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THE DWARF
THE worst of sleeping out of doors is that you wake up so dreadfully early. And when you wake you hae to get up because the ground is so hard that you are unfortable.
And it kes tters worse if there is nothing but apples for breakfast and you hae had nothing but apples for supper the night before. When Lucy had said - truly enough that it was a glorious there did not seeto be anything else o be said. Ednd said what eeryone was feeling, quot;Wee sily got to get off this isnd.”
When they had drunk frothe well and spshed their faces they all went dain to the shore and stared at the el which diided thefronbsp; the innd.
quot;Well hae to swiquot; said Ednd.
quot;It would be all right for Su,quot; said Peter (Susan had won prizes for swiing at school).
quot;But I dont know about the rest of us.quot; By quot;the rest of usquot; he really ant Ednd whuld do two lengths at the school baths, and Lucy, whuld hardly swiat all.
quot;Anyway,quot; said Susan, quot;there y be currents. Father says its neer wise to bathe in a pce you dont know.”
quot;But, Peter,quot; said Lucy, quot;look here. I know I t swifor nuts at ho - in Engnd, I an. Buuldnt we all swilong ago - if it was long ago - when we were Kings and Queens in Narnia? Wuld ride then too, and do all sorts of things. Dont you think -?”
quot;Ah, but we were sort of grown-up then,quot; said Peter.
quot;We reigned for years .and years and learo do things. Arent we just back at our pres again now?”
quot;Oh!quot; said Ednd in a oice which de eeryoop talking and listen to hi
quot;Ie just seen it all,quot; he said.
quot;Seen what?quot; asked Peter.
quot;Why, the whole thing,quot; said Ednd. quot;You know what we were puzzling about s;bdo;/bdot night, that it was only a year ago since we left Narnia but eerything looks as if no one had lied in Cair Parael for hundreds of years? Well, dont you see? You know that, howeer long we seed to hae lied in Narnia, whe back through the wardrobe it seed to hae taken no ti at all?”
quot;Go on,quot; said Susan. quot;I think Ibeginning to uand.”
quot;And that ans,quot; tinued Ednd, quot;that, once youre out of Narnia, you hae no idea how Narnian ti is going. Why shouldnt hundreds of years hae gone past in Narnia while only one year has passed for us in Engnd?”
quot;By Joe, Ed,quot; said Peter. quot;I beliee youe got it. In that se really was hundreds of years ago that we lied in Cair Parael. And now were ing back to Narnia just as if we were Crusaders lo-Saons or A Britons or soone ing babsp; to dern Engnd?”
quot;How ecited theyll be to see us -quot; began Lucy, but at the sa nt eeryone else said, quot;Hush!quot; or quot;Look!quot; For now sothing was happening.
There was a wooded point on the innd a little to their right, and they all fe sure that just beyond that point st be the uth of the rier. And now, round that  oint there to sight a boat. When it had cleared the point, it turned and began ing along the el towards the There were two people on board, one rowing, the other sitting iern and holding a buhat twitched and ed as if it were alie. Both these people seed to be soldiers. They had steel caps on their heads and light shirts of -il. Their faces were bearded and hard. The children drew back frothe beato the wood and watched without ing a finger.
quot;Thisll do,quot; said the soldier ierhe boat had e about opposite to the
quot;What about tying a stoo his feet, rporal?quot; said the other, resting on his oars.
quot;Garn!quot; growled the other. quot;We dohat, and we haent brought one. Hell drown sure enough without a stone, as long as wee tied thrds right.quot; With these words he rose and lifted his bundle. Peter now saw that it was really alie and was in fact a Dwarf, bound hand and foot but struggling as hard as huld. nt he heard a twang just beside his ear, and all at ohe soldier threw up his ar, dropping the Dwarf into the bottoof the boat, and fell oer into the water. He floundered away to the far bank aer khat Susans arrow had stru his he. He turned and saw that she was ery pale but was already fitting a sed arrow to the string. But it was neer used.
As soon as he saw his panion fall, the other soldier, with a loud cry, jued out of the boat on the far side, and lie also flh the water (whibsp; arently just in his depth) and disappeared into the woods of the innd.
quot;Quick! Before she drifts!quot; shouted Peter. He and Susan, fully dressed as they were, plunged in, and before the water to their shoulders their hands were on the side of the boat. In a few seds they had hauled her to the bank and lifted the Dwarf out, and Ednd was busily engaged in cutting his bonds with the pocket knife. (Peters sword would hae been sharper, but a sword is ery ine for this sort of work because you t hold it anywhere lower than the hi.) When at st the Dwarf was free, he sat up, rubbed his ar and legs, and ecid: quot;Well, whateer they say, you dont feel like ghosts.”
Like st Dwarfs he was ery stocky and deep-chested. He would hae been about three feet high if he had been standing up, and an iense beard and whiskers of nbsarse red hair left little of his face to be see a beak-like nose and twinkling bck eyes.
quot;Anyway,quot; he tinued, quot;ghosts or not, youe saed life and Inbsp; etrely obliged to you.”
quot;But why should we be ghosts?quot; asked Lucy.
quot;Ie been told all life,quot; said the Dwarf, quot;that these woods along the shore were as full of ghosts as they were of trees. Thats what the story is. And thats why, when they want to get rid of ahey usually bring hidown here (like they;u..;/u were doing with )
and say theyll leae hito the ghosts. But I always wondered if they didnt really drown eor cut their throats. I neer quite belieed in the ghosts. But those twwards youe just shot belieed all right. They were re frightened of takio death than I was of going!”
quot;Oh,quot; said Susan. quot;So thats why they both ran away.”
quot;Eh? Whats that?quot; said the Dwarf.
quot;They got away,quot; said Ednd. quot;To the innd.”
quot;I wasnt shooting to kill, you kno;quot; said Susan. She would not hae liked ao think shuld ss at such a she.
quot;Hquot; said the Dwarf. quot;Thats not so good. That y an trouble ter on. Uhey hold their tongues for their own sake.”
quot;What were they going to drown you for?quot; asked Peter.
quot;Oh, Ia dangerous al, I aquot; said the Dwarf cheerfully. quot;But thats a long story.
Meanti, I was w if perhaps you were going to ask to breakfast? Youe no idea what an appetite it gies one, beied.quot; quot;Theres only apples,quot; said Lucy dolefully.
quot;Better than nothing, but not so good as fresh fish,quot; said the Dwarf. quot;It looks as if Ill hae to ask you to breakfast instead. I saw so fishing tackle in that boat. And anyway, we st take her round to the other side of the isnd. We dont want anyone frothe innd ing down and seeing her.”
quot;I ought to hae thought of that self,quot; said Peter.
The four children and the Dwarf went down to the waters edge, pushed off the boat with so difficuy, and scraled aboard. The Dwarf at oook charge. The oars were ourse too big for hito use, so Peter rowed and the Dwarf steered thenbsp; north along the el and presently eastward round the tip of the isnd. Frohere the childreuld see right up the rier, and all the bays and headnds of thast beyond it. They thought theuld reize bits of it, but the woods, which had grown up siheir ti, de eerything look ery different.
When they had e round into open sea on the east of the isnd, the Dwarf took to fishing. They had an ecellent catch of paenders, a beautiful rainbowloured fish which they all reered eating in Cair Parael in the old days. When they had caught enough they ran the boat up into a little creek and ored her to a tree. The Dwarf, who was a st capable person (and, ihough os bad Dwarfs, I neer heard of a Dwarf who was a fool), cut the fish opehe and said: quot;Now, what we wa is so firewood.”
quot;Wee got so up at the castle,quot; said Ednd.
The Dwarf gae a low whistle. quot;Beards aeads!quot; he said. quot;So there really is a castle, after all?”
quot;Its only a ruin,quot; said Lucy.
The Dwarf stared round at all four of thewith a ery curious epression on his face.
quot;And who oh - ?quot; he began, but then broke off and said, quot;No tter. Breakfast first.
But ohing before we go on. you y your hand on your hearts and tell Ireally alie? Are you sure I wasnt drowned and were not all ghosts together?”
When they had all reassured hi the question was how to carry the fish. They had nothing t theon and no basket. They had to use Ednds hat in the end because no one else had a hat. He would hae de ch re fuss about this if he had not by now been so raenously hungry.
At first the Dwarf did not seeery fortable in the castle. He kept looking round and sniffing and saying, quot;H Looks a bit spooky after all. Slls like ghosts, too.quot; But he cheered up when it ca to lighting the fire and showing thehow to roast the fresh paenders in the eers. Eating hot fish with no forks, and one pocket kween fie people, is a ssy business and there were seeral burnt fingers before the al was ended; but, as it was now nine oclod they had been up since fie, nobody he burns so ch as you ght hae epected. When eeryone had finished off with a drink frothe well and an apple or so, the Droduced a pipe about the size of his own ar filled it, lit it, blew a great cloud rant ske, and said, quot;Now.”
quot;You tell us your story first,quot; said Peter. quot;And theell you ours.”
quot;Well,quot; said the Dwarf, quot;as youe saed life it is only fair you should hae your own way. But I hardly know where to begin. First of all Ia ssenger of King Caspians.”
quot;Whos he?quot; asked four oices all at once.
quot;Caspiaenth, King of Narnia, and long y he reign!quot; answered the Dwarf. quot;That is to say, he ought to be King of Narnia and we hope he will be. At present he is only King of us Old Narnians - “
quot;What do you an by old Narnians, please?quot; asked Lucy.
quot;Why, thats us,quot; said the Dwarf. quot;Were a kind of rebellion, I suppose.”
quot;I see,quot; said Peter. quot;And Caspian is the chief Old Narnian.”
quot;Well, in a nner of speaking,quot; said the Dwarf, scratg his head. quot;But hes really a New Narnian hielf, a Telrine, if you follow .”
quot;I dont,quot; said Ednd.
quot;Its worse than the Wars of the Roses,quot; said Lucy.
quot;Oh dear,quot; said the Dwarf. quot;Idoing this ery badly. Look here: I think Ill hae to ght back to the begin;rk;/rkning and tell you hoian grew up in his uncles nbsurt and how he es to be on our side at all. But itll be a long story.”
quot;All the better,quot; said Lucy. quot;We loe stories.”
So the Dwarf settled down and told his tale. I shall not gie it to you in his words, putting in all the childrens questions and interruptions, because it would take too long and be fusing, and, een so, it would leae out so points that the children only heard ter.
But the gist of the story, as they k in the end, was as follows.
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