CHAPTER FIFTEEN ASLAN MAKES A DOOR IN THE AIR（第4/6页）

“Men of Telmar，”said Aslan，“you who seek a new land，hear my words．I will send you all to your own country，which I know and you do not．”

“We don’t remember Telmar．We don’t know where it is．We don’t know what it is like，”grumbled the Telmarines．

“You came into Narnia out of Telmar，”said Aslan．“But you came into Telmar from another place．You do not belong to this world at all．You came hither，certain generations ago，out of that same world to which the High King Peter belongs．”

At this，half the Telmarines began whimpering，“There you are．Told you so．He’s going to kill us all，send us right out of the world，”and the other half began throwing out their chests and slapping one another on the back and whispering，“There you are．Might have guessed we didn’t belong to this place with all its queer，nasty，unnatural creatures．We’re of royal blood，you’ll see．”And even Caspian and Cornelius and the children turned to Aslan with looks of amazement on their faces.

“Peace，”said Aslan in the low voice which was nearest to his growl．The earth seemed to shake a little and every living thing in the grove became still as stone．

“You，Sir Caspian，”said Aslan，“might have known that you could be no true King of Narnia unless，like the Kings of old，you were a son of Adam and came from the world of Adam’s sons．And so you are．Many years ago in that world，in a deep sea of that world which is called the South Sea，a shipload of pirates were driven by storm on an island．And there they did as pirates would: killed the natives and took the native women for wives，and made palm wine，and drank and were drunk，and lay in the shade of the palm trees，and woke up and quarrelled，and sometimes killed one another．And in one of these frays six were put to flight by the rest and fled with their women into the centre of the island and up a mountain，and went，as they thought，into a cave to hide．But it was one of the magical places of that world，one of the chinks or chasms between chat world and this．There were many chinks or chasms between worlds in old times，but they have grown rarer．This was one of the last: I do not say the last．And so they fell，or rose，or blundered，or dropped right through，and found themselves in this world，in the Land of Telmar which was then unpeopled．But why it was unpeopled is a long story: I will not tell it now．And in Telmar their descendants lived and became a fierce and proud people; and after many generations there was a famine in Telmar and they invaded Narnia，which was then in some disorder (but that also would be a long story)，and conquered it and ruled it．Do you mark all this well，King Caspian？”

“I do indeed，Sir，”said Caspian．“I was wishing that I came of a more honourable lineage．”

“You come of the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve，”said Aslan.“And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar，and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth．Be content．”

Caspian bowed．

“And now，”said Aslan，“you men and women of Telmar，will you go back to that island in the world of men from which your fathers first came？ It is no bad place．The race of those pirates who first found it has died out，and it is without inhabitants．There are good wells of fresh water，and fruitful soil，and timber for building，and fish in the lagoons; and the other men of that world have not yet discovered it．The chasm is open for your return; but this I must warn you，that once you have gone through，it will close behind you forever．There will be no more commerce between the worlds by that door．”

There was silence for a moment．Then a burly，decent looking fellow among the Telmarine soldiers pushed forward and said:

“Well，I’ll take the offer．”

“It is well chosen，”said Aslan．“And because you have spoken first，strong magic is upon you．Your future in that world shall be good．Come forth．”