CHAPTER ONE BY CALDRON POOL（第3/4页）

“Oh，well，of course，if you put it that way，”said Puzzle．

“I tell you what，”said Shift.“You’d better take a good brisk trot down river as far as Chippingford and see if they have any oranges or bananas.”

“But I’m so tired，Shift，”pleaded Puzzle．

“Yes，but you are very cold and wet，”said the Ape.“You want something to warm you up. A brisk trot would be just the

thing. Besides，it’s market day at Chippingford today.”And then of course Puzzle said he would go．

As soon as he was alone Shift went shambling along， sometimes on two paws and sometimes on four，till he reached his own tree. Then he swung himself up from branch to branch， chattering and grinning all the time，and went into his little house. He found needle and thread and a big pair of scissors there; for he was a clever Ape and the Dwarfs had taught him how to sew. He put the ball of thread (it was very thick stuff，more like cord than thread) into his mouth so that his cheek bulged out as if he were sucking a big bit of toffee. He held the needle between his lips and took the scissors in his left paw. Then he came down the tree and shambled across to the lion-skin. He squatted down and got to work．

He saw at once that the body of the lion-skin would be too long for Puzzle and its neck too short. So he cut a good piece out of the body and used it to make a long collar for Puzzle’s long neck. Then he cut off the head and sewed the collar in between the head and the shoulders. He put threads on both sides of the skin so that it would tie up under Puzzle’s chest and stomach. Every now and then a bird would pass overhead and Shift would stop his work，looking anxiously up. He did not want anyone to see what he was doing. But none of the birds he saw were Talking Birds，so it didn’t matter．

Late in the afternoon Puzzle came back. He was not trotting but only plodding patiently along，the way donkeys do．

“There weren’t any oranges，”he said，“and there weren’t any bananas. And I’m very tired.”He lay down．

“Come and try on your beautiful new lion-skin coat，”said Shift．

“Oh bother that old skin，”said Puzzle.“I’ll try it on in the morning. I’m too tired tonight.”

“You are unkind，Puzzle，”said Shift.“If you’re tired what do you think I am ？ All day long，while you’ve been having a lovely refreshing walk down the valley，I’ve been working hard to make you a coat. My paws are so tired I can hardly hold these scissors. And you won’t say thank you-and you won’t even look at the coat-and you don’t care-and-and-”

“My dear Shift，”said Puzzle getting up at once，“I am so sorry. I’ve been horrid. Of course I’d love to try it on. And it looks simply splendid. Do try it on me at once. Please do.”

“Well，stand still then，”said the Ape. The skin was very heavy for him to lift，but in the end，with a lot of pulling and pushing and puffing and blowing，he got it on to the donkey. He tied it underneath Puzzle’s body and he tied the legs to Puzzle’s legs and the tail to Puzzle’s tail. A good deal of Puzzle’s grey nose and face could be seen through the open mouth of the lion’s head. No one who had ever seen a real lion would have been taken in for a moment. But if someone who had never seen a lion looked at Puzzle in his lion-skin he just might mistake him for a lion，if he didn’t come too close，and if the light was not too good，and if Puzzle didn’t let out a bray and didn’t make any noise with his hoofs．

“You look wonderful，wonderful，”said the Ape.“If anyone saw you now，they’d think you were Aslan，the Great Lion，

himself.”

“That would be dreadful，”said Puzzle．

“No it wouldn’t，”said Shift.“Everyone would do whatever you told them.”

“But I don’t want to tell them anything.”

“But you think of the good we could do!”said Shift.“You’d have me to advise you，you know. I’d think of sensible orders for you to give. And everyone would have to obey us，even the King himself. We would set everything right in Narnia.”