[171] After Digory had looked at the wood for a long time he noticed that there was a girl lying on her back at the foot of a tree a few yards away. Her eyes were nearly shut but not quite, as if she were just between sleeping and waking. So he looked at her for a long time and said nothing. And at last she opened her eyes and looked at him for a long time and she also said nothing. Then she spoke, in a dreamy, contented sort of voice.
[172] “I think I’ve seen you before,” she said.
[173] “I rather think so too,” said Digory. “Have you been here long?”
[174] “Oh, always,” said the girl. “At least—I don’t know a very long time.”
[175] “So have I,” said Digory.
[176] “No you haven’t, said she. “I’ve just seen you come up out of that pool.”
[177] “Yes, I suppose I did,” said Digory with a puzzled air, “I’d forgotten.”
[178] Then for quite a long time neither said any more.
[179] “Look here,” said the girl presently, “I wonder did we ever really meet before? I had a sort of idea—a sort of picture in my head—of a boy and a girl, like us—living somewhere quite different—and doing all sorts of things. Perhaps it was only a dream.”
[180] “I’ve had that same dream, I think,” said Digory. “About a boy and a girl, living next door—and something about crawling among rafters. I remember the girl had a dirty face.”
[181] “Aren’t you getting it mixed? In my dream it was the boy who had the dirty face.”
[182] “I can’t remember the boy’s face,” said Digory: and then added, “Hullo! What’s that?”
[183] “Why! it’s a guinea-pig,” said the girl. And it was—a fat guinea-pig, nosing about in the grass. But round the middle of the guinea-pig there ran a tape, and, tied on to it by the tape, was a bright yellow ring.
[184] “Look! look,” cried Digory, “The ring! And look! You’ve got one on your finger. And so have I.”
[185] The girl now sat up, really interested at last. They stared very hard at one another, trying to remember. And then, at exactly the same moment, she shouted out “Mr Ketterley” and he shouted out “Uncle Andrew”, and they knew who they were and began to remember the whole story. After a few minutes hard talking they had got it straight. Digory explained how beastly Uncle Andrew had been.
[186] “What do we do now?” said Polly. “Take the guineapig and go home?”
[187] “There’s no hurry,” said Digory with a huge yawn.
[188] “I think there is,” said Polly. “This place is too quiet. It’s so—so dreamy. You’re almost asleep. If we once give in to it we shall just lie down and drowse for ever and ever.”
[189] “It’s very nice here,” said Digory.
“Yes, it is,” said Polly.
“But we’ve got to get back.” She stood up and began to go cautiously towards the guinea-pig. But then she changed her mind.
[190] “We might as well leave the guinea-pig,” she said. “It’s perfectly happy here, and your uncle will only do something horrid to it if we take it home.”
[191] “I bet he would,” answered Digory. “Look at the way he’s treated us. By the way, how do we get home?”
[192] “Go back into the pool, I expect.”
[193] They came and stood together at the edge looking down into the smooth water. It was full of the reflection of the green, leafy branches; they made it look very deep.
[194] “We haven’t any bathing things,” said Polly.
“We shan’t need them, silly,” said Digory. “We’re going in with our clothes on. Don’t you remember it didn’t wet us on the way up?”
“Can you swim?”
“A bit. Can you?”
“Well—not much.”
“I don’t think we shall need to swim,” said Digory “We want to go down, don’t we?”
[195] Neither of them much liked the idea of jumping into that pool, but neither said so to the other. They took hands and said “One—Two—Three—Go” and jumped. There was a great splash and of course they closed their eyes. But when they opened them again they found they were still standing, hand in hand, in the green wood, and hardly up to their ankles in water. The pool was apparently only a couple of inches deep. They splashed back on to the dry ground.
[196] “What on earth’s gone wrong?” said Polly in a frightened voice; but not quite so frightened as you might expect, because it is hard to feel really frightened in that wood. The place is too peaceful.
[197] “Oh! I know,” said Digory, “Of course it won’t work. We’re still wearing our yellow rings. They’re for the outward journey, you know. The green ones take you home. We must change rings. Have you got pockets? Good. Put your yellow ring in your left. I’ve got two greens. Here’s one for you.”
[198] They put on their green rings and came back to the pool. But before they tried another jump Digory gave a long “O-ooh!”
[199] “What’s the matter?” said Polly.
[200] “I’ve just had a really wonderful idea,” said Digory. “What are all the other pools?”
[201] “How do you mean?”
[202] “Why, if awe can get back to our own world by jumping into this pool, mightn’t we get somewhere else by jumping into one of the others? Supposing there was a world at the bottom of every pool.”
[203] “But I thought we were already in your Uncle Andrew’s Other World or Other Place or whatever he called it. Didn’t you say—”
[204] “Oh bother Uncle Andrew,” interrupted Digory. “I don’t believe he knows anything about it. He never had the pluck to come here himself. He only talked of one Other World. But suppose there were dozens?”
[205] “You mean, this wood might be only one of them?”
[206] “No, I don’t believe this wood is a world at all. I think it’s just a sort of in-between place.”
[207] Polly looked puzzled. “Don’t you see?” said Digory. “No, do listen. Think of our tunnel under the slates at home. It isn’t a room in any of the houses. In a way, it isn’t really part of any of the houses. But once you’re in the tunnel you can go along it and come into any of the houses in the row. Mightn’t this wood be the same?—a place that isn’t in any of the worlds, but once you’ve found that place you can get into them all.”
[208] “Well, even if you can—” began Polly, but Digory went on as if he hadn’t heard her.
[209] “And of course that explains everything,” he said. “That’s why it is so quiet and sleepy here. Nothing ever happens here. Like at home. It’s in the houses that people talk, and do things, and have meals. Nothing goes on in the inbetween places, behind the walls and above the ceilings and under the floor, or in our own tunnel. But when you come out of our tunnel you may find yourself in any house. I think we can get out of this place into jolly well Anywhere! We don’t need to jump back into the same pool we came up by. Or not just yet.”
[210] “The Wood between the Worlds,” said Polly dreamily. “It sounds rather nice.”
[211] “Come on,” said Digory. “Which pool shall we try?”
171
Постояв, он наконец увидел неподалеку лежащую в траве девочку. Глаза у нее были закрыты, но не совсем, словно она просыпалась. Покуда он глядел на девочку, она раскрыла глаза и стала смотреть на него, а потом проговорила сонным голосом:
179
– Знаешь, – начала девочка, – мы, наверное, и вправду встречались. Что-то я припоминаю такое… что-то вижу… место какое-то… Или это сон?
180
– Я этот сон тоже видел, – сказал Дигори, – про мальчика и девочку, которые жили в соседних домах… и полезли куда-то… У девочки еще лицо было перепачкано…
183
– Морская свинка, – отвечала девочка. – И действительно, в траве возилась пухленькая морская свинка, подпоясанная ленточкой, к которой было привязано сверкающее желтое кольцо.
185
Девочка очнулась и приподнялась. Они напряженно глядели друг на друга, пытаясь что-то припомнить, покуда не закричали в один голос:
– Мистер Кеттерли!
– Дядя Эндрью!
Наконец-то они вспомнили, откуда и как сюда попали. На это ушло порядочно времени и сил. Дигори рассказал девочке про все подлости своего дяди.
188
– Нет, давай поторопимся, – возразила Полли. – Слишком тут спокойно, сонно как-то. Смотри, ты же на глазах засыпаешь. Вот поддадимся – и совсем навсегда заснем.
189
– Здесь хорошо, – сказал Дигори.
– Хорошо-то хорошо, – не сдавалась Полли, а вернуться все равно надо.
Поднявшись на ноги, она потянулась было к свинке, но передумала.
190
– Оставим ее, – сказала Полли. – Кому кому, а ей тут неплохо. Дома твой дядюшка опять ее мучить начнет.
191
– Точно, – согласился Дигори. – Ты только подумай, что он нам с тобой за гадость устроил! Кстати, а как же нам домой-то вернуться?
193
Они подошли к пруду. Зеленая, мирная вода, в которой отражались листья, казалась бездонной.
194
– А купальники? – спросила Полли. – А плавать ты умеешь?
– Немножко. А ты?
– М-м… совсем плохо.
– Плавать нам не придется, – сказал Дигори. – Только нырнуть. И купальников не нужно. Так и нырнем одетые. Ты что, забыла, как мы сюда вышли совсем сухие?
195
Ни мальчику, ни девочке не хотелось признаваться в том, как они боялись нырять. Взявшись за руки, они отсчитали: «Раз-два-три – плюх!» – и прыгнули в воду. Раздался всплеск. Едва зажмурившись, Полли и Дигори снова открыли глаза и увидали, что стоят в мелкой луже, все в том же зеленом лесу. Вода в пруду едва доходила им до щиколоток.
196
– В чем же дело? – Полли испугалась, но не особенно. По-настоящему в этом лесу никто бы не испугался – уж слишком там было спокойно.
197
– Я знаю! – сказал Дигори. – На нас желтые кольца, так? Они переносят сюда. А зеленые – домой! Карманы у тебя есть? Отлично. Положи-ка желтое в левый. Зеленые у меня. Держи, одно тебе.
198
Надев на пальцы по зеленому колечку, они снова пошли к пруду, как вдруг Дигори воскликнул:
– Слушай!
200
– Мне потрясающая мысль в голову пришла, – отвечал мальчик. – Куда ведут остальные пруды?
202
– А так. Через этот пруд мы вернулись бы в наш мир. А через другие? Может, каждый ведет в свой собственный другой мир?
204
– Ну его, дядюшку! Ни фига он не знает. Сам-то, небось, никуда в жизни не нырял. Допустим, ему кажется, что есть наш мир и еще один другой. А если их много?
207
Полли не поняла, и он принялся объяснять ей.
– Ужасно легко понять. Проход в нашем доме, допустим, он же не комната? Но из него можно попасть в другие комнаты. Он вроде и не часть никакого дома, но если уж ты в него попала, то иди на здоровье, и попадешь в любой соседний дом, так? Вот и лес этот такой. Эдакое место, которое само по себе вроде бы и нигде, а зато из него можно попасть куда угодно.
209
– Разумеется, так! – торопился он. – Теперь все ясно! Вот почему здесь так тихо и сонно. Чему здесь случаться? Это в домах люди едят, разговаривают, занимаются всякими делами. А между стенками, и над потолками, и в проходе дома ничего не происходит. Зато из такого местечка можно пробраться куда хочешь. И зачем нам сдался наш пруд? Давай попробуем в другой нырнуть, а?