CHAPTER EIGHT THE HOUSE OF HARFANG（第2/5页）

though a bit rough and coarse，are lovely too，because there are acres of them. In fact you don’t need to dry at all，you just roll about on them in front of the fire and enjoy yourself. And when that was over，clean，fresh，warmed clothes were put on Jill：very splendid clothes and a little too big for her，but clearly made for humans not giantesses. “I suppose if that woman in the green kirtle comes here，they must be used to guests of our size,”thought Jill.

She soon saw that she was right about this，for a table and chair of the right height for an ordinary grown-up human were placed for her，and the knives and forks and spoons were the proper size too. It was delightful to sit down，feeling warm and clean at last. Her feet were still bare and it was lovely to tread on the giant carpet. She sank in it well over her ankles and it was just the thing for sore feet. The meal—which I suppose we must call dinner， though it was nearer tea time—was cock-a-leekie soup，and hot roast turkey，and a steamed pudding，and roast chestnuts，and as much fruit as you could eat.

The only annoying thing was that the Nurse kept coming in and out，and every time she came in，she brought a gigantic toy with her—a huge doll，bigger than Jill herself，a wooden horse on wheels，about the size of an elephant，a drum that looked like a young gasometer，and a woolly lamb. They were crude，badly made things，painted in very bright colours，and Jill hated the sight of them. She kept on telling the Nurse she didn’t want them， but the Nurse said：“Tut-tut-tut-tut. You’ll want’em all right when you’ve had a bit of a rest，I know ！ Te-he-he ！ Beddy bye，now. A precious poppet ！”

The bed was not a giant bed but only a big four-poster，like what you might see in an old-fashioned hotel；and very small it looked in that enormous room. She was very glad to tumble into it.

“Is it still snowing，Nurse ？”she asked sleepily.

“No. Raining now，ducky ！”said the giantess. “Rain’ll wash away all the nasty snow. Precious poppet will be able to go out and play tomorrow ！”And she tucked Jill up and said good night.

I know nothing so disagreeable as being kissed by a giantess. Jill thought the same，but was asleep in five minutes.

The rain fell steadily all the evening and all the night，dashing against the windows of the castle，and Jill never heard it but slept deeply，past supper time and past midnight. And then came the deadest hour of the night and nothing stirred but mice in the house of the giants. At that hour there came to Jill a dream. It seemed to her that she awoke in the same room and saw the fire，sunk low and red，and in the firelight the great wooden horse. And the horse came of its own will，rolling on its wheels across the carpet，and stood at her head. And now it was no longer a horse，but a lion as big as the horse. And then it was not a toy lion，but a real lion， The Real Lion，just as she had seen him on the mountain beyond the world’s end. And a smell of all sweet-smelling things there are filled the room. But there was some trouble in Jill’s mind， though she could not think what it was，and the tears streamed down her face and wet the pillow. The Lion told her to repeat the signs，and she found that she had forgotten them all. At that，a great horror came over her. And Aslan took her up in his jaws（she could feel his lips and his breath but not his teeth）and carried her to the window and made her look out. The moon shone bright； and written in great letters across the world or the sky（she did not know which）were the words UNDER ME. After that，the dream faded away，and when she woke，very late next morning，she did not remember that she had dreamed at all.

She was up and dressed and had finished breakfast in front of the fire when the Nurse opened the door and said：“Here’s pretty poppet’s little friends come to play with her.”

In came Scrubb and the Marsh-wiggle.