CHAPTER TWO JILL IS GIVEN A TASK

WITHOUT a glance at Jill the lion rose to its feet and gave one last blow. Then，as if satisfied with its work，it turned and stalked slowly away，back into the forest.

“It must be a dream，it must，it must,”said Jill to herself. “I’ll wake up in a moment.”But it wasn’t，and she didn’t.

“I do wish we’d never come to this dreadful place,”said Jill. “I don’t believe Scrubb knew any more about it than I do. Or if he did，he had no business to bring me here without warning me what it was like. It’s not my fault he fell over that cliff. If he’d left me alone we should both be all right.”Then she remembered again the scream that Scrubb had given when he fell，and burst into tears.

Crying is all right in its way while it lasts. But you have to stop sooner or later，and then you still have to decide what to do. When Jill stopped，she found she was dreadfully thirsty. She had been lying face downward，and now she sat up. The birds had ceased singing and there was perfect silence except for one small，persistent sound，which seemed to come from a good distance away. She listened carefully，and felt almost sure it was the sound of running water.

Jill got up and looked round her very carefully. There was no sign of the lion；but there were so many trees about that it might easily be quite close without her seeing it. For all she knew，there might be several lions. But her thirst was very bad now，and she plucked up her courage to go and look for that running water. She went on tiptoes，stealing cautiously from tree to tree，and stopping to peer round her at every step.

The wood was so still that it was not difficult to decide where the sound was coming from. It grew clearer every moment and， sooner than she expected，she came to an open glade and saw the stream，bright as glass，running across the turf a stone’s throw away from her. But although the sight of the water made her feel ten times thirstier than before，she didn’t rush forward and drink. She stood as still as if she had been turned into stone，with her mouth wide open. And she had a very good reason；just on this side of the stream lay the lion.

It lay with its head raised and its two fore-paws out in front of it，like the lions in Trafalgar Square. She knew at once that it had seen her，for its eyes looked straight into hers for a moment and then turned away—as if it knew her quite well and didn’t think much of her.

“If I run away，it’ll be after me in a moment,”thought Jill. “And if I go on，I shall run straight into its mouth.”Anyway，she couldn’t have moved if she had tried，and she couldn’t take her eyes off it. How long this lasted，she could not be sure；it seemed like hours. And the thirst became so bad that she almost felt she would not mind being eaten by the lion if only she could be sure of getting a mouthful of water first.

“If you’re thirsty，you may drink.”

They were the first words she had heard since Scrubb had spoken to her on the edge of the cliff. For a second she stared here and there，wondering who had spoken. Then the voice said again，“If you are thirsty，come and drink,”and of course she remembered what Scrubb had said about animals talking in that other world， and realized that it was the lion speaking. Anyway，she had seen its lips move this time，and the voice was not like a man’s. It was deeper，wilder，and stronger；a sort of heavy，golden voice. It did not make her any less frightened than she had been before，but it made her frightened in rather a different way.

“Are you not thirsty ？”said the Lion.

“I’m dying of thirst，”said Jill.

“Then drink，”said the Lion.

“May I—could I—would you mind going away while I do ？”said Jill.

The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk，she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.