The Chronicles Of Narnia - All 7 Books by C.S. Lewis

Author:C.S. Lewis
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-12-13T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9. HOW THEY DISCOVERED SOMETHING WORTH KNOWING

THE others admitted afterwards that Jill had been wonderful that day. As soon as theKing and the rest of the hunting party had set off, she began making a tour of the wholecastle and asking questions, but all in such an innocent, babyish way that no one couldsuspect her of any secret design. Though her tongue was never still, you could hardly sayshe talked: she prattled and giggled. She made love to everyone - the grooms, the porters,the housemaids, the ladies-in-waiting, and the elderly giant lords whose hunting dayswere past. She submitted to being kissed and pawed about by any number of giantesses,many of whom seemed sorry for her and called her "a poor little thing" though none ofthem explained why. She made especial friends with the cook and discovered the all-

important fact there was a scullery door which let you out through the outer wall, so thatyou did not have to cross the courtyard or pass the great gatehouse. In the kitchen shepretended to be greedy, and ate all sorts of scraps which the cook and scullions delightedto give her. But upstairs among the ladies she asked questions about how she would bedressed for the great feast, and how long she would be allowed to sit up, and whether shewould dance with some very, very small giant. And then (it made her hot all over whenshe remembered it afterwards) she would put her head on one side in an idiotic fashionwhich grown-ups, giant and otherwise, thought very fetching, and shake her curls, andfidget, and say, "Oh, I do wish it was tomorrow night, don't you? Do you think the timewill go quickly till then?" And all the giantesses said she was a perfect little darling; andsome of them dabbed their eyes with enormous handkerchiefs as if they were going tocry.

"They're dear little things at that age," said one giantess to another. "It seems almost apity . . ."

Scrubb and Puddleglum both did their best, but girls do that kind of thing better thanboys. Even boys do it better than Marsh-wiggles.

At lunchtime something happened which made all three of them more anxious than everto leave the castle of the Gentle Giants. They had lunch in the great hall at a little table oftheir own, near the fireplace. At a bigger table, about twenty yards away, half a dozen oldgiants were lunching. Their conversation was so noisy, and so high up in the air, that thechildren soon took no more notice of it than you would of hooters outside the window ortraffic noises in the street. They were eating cold venison, a kind of food which Jill hadnever tasted before, and she was liking it.

Suddenly Puddleglum turned to them, and his face had gone so pale that you could seethe paleness under the natural muddiness of his complexion. He said:

"Don't eat another bite."

"What's wrong?" asked the other two in a whisper.

"Didn't you hear what those giants were saying? `That's a nice tender haunch of venison,'said one of them.

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