CHAPTER TEN THE FIRST JOKE AND OTHER MATTERS（第2/3页）
“There ！”said the Mole．“They can talk．Who ever heard of a talking lettuce ？”
“Perhaps they’re the Second joke，”suggested the Jackdaw．
A Panther，which had been washing its face，stopped for a moment to say，“Well，if they are，they’re nothing like so good as the first one．At least，1 don’t see anything very funny about them．”It yawned and went on with its wash．
“Oh，please，”said Digory．“I’m in such a hurry．I want to see the Lion．”
All this time the Cabby had been trying to catch Strawberry’s eye．Now he did．“Now，Strawberry，old boy，”he said．“You know me．You ain’t going to stand there and say as you don’t know me．”
“What’s the Thing talking about，Horse ？”said several voices.
“Well，”said Strawberry very slowly，I don’t exactly know，I think most of us don’t know much about any thing yet．But I’ve a sort of idea I’ve seen a thing like this before．I’ve a feeling I lived somewhere else-or was something else-before Aslan woke us all up a few minutes ago．It’s all very muddled．Like a dream．But there were things like these three in the dream．”
“What ？”said the Cabby．“Not know me ？ Me what used to bring you a hot mash of an evening when you was out of sorts ？ Me what rubbed you down proper ？ Me what never forgot to put your cloth on you if you was standing in the cold ？ I wouldn’t， ave thought it of you，Strawberry．”
“It does begin to come back，”said the Horse thoughtfully． “Yes．Let me think now，let me think．Yes，you used to tie a horrid black thing behind me and then hit me to make me run，and however far I ran this black thing would always be coming rattle-rattle behind me．”
“We ad our living to earn，see，”said the Cabby．“Yours the same as mine．And if there ‘adn’t been no work and no whip there’d ’ave been no stable，no hay，no mash，and no oats．For you did get a taste of oats when I could afford em，which no one can deny．”
“Oats ？”said the Horse，pricking up his ears．“Yes， I remember something about that．Yes，I remember more and more．You were always sitting up somewhere behind，and I was always running in front，pulling you and the black thing．I know I did all the work．”
“Summer，I grant you，”said the Cabby．“‘Ot work for you and a cool seat for me．But what about winter，old boy，when you was keeping yourself warm and I was sitting up there with my feet like ice and my nose fair pinched off me with the wind，and my ’ands that numb I couldn’t ‘ardly ’old the reins ？”
“It was a hard，cruel country，”said Strawberry．“There was no grass．All hard stones．”
“Too true，mate，too true ！”said the Cabby．“A’ard world it was．I always did say those paving-stones weren’t fair on any ’oss．That’s Lunn’on，that is．I didn’t like it no more than what you did．You were a country’ oss，and I was a country man．Used to sing in the choir，I did，down at’one．But there wasn’t a living for me there．”
“Oh please，please，”said Digory．“Could we get on ？ The Lion’s getting further and further away．And I do want to speak to him so dreadfully badly．”
“Look， ere，Strawber r y，”said the Cabby．“This young gen’leman， as something on his mind that he wants to talk to the Lion about；’im you call Aslan．Suppose you was to let’im ride on your back（which ’e’d take it very kindly）and trot’im over to where the Lion is．And me and the little girl will be following along．”
“Ride ？”said Strawberry．“Oh，I remember now．That means sitting on my back．I remember there used to be a little one of you two-leggers who used to do that long ago．He used to have little hard，square lumps of some white stuff that he gave me． They tasted-oh，wonderful，sweeter than grass．”
“Ah，that’d be sugar，”said the Cabby．
“Please，Strawberry，”begged Digory，“do，do let me get up and take me to Aslan．”
“Well，I don’t mind，”said the Horse．“Not for once in a way．Up you get．”
“Good old Strawberry，”said the Cabby．“‘Ere，young’ un ，I’l l give you a lift．”Digory was soon on Strawberry’s back，and quite comfortable，for he had ridden bare-back before on his own pony．
“Now，do gee up，Strawberry，”he said．
“You don’t happen to have a bit of that white stuff about you， I suppose ？”said the Horse．
“No．I’m afraid I haven’t，”said Digory．
“Well，it can’t be helped，”said Strawberry，and off they went.
At that moment a large Bulldog，who had been sniffing and staring very hard，said：
“Look．Isn’t there another of these queer creatures—over there，beside the river，under the trees ？”
Then all the animals looked and saw Uncle Andrew，standing very still among the rhododendrons and hoping he wouldn’t be noticed．