "but Pudgren said it had a sore head.Ah, you have a window seat in your window, and if we stand on it, we can see outside. ”All three of them immediately stood up.As soon as he glanced at it, Jill said, "Oh, that's too bad" The sun was shining outside the window, and except for a few piles of snow, the snowflakes everywhere were almost washed away by the heavy rain.Below them, spread out like a map, was the flat top of the mountain, where they had struggled to climb past yesterday afternoon.From the castle, it could not be mistaken for anything other than the ruins of a giant city.Jill now saw that the top of the hill was flat because of the masonry pavement, although the masonry had broken in many places.The banks that crisscross the river were the ruins of the massive buildings that may have once housed the palaces and temples of giants.There was a wall, about five hundred feet high, that still stood tall and tall, and it was what she thought was a cliff at the time.Those that looked like factory chimneys were huge columns, broken into stumps of varying heights; The section of stone where the pillars were broken was located right next to their base, like a huge stone tree that had been cut down.The stone walls they climbed down from the northern slope of the hill, and the other stone walls they climbed up from the southern slope, were the steps of the giants.Particularly striking is the fact that in the center of the pavement is written in large black letters: "Below me." ”The three travelers looked at each other in astonishment.After blowing a short whistle, Eustace said what was on everyone's mind: "The second and third instructions have been missed. ”At that moment, Jill's dream suddenly flashed through his mind."
It's my fault," she said in a tone of despair, "that I've given up the habit of repeating those instructions every night.If I had those instructions in my head, I would have been able to tell it was a city, even in a snowstorm like that. ”"I'm worse," said Pudgren discouraged, "I've seen it, or almost seen it."
I think it looks very much like a deserted city. ”"You're the only one who isn't to blame," Eustace said, "and you've tried to make us stop." ”"But it's not enough to try," said the swamp monster, "and I don't have to try to stop you only verbally, I should take action, and if I hold one in one hand, how can I not stop you" "The truth is," said Eustace, "we are all so happy and eager to get to this place as soon as possible, and ignore everything else.At least I know I am.Ever since we met the woman and the silent knight, we had become so dismissive of everything that we had almost forgotten about Prince Ruilian. ”"I don't think it's surprising," Pudgren said, "if that's what she's meant to be." ”"What I don't quite understand," said Jill, "is that we didn't see those words, or, if it was written last night, could it have been written last night, and Aslan had a very strange dream." ”She told them everything she had dreamed about."
Oh, you idiot," said Eustace, "we've seen those words."
E5 is in the letter e, and that's the passage you fall into.We follow the bottom of the e, point due north, turn to our right, follow the vertical one to the other right, which is the middle one, and then continue to the upper left corner, or the northeast corner of the letter, and then back again.We're all the stupidest guys," he continued with a rough kick in the window seat, "So, it's no good, Jill, and I know what you're thinking right now, because I'm the same as you think.You're wondering how nice it would have been if Aslan had written these instructions on the stones of the ruins of Giants after we had passed through this place.In this way, it is its fault, not ours.It is very likely that this is the case, no, and we have to admit that we only have the fourth instruction left to follow, because we have missed the first three. ”"You mean I missed it," said Jill, "and it is.Ever since you brought me here, I've made a mess of everything.It's not all the same, I'm sorry, it's the same thing, and so on.What those instructions are doesn't seem to make much sense to me below. ”"It definitely makes sense," said Pudgren, "and that means we have to go beneath the ruins of that city to find the prince." ”"But how do we get down there?"
asked Jill."
That's the problem," said Pudgren, rubbing his huge palms like frog's paws, "What can we do now, there is no doubt that when we were in the ruins of Giant, if we could concentrate on what we were going to do, we would have been given instructions on what to do, and we would have found a small door, or a cave, or a tunnel, and met someone who could help us, perhaps Aslan himself, here is hard to say.There's always a way for us to get under the paved stones.Aslan's instructions are always effective, without exception.But what to do now, that's another matter. ”"Well, in my opinion, we'll have to go back there."
Jill said."
Looks easy, doesn't it," said Pudgren, "and first, we can try to open that door." ”They all looked towards the door.It was clear that none of them could reach the doorknob, and even if they could, surely none of them would be able to turn it."
Do you think they'll let us out if we ask to leave?"
asked Jill.No one answered, but everyone was thinking, "What if they don't?"
”That's not a pleasant idea.Pudgren is adamantly opposed to any idea of telling the giants about their real mission and asking them to let them out.Of course, the children could not have told the giant without its permission, because it was their promise.The three of them knew that there was absolutely no chance of escaping the castle at night, and once they entered their chambers and the door was closed, they had to be kept as prisoners until the next morning.Of course, they could ask for their doors to be left open, but that would raise suspicions."
Our only chance," Eustace said, "is to find a way to slip away in broad daylight."
Isn't there an hour in the afternoon when most of the giants are napping, and if we can sneak into the kitchen, will there be a back door open?"
"It's hard for me to call this an opportunity," said Pudgren, "but it's probably the only opportunity we can take advantage of." ”Strictly speaking, Scrobe's plan isn't as hopeless as you might think.If you want to leave a house without being discovered, in some ways it's much better to try something in the afternoon than in the middle of the night, when all the doors and windows are most likely open, and even if you get caught, you can always pretend that you have no intention of going far and that you don't have any special plans.If someone finds you crawling out of your bedroom window at one o'clock in the morning, it's hard to convince giants or adults."
But we've got to get them to let their guard down," Eustace said, "and we're going to have to pretend like they're enjoying being here and looking forward to this autumn feast." ”"The feast is tomorrow night," said Pudgren, "and I heard one of them mention it. ”"I see," said Jill, "we have to pretend to be excited about the autumn feast, and keep asking questions."
Anyway, they have completely treated us like little babies, and in this way, things are easier. ”"Be happy," said Pudgren, with a deep sigh, "and that's what we have to do, to pretend to be happy and relaxed, as if there is nothing in this world for us to worry about, just play to our heart's content."
I've noticed that you two little ones don't always put on an energetic, radiant and happy look.You have to look at me and see what I do, and you do it.I'm carefree and happy, just like this," it bared its teeth and smiled a terrible grin, "and playful" At this time, it made a most sad and happy gesture, "If you keep staring at me, you will soon be in a state of flux."
You know, they already think I'm a funny guy.I'm sure you two think I was a little drunk last night, but I assure you, it's well, almost fake.Somehow, I had an idea that it would always come in handy. ”When they had discussed the specific adventure plan, the children felt that they were never sure that the last sentence was completely true, but they could be sure that after Pudgren said it, it thought it was true."
Okay, let's be happy.""
Now, if only we could get someone to open the door."
While we were joking, talking stupid things, doing stupid things, pretending to be happy, we had to do everything we could to figure out what was going on in this castle. ”Fortunately, at the critical moment, the door opened, and the giant nanny hurried in and said, "Hurry, my little girl, if you want to come out and see if the king and the whole court are out hunting, what a sight to behold."
The sound of hounds, horns, and giants guided them, and in a matter of minutes, they were in the courtyard.The giants walked on foot, because there were no giant horses in that part of the world, and the giants always hunted on foot, like in England, where the hunting of rabbits was normal.When Gil saw that there were no horses present, she was at first disheartened and disappointed, for she was sure that the fat queen could not have walked after the hounds anyway, and that they could not do anything if the queen had been kept in the palace all day.But then she saw the queen sitting in a palanquin carried by six young giants on their shoulders.The stupid old fellow was dressed in green and had a horn by her side.Twenty or thirty giants, including the king, were gathered together to go hunting, and there were deafening voices and laughter.Below, about the height of Jill, were wagging tails and drooling dogs, and dogs with snouts that were trying to reach her hands.Pudgren began to put on a funny pose that it thought was pleasure, and if anyone paid attention to it, it was likely that everything would be messed up.Then Gil put on her most attractive and boyish smile, and rushed over the queen's palanquin, and looked up at the queen, and cried out to the queen, "Oh, please, don't go away, will you come back?"
and "yes, my dear little darling," replied the queen, "and I will be back to-night." ”"Oh, that's good, that's great," said Jill happily, "Well, maybe we can attend tomorrow night's feast, can we really do it if we want to be here tomorrow night, and we really like to be here so much, and we can walk around this castle while you're out, can we, please?"
”The queen said "yes," but the courtiers burst into laughter that almost drowned out her voice.t1706231537: