CHAPTER SIXTEEN THE HEALING OF HARMS（第4/6页）

Then Aslan stopped，and the children looked into the stream. And there，on the golden gravel of the bed of the stream，lay King Caspian，dead，with the water flowing over him like liquid glass. His long white beard swayed in it like water-weed. And all three stood and wept. Even the Lion wept：great Lion-tears，each tear more precious than the Earth would be if it was a single solid diamond. And Jill noticed that Eustace looked neither like a child crying，nor like a boy crying and wanting to hide it，but like a grown-upcrying. At least，that is the nearest she could get to it； but really，as she said，people don’t seem to have any particular ages on that mountain.

“Son of Adam,”said Aslan，“go into that thicket and pluck the thorn that you will find there，and bring it to me.”

Eustace obeyed. The thorn was a foot long and sharp as a rapier.

“Drive it into my paw，Son of Adam,”said Aslan，holding up his right fore-paw and spreading out the great pad towards Eustace.

“Must I ？”said Eustace.

“Yes,”said Aslan.

Then Eustace set his teeth and drove the thorn into the Lion’s pad. And there came out a great drop of blood，redder than all redness that you have ever seen or imagined.

And it splashed into the stream over the dead body of the King. At the same moment the doleful music stopped. And the dead King began to be changed. His white beard turned to grey， and from grey to yellow，and got shorter and vanished altogether； and his sunken cheeks grew round and fresh，and the wrinkles were smoothed，and his eyes opened，and his eyes and lips both laughed，and suddenly he leaped up and stood before them—a very young man，or a boy. （But Jill couldn’t say which，because of people having no particular ages in Aslan’s country. Even in this world，of course，it is the stupidest children who are most childish and the stupidest grown-ups who are most grown-up.）And he rushed to Aslan and flung his arms as far as they would go round the huge neck；and he gave Aslan the strong kisses of a King，and Aslan gave him the wild kisses of a Lion.

At last Caspian turned to the others. He gave a great laugh of astonished joy.

“Why ！ Eustace ！”he said. “Eustace ！ So you did reach the end of the world after all. What about my second-best sword that you broke on the sea-serpent ？ ”

Eustace made a step towards him with both hands held out， but then drew back with a somewhat startled expression.

“Look here ！ I say,”he stammered. “It’s all very well. But aren’t you ？—I mean didn’t you—”

“Oh，don’t be such an ass,”said Caspian.

“But,”said Eustace，looking at Aslan.“Hasn’t heer—died ？”

“Yes,”said the Lion in a very quiet voice，almost（Jill thought）as if he were laughing. “He has died. Most people have，you know. Even I have. There are very few who haven’t.”

“Oh,”said Caspian. “I see what’s bothering you. You think I’m a ghost，or some nonsense. But don’t you see ？ I would be that if I appeared in Narnia now：because I don’t belong there any more. But one can’t be a ghost in one’s own country. I might be a ghost if I got into your world. I don’t know. But I suppose it isn’t yours either，now you’re here.”

A great hope rose in the children’s hearts. But Aslan shook his shaggy head.“No，my dears,”he said. “When you meet me here again，you will have come to stay. But not now. You must go back to your own world for a while.”

“Sir,”said Caspian，“I’ve always wanted to have just one glimpse of their world. Is that wrong ？”

“You cannot want wrong things any more，now that you have died，my son,”said Aslan. “And you shall see their world—for five minutes of their time. It will take no longer for you to set things right there.”Then Aslan explained to Caspian what Jill and Eustace were going back to and all about Experiment House：he seemed to know it quite as well as they did.