CHAPTER NINE IN THE WITCH’S HOUSE（第2/4页）

He would never have found his way if the moon hadn’t come out by the time he got to the other river you remember he had seen （when they first arrived at the Beavers.）a smaller river flowing into the great one lower down．He now reached this and turned to follow it up．But the little valley down which it came was much steeper and rocker than the one he had just left and much overgrown with bushes，so that he could not have managed it at all in the dark ．Even as it was，he got wet through for he had to stoop under branches and great loads of snow came sliding off on to his back． And every time this happened he thought more and more how he hated Peter-just as if all this had been Peter’s fault．

But at last he came to a part where it was more level and the valley opened out．And there，on the other side of the river，quite close to him，in the middle of a little plain between two hills，he saw what must be the White Witch’s House．And the moon was shining brighter than ever．The House was really a small castle． It seemed to be all towers；little towers with long pointed spires on them，sharp as needles．They looked like huge dunce’s caps or sorcerer’s caps．And they shone in the moonlight and their long shadows looked strange on the snow．Edmund began to be afraid of the House．

But it was too late to think of turning back now．He crossed the river on the ice and walked up to the House．There was nothing stirring；not the slightest sound anywhere．Even his own feet made no noise on the deep newly fallen snow．He walked on and on，past corner after corner of the House，and past turret after turret to find the door．He had to go right round to the far side before he found it．It was a huge arch but the great iron gates stood wide open．

Edmund crept up to the arch and looked inside into the courtyard，and there he saw a sight that nearly made his heart stop beating．Just inside the gate，with the moonlight shining on it， stood an enormous lion crouched as if it was ready to spring．And Edmund stood in the shadow of the arch，afraid to go on and afraid to go back，with his knees knocking together．He stood there so long that his teeth would have been chattering with cold even if they had not been chattering with fear．How long this really lasted I don’t know，but it seemed to Edmund to last for hours．

Then at last he began to wonder why the lion was standing so still-for it hadn’t moved one inch since he first set eyes on it． Edmund now ventured a little nearer，still keeping in the shadow of the arch as much as he could．He now saw from the way the lion was standing that it couldn’t have been looking at him at all. （“But supposing it turns its head ？”thought Edmund．）In fact it was staring at something else—namely a little：dwarf who stood with his back to it about four feet away．“Aha ！”thought Edmund. “When it springs at the dwarf then will be my chance to escape.” But still the lion never moved，nor did the dwarf．And now at last Edmund remembered what the others had said about the White Witch turning people into stone．Perhaps this was only a stone lion. And as soon as he had thought of that he noticed that the lion’s back and the top of its head were covered with snow．Of course it must be only a statue ！ No living animal would have let itself get covered with snow．Then very slowly and with his heart beating as if it would burst，Edmund ventured to go up to the lion．Even now he hardly dared to touch it，but at last he put out his hand，very quickly，and did．It was cold stone．He had been frightened of a mere statue ！

The relief which Edmund felt was so great that in spite of the cold he suddenly got warm all over right down to his toes，and at the same time there came into his head what seemed a perfectly lovely idea．“Probably，”he thought，“this is the great Lion Aslan that they were all talking about．She’s caught him already and turned him into stone．So that’s the end of all their fine ideas about him ！ Pooh ！ Who’s afraid of Aslan ？”