CHAPTER FOUR THE DWARF TELLS OF PRINCE CASPIAN（第2/5页）

Next day Caspian found what a terrible thing he had done，for Nurse had been sent away without even being allowed to say good-bye to him，and he was told he was to have a Tutor．

Caspian missed his nurse very much and shed many tears; and because he was so miserable，he thought about the old stories of Narnia far more than before．He dreamed of Dwarfs and Dryads every night and tried very hard to make the dogs and cats in the castle talk to him．But the dogs only wagged their tails and the cats only purred．

Caspian felt sure that he would hate the new Tutor，buy when the new Tutor arrived about a week later he turns out to be the sort of person it is almost impossible not to like．He was the smallest，and also the fattest，man Caspian had ever seen．He had a long，silvery，pointed beard which came down to his waist，and his face，which was brown and covered with wrinkles，looked very wise，very ugly，and very kind．His voice was grave and his eyes were merry so that，until you got to know him really well，it was hard to know when he was joking and when he was serious．His name was Doctor Cornelius．

Of all his lessons with Doctor Cornelius the one that Caspian liked best was History．Up till now，except for Nurse’s stories，he had known nothing about the History of Narnia，and he was very surprised to learn that the royal family were newcomers in the country.

“It was your Highness’s ancestor，Caspian the First，”said Doctor Cornelius，“who first conquered Narnia and made it his kingdom．It was he who brought all your nation into the country．You are not native Narnians at all．You are all Telmarines—that is，you all came from the Land of Telmar，far beyond the Western Mountains．That is why Caspian the First is called Caspian the Conqueror．”

“Please，Doctor，”asked Caspian one day，“who lived in Narnia before we all came here out of Telmar？”

“No men—or very few—lived in Narnia before the Telmarines took it，”said Doctor Cornelius．

“Then who did my great-great-grandcesters conquer？”

“Whom，not who，your Highness，”said Doctor Cornelius．“Perhaps it is time to turn from History to Grammar．”

“Oh please，not yet！”said Caspian．

“I mean，wasn’t there a battle？ Why is he called Caspian the Conqueror if there was nobody to fight with him？”

“I said there were very few men in Narnia，”said the Doctor，looking at the little boy very strangely through his great spectacles．

For a moment Caspian was puzzled and then suddenly his heart gave a leap．“Do you mean，”he gasped，“that there were other things？ Do you mean it was like in the stories？ Were there-？”

“Hush！”said Doctor Cornelius，laying his head very close to Caspian’s．“Not a word more．Don’t you know your Nurse was sent away for telling you about Old Narnia？ The King doesn’t like it．If he found me telling you secrets，you’d be whipped and I should have my head cut off．”

“But why？”asked Caspian．

“1t is high time we turned to Grammar now，”said Doctor Cornelius in a loud voice．“Will your Royal Highness be pleased to open Pulverulentus Siccus at the fourth page of his Grammatical garden or the Arbour of Accidence pleasantlie open’d to Tender Wits？”

After that it was all nouns and verbs till lunchtime，but I don’t think Caspian learned much．He was too excited．He felt sure that Doctor Cornelius would not have said so much unless he meant to tell him more sooner or later．

In this he was not disappointed．A few days later his Tutor said，“Tonight I am going to give you a lesson in Astronomy．At dead of night two noble planets，Tarva and Alambil，will pass within one degree of each other．Such a conjunction has not occurred for two hundred years，and your Highness will not live to see it again．It will be best if you go to bed a little earlier than usual．When the time of the conjunction draws near,I will come and wake you．”