CHAPTER ELEVEN DIGORY AND HIS UNCLE ARE BOTH IN TROUBLE（第3/4页）
“You met the Witch ？ ”said Asian in a low voice which had the threat of a growl in it．
“She woke up，”said Digory wretchedly．And then，turning very white，“I mean，I woke her．Because I wanted to know what would happen if I struck a bell．Polly didn’t want to．It wasn’t her fault．I-I fought her．I know I shouldn’t have．I think I was a bit enchanted by the writing under the bell．”
“Do you ？”asked Asian；still speaking very low and deep．
“No，”said Digory．“I see now I wasn’t. I was only pretending．”
There was a long pause．And Digory was thinking all the time，“I’ve spoiled everything．There’s no chance of getting anything for Mother now．”
When the Lion spoke again，it was not to Digory．
“You see，friends，”he said，“that before the new，clean world I gave you is seven hours old，a force of evil has already entered it；waked and brought hither by this son of Adam．”The Beasts，even Strawberry，all turned their eyes on Digory till he felt that he wished the ground would swallow him up．“But do not be cast down，”said Aslan，still speaking to the Beasts．“Evil will come of that evil，but it is still a long way off，and I will see to it that the worst falls upon myself．In the meantime，let us take such order that for many hundred years yet this shall be a merry land in a merry world．And as Adam’s race has done the harm，Adam’s race shall help to heal it．Draw near，you other two．”
The last words were spoken to Polly and the Cabby who had now arrived．Polly，all eyes and mouth，was staring at Aslan and holding the Cabby’s hand rather tightly．The Cabby gave one glance at the Lion，and took off his bowler hat：no one had yet seen him without it．When it was off，he looked younger and nicer，and more like a countryman and less like a London cabman．
“Son，”said Aslan to the Cabby．“I have known you long．Do you know me ？”
“Well，no，sir，”said the Cabby．“Leastways，not in an ordinary manner of speaking．Yet I feel somehow，if I may make so free，as, ow we’ve met before．”
“It is well，”said the Lion．“You know better than you think you know，and you shall live to know me better yet．How does this land please you ？”
“It’s a fair treat，sir，”said the Cabby．
“Would you like to live here always ？”
“Well you see sir，I’m a married man，”said the Cabby． “If my wife was here neither of us would ever want to go back to London，I reckon．We’re both country folks really．”
Aslan threw up his shaggy head，opened his mouth，and uttered a long，single note；not very loud，but full of power． Polly’s heart jumped in her body when she heard it．She felt sure that it was a call，and that anyone who heard that call would want to obey it and（what’s more）would be able to obey it，however many worlds and ages lay between．And so，though she was filled with wonder，she was not really astonished or shocked when all of a sudden a young woman，with a kind，honest face stepped out of nowhere and stood beside her．Polly knew at once that it was the Cabby’s wife，fetched out of our world not by any tiresome magic rings，but quickly，simply and sweetly as a bird flies to its nest． The young woman had apparently been in the middle of a washing day，for she wore an apron，her sleeves were rolled up to the elbow，and there were soapsuds on her hands．If she had had time to put on her good clothes（her best hat had imitation cherries on it） she would have looked dreadful；as it was，she looked rather nice．
Of course she thought she was dreaming．That was why she didn’t rush across to her husband and ask him what on earth had happened to them both．But when she looked at the Lion she didn’t feel quite so sure it was a dream，yet for some reason she did not appear to be very frightened．Then she dropped a little half curtsey， as some country girls still knew how to do in those days．After that， she went and put her hand in the Cabby’s and stood there looking round her a little shyly．