CHAPTER TWO JILL IS GIVEN A TASK（第3/5页）

As the Lion seemed to have finished，Jill thought she should say something. So she said，“Thank you very much. I see.”

“Child,”said Aslan，in a gentler voice than he had yet used，“perhaps you do not see quite as well as you think. But the first step is to remember. Repeat to me，in order，the four signs.”

Jill tried，and didn’t get them quite right. So the Lion corrected her，and made her repeat them again and again till she could say them perfectly. He was very patient over this，so that， when it was done，Jill plucked up courage to ask：

“Please，how am I to get to Narnia ？ ”

“On my breath,”said the Lion. “I will blow you into the west of the world as I blew Eustace.”

“Shall I catch him in time to tell him the first sign ？ But I suppose it won’t matter. If he sees an old friend，he’s sure to go and speak to him，isn’t he ？”

“You will have no time to spare,”said the Lion. “That is why I must send you at once. Come. Walk before me to the edge of the cliff.”

Jill remembered very well that if there was no time to spare， that was her own fault. “If I hadn’t made such a fool of myself， Scrubb and I would have been going together. And he’d have heard all the instructions as well as me,”she thought. So she did as she was told. It was very alarming walking back to the edge of the cliff，especially as the Lion did not walk with her but behind her— making no noise on his soft paws.

But long before she had got anywhere near the edge，the voice behind her said，“Stand still. In a moment I will blow. But， first，remember，remember，remember the signs. Say them to yourself when you wake in the morning and when you lie down at night，and when you wake in the middle of the night. And whatever strange things may happen to you，let nothing turn your mind from following the signs. And secondly，I give you a warning. Here on the mountain I have spoken to you clearly： I will not often do so down in Narnia. Here on the mountain，the air is clear and your mind is clear；as you drop down into Narnia， the air will thicken. Take great care that it does not confuse your mind. And the signs which you have learned here will not look at all as you expect them to look，when you meet them there. That is why it is so important to know them by heart and pay no attention to appearances. Remember the signs and believe the signs. Nothing else matters. And now，daughter of Eve，farewell—”

The voice had been growing softer towards the end of this speech and now it faded away altogether. Jill looked behind her. To her astonishment she saw the cliff already more than a hundred yards behind her，and the Lion himself a speck of bright gold on the edge of it. She had been setting her teeth and clenching her fists for a terrible blast of lion’s breath；but the breath had really been so gentle that she had not even noticed the moment at which she left the earth. And now，there was nothing but air for thousands upon thousands of feet below her.

She felt frightened only for a second. For one thing，the world beneath her was so very far away that it seemed to have nothing to do with her. For another，floating on the breath of the Lion was so extremely comfortable. She found she could lie on her back or on her face and twist any way she pleased，just as you can in water（if you’ve learned to float really well）. And because she was moving at the same pace as the breath，there was no wind，and the air seemed beautifully warm. It was not in the least like being in an aeroplane，because there was no noise and no vibration. If Jill had ever been in a balloon she might have thought it more like that； only better.

When she looked back now she could take in for the first time the real size of the mountain she was leaving. She wondered why a mountain so huge as that was not covered with snow and ice—“but I suppose all that sort of thing is different in this world,”thought Jill. Then she looked below her；but she was so high that she couldn’t make out whether she was floating over land or sea，nor what speed she was going at.