Meanwhile at Anvard everyone was very glad that he had been disposed of before the real fun began, which was a grand feast held that evening on the lawn before the castle, with dozens of lanterns to help the moonlight. And the wine flowed and tales were told and jokes were cracked, and then silence was made and the King‘s poet with two fiddlers stepped out into the middle of the circle. Aravis and Cor prepared themselves to be bored, for the only poetry they knew was the Calormene kind, and you know now what that was like. But at the very first scrape of the fiddles a rocket seemed to go up inside their heads, and the poet sang the great old lay of Fair Olvin and how he fought the Giant Pire and turned him into stone (and that is the origin of Mount Pire-it was a two-headed giant) and won the LadyLiln for his bride; and when it was over they wished it was going to
begin again. And though Bree couldn’t sing he told the story of the fight at Zalindreh. And Lucy told again (they had all, except Aravis and Cor, heard it many times but they all wanted it again) the Tale of the Wardrobe and how she and King Edmund and Queen Susan and Peter the High King had first come into Narnia.
And presently, as was certain to happen sooner or later, King Lune said if was time for young people to be in bed. “And tomorrow, Cor,” he added, “shalt come over all the castle with me and see the estate, and mark all its strength and weakness: for it will be thine to guard when I‘m gone.”
“But Corin will be the King then, Father,” said Cor.
“Nay, lad,” said King Lune, “thou art my heir. The crown comes to thee.”
“But I don’t want it,” said Cor. “I‘d far rather-”
“’Tis no question what thou wantest, Cor, nor I either. ‘Tis in the course of law.”
“But if we’re twins we must be the same age.”
“Nay,” said the King with a laugh. “One must come first. Art Corin‘s elder by full twenty minutes. And his better too, let’s hope, though that‘s no great mastery.” And he looked at Corin with a twinkle in his eyes.
“But, Father, couldn’t you make whichever you like to be the next King?”
“No. The king‘s under the law, for it’s the law makes him a king. Hast no more power to start away from thy crown than any sentry from his post.”
“Oh dear,” said Cor. “I don‘t want to at all. And Corin-I am most dreadfully sorry. I never dreamed my turning up was going to chisel you out of your kingdom.”
“Hurrah! Hurrah!” said Corin. “I shan’t have to be King. I shan‘t have to be King. I’ll always be a prince. It‘s princes have all the fun.”
“And that’s truer than thy brother knows, Cor,” said King Lune. “For this is what it means to be a king: to be first in every desperate attack and last in every desperate retreat, and when there‘s hunger in the land (as must be now and then in bad years) to wear finer clothes and laugh louder over a scantier meal than any man in your land.”
When the two boys were going upstairs to bed Cor again asked Corin if nothing could be done about it. And Corin said:
“If you say another word about it, I’ll-I‘ll knock you down.”
It would be nice to end the story by saying that after that the two brothers never disagreed about anything again, but I am afraid it would not be true. In reality they quarrelled and fought just about as often as any other two boys would, and all their fights ended (if they didn’t begin) with Cor getting knocked down. For though, when they had both grown up and become swordsmen, Cor was the more dangerous man in battle, neither he nor anyone else in the North Countries could ever equal Corin as a boxer. That was how he got his name of Corin Thunder-Fist; and how he performed his great exploitagainst the Lapsed Bear of Stormness, which was really a Talking Bear
but had gone back to Wild Bear habits. Corm climbed up to its lair on the Narnian side of Stormness one winter day when the snow was on the hills and boxed it without a time-keeper for thirty-three rounds. And at the end it couldn‘t see out of its eyes and became a reformed character.
Aravis also had many quarrels (and, I’m afraid, even fights) with Cor, but they always made it up again: so that years later, when they were grown up, they were so used to quarrelling and making it up again that they got married so as to go on doing it more conveniently. And after King Lune‘s death they made a good King and Queen of Archenland and Ram the Great, the most famous of all the kings of Archenland, was their son. Bree and Hwin lived happily to a great age in Narnia and both got married but not to one another. And there weren’t many months in which one or both of them didn‘t come trotting over the pass to visit their friends at Anvard.
中文阅读
转过最后一道弯,他们走出树林,隔着绿茵茵的草坪,就能够望见安发德城堡。城堡背后郁郁葱葱的山脊,为它遮挡住北风。城堡相当古老,是用暖色调的红褐色石头建造的。
还没有走到城门口,鲁恩王就出来迎接他们,他看上去一点也不像阿拉维斯想象中的国王。他穿着很旧的老式衣服,因为他刚带着猎人们巡视了狗舍,匆匆洗干净摸过狗的手。但与阿拉维斯握手寒暄时,他鞠躬的姿态与国王的气派十分吻合。
“小姐,”他说,“我们真诚地欢迎你。如果我亲爱的妻子还活着,也许欢迎会更加热烈,但不会比这更加诚挚了。对你的不幸遭遇,以及被迫离家出走,我深表同情。我的儿子科尔给我讲了你们共同的冒险经历,还有你表现出的极大的勇气。”
“陛下,是他表现出了极大的勇气,”阿拉维斯说,“哦,为了救我,他扑向一头狮子。”
“是吗,怎么回事?”鲁恩王问道,他的脸上喜形于色,“我还没有听到这段故事。”
于是,阿拉维斯讲述了故事的始末。科尔,尽管很想让人们知道那段往事,自己又不好意思讲出来,但是并不像他所期待的那么开心,反而感到自己傻乎乎的。他的父亲则听得津津有味,并在随后的几周内,反复地向众人讲述这个故事,以致科尔希望此事从来都没有发生过。
接着,国王又转向和文与布里,对它们像对阿拉维斯一样彬彬有礼,问了它们许多问题,比如它们的家庭,它们被掳前住在纳尼亚什么地方等等。两匹马结结巴巴地回答,它们还不习惯与人类平等对话——也就是说,成年人类。它们并不介意与阿拉维斯和科尔说话。
不一会儿,露西女王走出城堡,来到他们中间。鲁恩王告诉阿拉维斯:“亲爱的,这是我们家族一位可爱的朋友,她负责整理你的房间,她比我更擅长此事。”