CHAPTER ELEVEN THE DUFFLEPUDS MADE HAPPY（第3/5页）
“Yes，yes．I made the Duffers into Monopods，”said the Magician．He too was laughing till the tears ran down his cheeks． “But watch，”he added．
It was worth watching．Of course these little one-footed men couldn’t walk or run as we do．They got about by jumping，like fleas or frogs．And what jumps they made ！as if each big foot were a mass of springs．And with what a bounce they came down； that was what made the thumping noise which had so puzzled Lucy yesterday．For now they were jumping in all directions and calling out to one another，“Hey，lads ！We’re visible again．”
“Visible we are，”said one in a tasselled red cap who was obviously the Chief Monopod．“And what I say is，when chaps are visible，why，they can see one another．”
“Ah，there it is，there it is，Chief，”cried all the others．“There’s the point．No one’s got a clearer head than you．You couldn’t have made it plainer．”
“She caught the old man napping，that little girl did，”said the Chief Monopod．“We’ve beaten him this time．”
“Just what we were，going to say ourselves，”chimed the chorus．“You’re going stronger than ever today，Chief．Keep it up，keep it up．”
“But do they dare to talk about you like that ？”said Lucy． “They seemed to be so afraid of you yesterday．Don’t they know you might be listening ？”
“That’s one of the funny things about the Duffers，”said the Magician．“One minute they talk as if I ran everything and overheard everything and was extremely dangerous．The next moment they think they can take me in by tricks that a baby would see through-bless them ！”
“Will they have to be turned back into their proper shapes ？”asked Lucy．“Oh，I do hope it wouldn’t be unkind to leave them as they are．Do they really mind very much ？They seem pretty happy．I say-look at that jump．What were they like before ？”
“Common little dwarfs，”said he．“Nothing like so nice as the sort you have in Narnia．”
“It would be a pity to change them back，”said Lucy．“They’re so funny：and they’re rather nice．Do you think it would make any difference if I told them that ？”
“I’m sure it would-if you could get it into their heads．”
“Will you come with me and try ？”
“No，no．You’ll get on far better without me．”
“Thanks awfully for the lunch，”said Lucy and turned quickly away．She ran down the stairs which she had come up so nervously that morning and cannoned into Edmund at the bottom．All the others were there with him waiting，and Lucy’s conscience smote her when she saw their anxious faces and realized how long she had forgotten them．
“It’s all right，”she shouted．“Everything’s all right．The Magician’s a brick-and I’ve seen Him-Aslan．”
After that she went from them like the wind and out into the garden．Here the earth was shaking with the jumps and the air ringing with the shouts of the Monopods．Both were redoubled when they caught sight of her．
“Here she comes，here she comes，”they cried．“Three cheers for the little girl．Ah ！ She put it across the old gentleman properly，she did．”
“And we’re extremely regrettable，”said the Chief Monopod， “that we can’t give you the pleasure of seeing us as we were before we were uglified，for you wouldn’t believe the difference，and that’s the truth，for there’s no denying we’re mortal ugly now，so we won’t deceive you．”
“Eh，that we are，Chief，that we are，”echoed the others， bouncing like so many toy balloons．“You’ve said it，you’ve said it．”
“But I don’t think you are at all，”said Lucy，shouting to make herself heard．“I think you look very nice．”
“Hear her，hear her，”said the Monopods．“True for you， Missie．Very nice we look．You couldn’t find a handsomer lot．”They said this without any surprise and did not seem to notice that they had changed their minds．