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THE PEOPLE THAT LIVED IN HIDING:
Now began the happiest times that Caspian had ever known. On a fine summer
morning when the dew lay on the grass he set off with the Badger and the two
Dwarfs, up through the forest to a high saddle in the mountains and down on to
their sunny southern slopes where one looked across the green wolds of
Archenland.
"We will go first to the Three Bulgy Bears," said Trumpkin.
They came in a glade to an old hollow oak tree covered with moss, and
Trufflehunter tapped with his paw three times on the trunk and there was no
answer. Then he tapped again and a woolly sort of voice from inside said, "Go
away. It's not time to get up yet." But when he tapped the third time there was
a noise like a small earthquake from inside and a sort of door opened and out
came three brown bears, very bulgy indeed and blinking their little eyes. And
when everything had been explained to them (which took a long time because they
were so sleepy) they said, just as Trufflehunter had said, that a son of Adam
ought to be King of Narnia and all kissed Caspian - very wet, snuffly kisses
they were - and offered him some honey. Caspian did not really want honey,
without bread, at that time in the morning, but he thought it polite to accept.
It took him a long time afterwards to get unsticky.
After that they went on till they came among tall beech trees and Trufflehunter
called out, "Pattertwig! Pattertwig! Pattertwig!" and almost at once, bounding
down from branch to branch till he was just above their heads, came the most
magnificent red squirrel that Caspian had ever seen. He was far bigger than the
ordinary dumb squirrels which he had sometimes seen in the castle gardens;
indeed he was nearly the size of a terrier and the moment you looked in his face
you saw that he could talk. Indeed the difficulty was to get him to stop
talking, for, like all squirrels, he was a chatterer. He welcomed Caspian at
once and asked if he would like a nut and Caspian said thanks, he would. But as
Pattertwig went bounding away to fetch it, Trufflehunter whispered in Caspian's
ear, "Don't look. Look the other way. It's very bad manners among squirrels to
watch anyone going to his store or to look as if you wanted to know where it
was." Then Pattertwig came back with the nut and Caspian ate it and after that
Pattertwig asked if he could take any messages to other friends. "For I can go
nearly everywhere without setting foot to ground," he said. Trufflehunter and
the Dwarfs thought this a very good idea and gave Pattertwig messages to all
sorts of people with queer names telling them all to come to a feast and council
on Dancing Lawn at midnight three nights ahead. "And you'd better tell the three
Bulgies too," added Trumpkin. "We forgot to mention it to them."
Their next visit was to the Seven Brothers of Shuddering Wood. Trumpkin led the
way back to the saddle and then down eastward on the northern slope of the
mountains till they came to a very solemn place among rocks and fir trees. They
went very quietly and presently Caspian could feel the ground shake under his
feet as if someone were hammering down below. Trumpkin went to a flat stone
about the size of the top of a water-butt, and stamped on it with his foot.
After a long pause it was moved away by someone or something underneath, and
there was a dark, round hole with a good deal of heat and steam coming out of it
and in the middle of the hole the head of a Dwarf very like Trumpkin himself.
There was a long talk here and the dwarf seemed more suspicious than the
Squirrel or the Bulgy Bears had been, but in the end the whole party were
invited to come down. Caspian found himself descending a dark stairway into the
earth, but when he came to the bottom he saw firelight. It was the light of a
furnace. The whole place was a smithy. A subterranean stream ran past on one
side of it. Two Dwarfs were at the bellows, another was holding a piece of
red-hot metal on the anvil with a pair of tongs, a fourth was hammering it, and
two, wiping their horny little hands on a greasy cloth, were coming forward to
meet the visitors. It took some time to satisfy them that Caspian was a friend
and not an enemy, but when they did, they all cried, "Long live the King," and
their gifts were noble - mail shirts and helmets and swords for Caspian and
Trumpkin and Nikabrik. The Badger could have had the same if he had liked, but
he said he was a beast, he was, and if his claws and teeth could not keep his
skin whole, it wasn't worth keeping. The workmanship of the arms was far finer
than any Caspian had ever seen, and he gladly accepted the Dwarf-made sword
instead of his own, which looked, in comparison, as feeble as a toy and as
clumsy as a stick. The seven brothers (who were all Red Dwarfs) promised to come
to the feast at Dancing Lawn.
A little farther on, in a dry, rocky ravine they reached the cave of five Black
Dwarfs. They looked suspiciously at Caspian, but in the end the eldest of them
said, "If he is against Miraz, we'll have him for King." And the next oldest
said, "Shall we go farther up for you, up to the crags? There's an Ogre or two
and a Hag that we could introduce you to, up there."
"Certainly not," said Caspian.
"I should think not, indeed," said Trufflehunter. "We want none of that sort on
our side." Nikabrik disagreed with this, but Trumpkin and the Badger overruled
him. It gave Caspian a shock to realize that the horrible creatures out of the
old stories, as well as the nice ones, had some descendants in Narnia still.
"We should not have Aslan for friend if we brought in that rabble," said
Trufflehunter as they came away from the cave of the Black Dwarfs.
"Oh, Aslan!" said Trumpkin, cheerily but contemptuously. "What matters much more
is that you wouldn't have me."
"Do you believe in Aslan?" said Caspian to Nikabrik.
"I'll believe in anyone or anything," said Nikabrik, "that'll batter these
cursed Telmarine barbarians to pieces or drive them out of Narnia. Anyone or
anything, Aslan or the White Witch, do you understand?"
"Silence, silence," said Trufflehunter. "You do not know what you are saying.
She was a worse enemy than Miraz and all his race."
"Not to Dwarfs, she wasn't," said Nikabrik.
Their next visit was a pleasanter one. As they came lower down, the mountains
opened out into a great glen or wooded gorge with a swift river running at the
bottom. The open places near the river's edge were a mass of foxgloves and wild
roses and the air was buzzing with bees. Here Trufflehunter called again, "Glenstorm!
Glenstorm!" and after a pause Caspian heard the sound of hoofs. It grew louder
till the valley trembled and at last, breaking and trampling the thickets, there
came in sight the noblest creatures that Caspian had yet seen, the great Centaur
Glenstorm and his three sons. His flanks were glossy chestnut and the beard that
covered his broad chest was goldenred. He was a prophet and a star-gazer and
knew what they had come about.
"Long live the King," he cried. "I and my sons are ready for war. When is the
battle to be joined?"
Up till now neither Caspian nor the others had really been thinking of a war.
They had some vague idea, perhaps, of an occasional raid on some Human farmstead
or of attacking a party of hunters, if it ventured too far into these southern
wilds. But, in the main, they had thought only of living to themselves in woods
and caves and building up an attempt at Old Narnia in hiding. As soon as
Glenstorm had spoken everyone felt much more serious.
"Do you mean a real war to drive Miraz out of Narnia?" asked Caspian.
"What else?" said the Centaur. "Why else does your Majesty go clad in mail and
girt with sword?"
"Is it possible, Glenstorm?" said the Badger.
"The time is ripe," said Glenstorm. "I watch the skies, Badger, for it is mine
to watch, as it is yours to remember. Tarva and Alambil have met in the halls of
high heaven, and on earth a son of Adam has once more arisen to rule and name
the creatures. The hour has struck. Our council at the Dancing Lawn must be a
council of war." He spoke in such a voice that neither Caspian nor the others
hesitated for a moment: it now seemed to them quite possible that they might win
a war and quite certain that they must wage one.
As it was now past the middle of the day, they rested with the Centaurs and ate
such food as the centaurs provided cakes of oaten meal, and apples, and herbs,
and wine, and cheese.
The next place they were to visit was quite near at hand, but they had to go a
long way round in order to avoid a region in which Men lived. It was well into
the afternoon before they found themselves in level fields, warm between
hedgerows. There Trufflehunter called at the mouth of a little hole in a green
bank and out popped the last thing Caspian expected - a Talking Mouse. He was of
course bigger than a common mouse, well over a foot high when he stood on his
hind legs, and with ears nearly as long as (though broader than) a rabbit's. His
name was Reepicheep and he was a gay and martial mouse. He wore a tiny little
rapier at his side and twirled his long whiskers as if they were a moustache.
"There are twelve of us, Sire," he said with a dashing and graceful bow, "and I
place all the resources of my people unreservedly at your Majesty's disposal."
Caspian tried hard (and successfully) not to laugh, but he couldn't help
thinking that Reepicheep and all his people could very easily be put in a
washing basket and carried home on one's back.
It would take too long to mention all the creatures whom Caspian met that day -
Clodsley Shovel the Mole, the three Hardbiters (who were badgers like
Trufflehunter), Camillo the Hare, and Hogglestock the Hedgehog. They rested at
last beside a well at the edge of a wide and level circle of grass, bordered
with tall elms which now threw long shadows across it, for the sun was setting,
the daisies closing, and the rooks flying home to bed. Here they supped on food
they had brought with them and Trumpkin lit his pipe (Nikabrik was not a
smoker).
"Now," said the Badger, "if only we could wake the spirits of these trees and
this well, we should have done a good day's work."
"Can't we?" said Caspian.
"No," said Trufflehunter. "We have no power over them. Since the Humans came
into the land, felling forests and defiling streams, the Dryads and Naiads have
sunk into a deep sleep. Who knows if ever they will stir again? And that is a
great loss to our side. The Telmarines are horribly afraid of the woods, and
once the Trees moved in anger, our enemies would go mad with fright and be
chased out of Narnia as quick as their legs could carry them."
"What imaginations you Animals have!" said Trumpkin, who didn't believe in such
things. "But why stop at Trees and Waters? Wouldn't it be even nicer if the
stones started throwing themselves at old Miraz?"
The Badger only grunted at this, and after that there was such a silence that
Caspian had nearly dropped off to sleep when he thought he heard a faint musical
sound from the depth of the woods at his back. Then he thought it was only a
dream and turned over again; but as soon as his ear touched the ground he felt
or heard (it was hard to tell which) a faint beating or drumming. He raised his
head. The beating noise at once became fainter, but the music returned, clearer
this time. It was like flutes. He saw that Trufflehunter was sitting up staring
into the wood. The moon was bright; Caspian had been asleep longer than he
thought. Nearer and nearer came the music, a tune wild and yet dreamy, and the
noise of many light feet, till at last, out from the wood into the moonlight,
came dancing shapes such as Caspian had been thinking of all his life. They were
not much taller than dwarfs, but far slighter and more graceful. Their curly
heads had little horns, the upper part of their bodies gleamed naked in the pale
light, but their legs and feet were those of goats.
"Fauns!" cried Caspian, jumping up, and in a moment they were all round him. It
took next to no time to explain the whole situation to them and they accepted
Caspian at once. Before he knew what he was doing he found himself joining in
the dance. Trumpkin, with heavier and jerkier movements, did likewise and even
Trufflehunter hopped and lumbered about as best he could. Only Nikabrik stayed
where he was, looking on in silence. The Fauns footed it all round Caspian to
their reedy pipes. Their strange faces, which seemed mournful and merry all at
once, looked into his; dozens of Fauns, Mentius and Obentinus and Dumnus,
Voluns, Voltinus, Girbius, Nimienus, Nausus, and Oscuns. Pattertwig had sent
them all.
When Caspian awoke next morning he could hardly believe that it had not all been
a dream; but the grass was covered with little cloven hoof-marks.
