CHAPTER TEN THE RETURN OF THE LION（第5/5页）

It is a terrible thing to have to wake four people，all older than yourself and all very tired，for the purpose of telling them something they probably won’t believe and making them do something they certainly won’t like．“I mustn’t think about it，I must just do it，”thought Lucy．

She went to Peter first and shook him．“Peter，”she whispered in his ear，“wake up．Quick．Aslan is here．He says we’ve got to follow him at once．”

“Certainly，Lu.Whatever you like，”said Peter unexpectedly．This was encouraging，but as Peter instantly rolled round and went to sleep again it wasn’t much use．

Then she tried Susan．Susan did really wake up，but only to say in her most annoying grown-up voice，“You’ve been dreaming，Lucy．Go to sleep again．”

She tackled Edmund next．It was very difficult to wake him，but when at last she had done it he was really awake and sat up．

“Eh？”he said in a grumpy voice．“What are you talking about？”

She said it all over again．This was one of the worst parts of her job，for each time she said it，it sounded less convincing．

“Aslan！”said Edmund，jumping up．“Hurray！ Where？”

Lucy turned back to where she could see the Lion waiting，his patient eyes fixed upon her．“There，”she said，pointing．

“Where？”asked Edmund again．

“There．There．Don’t you see？ Just this side of the trees．”

Edmund stared hard for a while and then said，“No．There’s nothing there．You’ve got dazzled and muddled with the moonlight．One does，you know．I thought I saw something for a moment myself．It’s only an optical what-do-you-call-it．”

“I can see him all the time，”said Lucy．“He’s looking straight

at us．”

“Then why can’t I see him？”

“He said you mightn’t be able to．”

“Why？”

“I don’t know．That’s what he said．”

“Oh，bother it all，”said Edmund．“I do wish you wouldn’t keep on seeing things．But I suppose we’ll have to wake the others．