CHAPTER THREE THE APE IN ITS GLORY（第3/4页）
“No，no，no，”howled the Beasts.“It can’t be true. Aslan would never sell us into slavery to the King of Calormen.”
“None of that! Hold your noise!”said the Ape with a snarl.“Who said anything about slavery ？You won’t be slaves. You’ll be paid-very good wages too. That is to say，your pay will be paid into Aslan’s treasury and he will use it all for everybody’s good.”Then he glanced，and almost winked，at the chief Calormene. The Calormene bowed and replied，in the pompous Calormene way：
“Most sapient Mouthpiece of Aslan，The Tisroc (may he-live-forever) is wholly of one mind with your lordship in this judicious plan.”
“There! You see!”said the Ape.“It’s all arranged. And all for your own good. We’ll be able，with the money you earn，to make Narnia a country worth living in. There’ll be oranges and bananas pouring in-and roads and big cities and schools and offices and whips and muzzles and saddles and cages and kennels and prisons- Oh，everything.”
“But we don’t want all those things，”said an old Bear.“We want to be free. And we want to hear Aslan speak himself.”
“Now don’t you start arguing，”said the Ape，“for it’s a thing I won’t stand. I’m a Man：you’re only a fat，stupid old Bear. What do you know about freedom ？ You think freedom means doing what you like. Well，you’re wrong. That isn’t true freedom. True freedom means doing what I tell you.”
“H-n-n-h，”grunted the Bear and scratched its head; it found this sort of thing hard to understand．
“Please，please，”said the high voice of a woolly lamb，who was so young that everyone was surprised he dared to speak at all．
“What is it now ？”said the Ape.“Be quick.”
“Please，”said the Lamb，“I can’t understand. What have we to do with the Calormenes ？ We belong to Aslan. They belong to Tash. They have a god called Tash. They say he has four arms and the head of a vulture. They kill Men on his altar. I don’t believe there’s any such person as Tash. But if there was，how could Aslan be friends with him ？”
All the animals cocked their heads sideways and all their bright eyes flashed towards the Ape. They knew it was the best question anyone had asked yet．
The Ape jumped up and spat at the Lamb．
“Baby!”he hissed.“Silly little bleater! Go home to your mother and drink milk. What do you understand of such things ？ But the others，listen. Tash is only another name for Aslan. All that old idea of us being right and the Calormenes wrong is silly. We know better now. The Calormenes use different words but we all mean the same thing. Tash and Aslan are only two different names for you know Who. That’s why there can never be any quarrel between them. Get that into your heads，you stupid brutes. Tash is Aslan： Aslan is Tash.”
You know how sad your own dog’s face can look sometimes. Think of that and then think of all the faces of those Talking Beasts-all those honest，humble，bewildered Birds，Bears，Badgers， Rabbits，Moles，and Mice-all far sadder than that. Every tail was down，every whisker drooped. It would have broken your heart with very pity to see their faces. There was only one who did not look at all unhappy．
It was a ginger Cat-a great big Tom in the prime of life-who sat bolt upright with his tail curled round his toes，in the very front row of all the Beasts. He had been staring hard at the Ape and the Calormene captain all the time and had never once blinked his eyes．
“Excuse me，”said the Cat very politely，“but this interests me. Does your friend from Calormen say the same ？”
“Assuredly，”said the Calormene.“The enlightened Ape- Man，I mean-is in the right. Aslan means neither less nor more than Tash.”
“Especially，Aslan means no more than Tash ？”suggested the Cat．
“No more at all，”said the Calormene，looking the Cat straight in the face．