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THE BOTTOM OF THE WORLD:
"MY name is Golg," said the gnome. "And I'll tell your Honours all I know.
About an hour ago we were all going about our work - her work, I should say
- sad and silent, same as we've done any other day for years and years.
Then there came a great crash and bang. As soon as they heard it, everyone
says to himself, I haven't had a song or a dance or let off a squib for a
long time; why's that? And everyone thinks to himself, Why, I must have
been enchanted. And then everyone says to himself, I'm blessed if I know
why I'm carrying this load, and I'm not going to carry it any farther:
that's that. And down we all throw our sacks and bundles and tools. Then
everyone turns and sees the great red glow over yonder. And everyone says
to himself, What's that? and everyone answers himself and says, There's a
crack or chasm split open and a nice warm glow coming up through it from
the Really Deep Land, a thousand fathom under us."
"Great Scott," exclaimed Eustace, "are there other lands still lower down?"
"Oh yes, your Honour," said Golg. "Lovely places; what we call the Land of
Bism. This country where we are now, the Witch's country, is what we call
the Shallow Lands. It's a good deal too near the surface to suit us. Ugh!
You might almost as well be living outside, on the surface itself. You see,
we're all poor gnomes from Bism whom the Witch has called up here by magic
to work for her. But we'd forgotten all about it till that crash came and
the spell broke. We didn't know who we were or where we belonged. We
couldn't do anything, or think anything, except what she put into our
heads. And it was glum and gloomy things she put there all those years.
I've nearly forgotten how to make a joke or dance a jig. But the moment the
bang came and the chasm opened and the sea began rising, it all came back.
And of course we all set off as quick as we could to get down the crack and
home to our own place. And you can see them over there all letting off
rockets and standing on their heads for joy. And I'll be very obliged to
your Honours if you'll soon let me go and join in."
"I think this is simply splendid," said Jill. "I'm so glad we freed the
gnomes as well as ourselves when we cut off the Witch's head! And I'm so
glad they aren't really horrid and gloomy any more than the Prince really
was well, what he seemed like."
"That's all very well, Pole," said Puddleglum cautiously. "But those gnomes
didn't look to me like chaps who were just running away. It looked more
like military formations, if you ask me. Do you look me in the face, Mr
Golg, and tell me you weren't preparing for battle?"
"Of course we were, your Honour," said Golg. "You see, we didn't know the
Witch was dead. We thought she'd be watching from the castle. We were
trying to slip away without being seen. And then when you three came out
with swords and horses, of course everyone says to himself, Here it comes:
not knowing that his Honour wasn't on the Witch's side. And we were
determined to fight like anything rather than give up the hope of going
back to Bism."
"I'll be sworn 'tis an honest gnome," said the Prince. "Let go of it,
friend Puddleglum. As for me, good Golg, I have been enchanted like you and
your fellows, and have but newly remembered myself. And now, one question
more. Do you know the way to those new diggings, by which the sorceress
meant to lead out an army against Overland?"
"Ee-ee-ee!" squeaked Golg. "Yes, I know that terrible road. I will show you
where it begins. But it is no manner of use your Honour asking me to go
with you on it. I'll die rather."
"Why?" asked Eustace anxiously. "What's so dreadful about it?"
"Too near the top, the outside," said Golg, shuddering. "That was the worst
thing the Witch did to us. We were going to be led out into the open - on
to the outside of the world. They say there's no roof at all there; only a
horrible great emptiness called the sky. And the diggings have gone so far
that a few strokes of the pick would bring you out to it. I wouldn't dare
go near them."
"Hurrah! Now you're talking!" cried Eustace, and Jill said, "But it's not
horrid at all up there. We like it. We live there."
"I know you Overlanders live there," said Golg. "But I thought it was
because you couldn't find your way down inside. You can't really like it -
crawling about like flies on the top of the world!"
"What about showing us the road at once?" said Puddleglum.
"In a good hour," cried the Prince. The whole party set out. The Prince
remounted his charger, Puddleglum climbed up behind Jill, and Golg led the
way. As he went, he kept shouting out the good news that the Witch was dead
and that the four Overlanders were not dangerous. And those who heard him
shouted it on to others, so that in a few minutes the whole of Underland
was ringing with shouts and cheers, and gnomes by hundreds and thousands,
leaping, turning cart-wheels, standing on their heads, playing leap-frog,
and letting off huge crackers, came pressing round Coalblack and Snowflake.
And the Prince had to tell the story of his own enchantment and deliverance
at least ten times.
In this way they came to the edge of the chasm. It was about a thousand
feet long and perhaps two hundred wide. They dismounted from their horses
and came to the edge, and looked down into it. A strong heat smote up into
their faces, mixed with a smell which was quite unlike any they had ever
smelled. It was rich, sharp, exciting, and made you sneeze. The depth of
the chasm was so bright that at first it dazzled their eyes and they could
see nothing. When they got used to it they thought they could make out a
river of fire, and, on the banks of that river, what seemed to be fields
and groves of an unbearable, hot brilliance - though they were dim compared
with the river. There were blues, reds, greens, and whites all jumbled
together: a very good stained-glass window with the tropical sun staring
straight through it at midday might have something the same effect. Down
the rugged sides of the chasm, looking black like flies against all that
fiery light, hundreds of Earthmen were climbing.
"Your honours," said Golg (and when they turned to look at him they could
see nothing but blackness for a few minutes, their eyes were so dazzled).
"Your honours, why don't you come down to Bism? You'd be happier there than
in that cold, unprotected, naked country out on top. Or at least come down
for a short visit."
Jill took it for granted that none of the others would listen to such an
idea for a moment. To her horror she heard the Prince saying:
"Truly, friend Golg, I have half a mind to come down with you. For this is
a marvellous adventure, and it may be no mortal man has ever looked into
Bism before or will ever have the chance again. And I know not how, as the
years pass, I shall bear to remember that it was once in my power to have
probed the uttermost pit of Earth and that I forbore. But could a man live
there? You do not swim in the fire-river itself?"
"Oh no, your Honour. Not we. It's only salamanders live in the fire
itself."
"What kind of beast is your salamander?" asked the Prince.
"It is hard to tell their kind, your Honour," said Golg. "For they are too
white-hot to look at. But they are most like small dragons. They speak to
us out of the fire. They are wonderfully clever with their tongues: very
witty and eloquent."
Jill glanced hastily at Eustace. She had felt sure that he would like the
idea of sliding down that chasm even less than she did. Her heart sank as
she saw that his face was quite changed. He looked much more like the
Prince than like the old Scrubb at Experiment House. For all his
adventures, and the days when he had sailed with King Caspian, were coming
back to him.
"Your Highness," he said. "If my old friend Reepicheep the Mouse were here,
he would say we could not now refuse the adventures of Bism without a great
impeachment to our honour."
"Down there," said Golg, "I could show you real gold, real silver, real
diamonds."
"Bosh!" said Jill rudely. "As if we didn't know that we're below the
deepest mines even here."
"Yes," said Golg. "I have heard of those little scratches in the crust that
you Topdwellers call mines. But that's where you get dead gold, dead
silver, dead gems. Down in Bism we have them alive and growing. There I'll
pick you bunches of rubies that you can eat and squeeze you a cup full of
diamond-juice. You won't care much about fingering the cold, dead treasures
of your shallow mines after you have tasted the live ones of Bism."
"My father went to the world's end," said Rilian thoughtfully. "It would be
a marvellous thing if his son went to the bottom of the world."
"If your Highness wants to see your father while he's still alive, which I
think he'd prefer," said Puddleglum, "it's about time we were getting on to
that road to the diggings."
"And I won't go down that hole, whatever anyone says," added Jill.
"Why, if your Honours are really set to go back to Overworld," said Golg,
"there is one bit of the road that's rather lower than this. And perhaps,
if that flood's still rising -"
"Oh, do, do, do come on!" begged Jill.
"I fear it must be so," said the Prince with a deep sigh. "But I have left
half of my heart in the land of Bism."
"Please!" begged Jill.
"Where is the road?" asked Puddleglum.
"There are lamps all the way," said Golg. "Your Honour can see the
beginning of the road on the far side of the chasm."
"How long will the lamps burn for?" asked Puddleglum.
At that moment a hissing, scorching voice like the voice of Fire itself
(they wondered afterwards if it could have been a salamander's) came
whistling up out of the very depths of Bism.
"Quick! Quick! Quick! To the cliffs, to the cliffs, to the cliffs!" it
said. "The rift closes. It closes. It closes. Quick! Quick!" And at the
same time, with ear-shattering cracks and creaks, the rocks moved. Already,
while they looked, the chasm was narrower. From every side belated gnomes
were rushing into it. They would not wait to climb down the rocks. They
flung themselves headlong and, either because so strong a blast of hot air
was beating up from the bottom, or for some other reason, they could be
seen floating downwards like leaves. Thicker and thicker they floated, till
their blackness almost blotted out the fiery river and the groves of live
gems. "Good-bye to your Honours. I'm off," shouted Golg, and dived. Only a
few were left to follow him. The chasm was now no broader than a stream.
Now it was narrow as the slit in a pillarbox. Now it was only an intensely
bright thread. Then, with a shock like a thousand goods trains crashing
into a thousand pairs of buffers, the lips of rock closed. The hot,
maddening smell vanished. The travellers were alone in an Underworld which
now looked far blacker than before. Pale, dim, and dreary, the lamps marked
the direction of the road.
"Now," said Puddleglum, "it's ten to one we've already stayed too long, but
we may as well make a try. Those lamps will give out in five minutes, I
shouldn't wonder."
They urged the horses to a canter and thundered along the dusky road in
fine style. But almost at once it began going downhill. They would have
thought Golg had sent them the wrong way if they had not seen, on the other
side of the valley, the lamps going on and upwards as far as the eye could
reach. But at the bottom of the valley the lamps shone on moving water.
"Haste," cried the Prince. They galloped down the slope. It would have been
nasty enough at the bottom even five minutes later for the tide was running
up the valley like a mill-race, and if it had come to swimming, the horses
could hardly have won over. But it was still only a foot or two deep, and
though it swished terribly round the horses' legs, they reached the far
side in safety.
Then began the slow, weary march uphill with nothing ahead to look at but
the pale lamps which went up and up as far as the eye could reach. When
they looked back they could see the water spreading. All the hills of
Underland were now islands, and it was only on those islands that the lamps
remained. Every moment some distant light vanished. Soon there would be
total darkness everywhere except on the road they were following; and even
on the lower part of it behind them, though no lamps had yet gone out, the
lamplight shone on water.
Although they had good reason for hurrying, the horses could not go on for
ever without a rest. They halted: and in silence they could hear the
lapping of water.
"I wonder is what's his name - Father Time - flooded out now," said Jill.
"And all those queer sleeping animals."
"I don't think we're as high as that," said Eustace. "Don't you remember
how we had to go downhill to reach the sunless sea? I shouldn't think the
water has reached Father Time's cave yet."
"That's as may be," said Puddleglum. "I'm more interested in the lamps on
this road. Look a bit sickly, don't they?"
"They always did," said Jill.
"Aye," said Puddleglum. "But they're greener now."
"You don't mean to say you think they're going out?" cried Eustace.
"Well, however they work, you can't expect them to last for ever, you
know," replied the Marsh-wiggle. "But don't let your spirits down, Scrubb.
I've got my eye on the water too, and I don't think it's rising so fast as
it did."
"Small comfort, friend," said the Prince. "If we cannot find our way out. I
cry you mercy, all. I am to blame for my pride and fantasy which delayed us
by the mouth of the land of Bism. Now, let us ride on."
During the hour or so that followed Jill sometimes thought that Puddleglum
was right about the lamps, and sometimes thought it was only her
imagination. Meanwhile the land was changing. The roof of Underland was so
near that even by that dull light they could now see it quite distinctly.
And the great, rugged walls of Underland could be seen drawing closer on
each side. The road, in fact, was leading them up into a steep tunnel. They
began to pass picks and shovels and barrows and other signs that the
diggers had recently been at work. If only one could be sure of getting
out, all this was very cheering. But the thought of going on into a hole
that would get narrower and narrower, and harder to turn back in, was very
unpleasant.
At last the roof was so low that Puddleglum and the Prince knocked their
heads against it. The party dismounted and led the horses. The road was
uneven here and one had to pick one's steps with some care. That was how
Jill noticed the growing darkness. There was no doubt about it now. The
faces of the others looked strange and ghastly in the green glow. Then all
at once (she couldn't help it) Jill gave a little scream. One light, the
next one ahead, went out altogether. The one behind them did the same. Then
they were in absolute darkness.
"Courage, friends," came Prince Rilian's voice. "Whether we live or die
Aslan will be our good lord."
"That's right, Sir," said Puddleglum's voice. "And you must always remember
there's one good thing about being trapped down here: it'll save funeral
expenses."
Jill held her tongue. (If you don't want other people to know how
frightened you are, this is always a wise thing to do; it's your voice that
gives you away.)
"We might as well go on as stand here," said Eustace; and when she heard
the tremble in his voice, Jill knew how wise she'd been not to trust her
own.
Puddleglum and Eustace went first with their arms stretched out in front of
them, for fear of blundering into anything; Jill and the Prince followed,
leading the horses.
"I say," came Eustace's voice much later, "are my eyes going queer or is
there a patch of light up there?"
Before anyone could answer him, Puddleglum called out: "Stop. I'm up
against a dead end. And it's earth, not rock. What were you saying,
Scrubb?"
"By the Lion," said the Prince, "Eustace is right. There is a sort of -"
"But it's not daylight," said Jill. "It's only a cold blue sort of light."
"Better than nothing, though," said Eustace. "Can we get up to it?"
"It's not right overhead," said Puddleglum. "It's above us, but it's in
this wall that I've run into. How would it be, Pole, if you got on my
shoulders and saw whether you could get up to it?"
