Thepoorsquirrelsallscamperedawayasifadogwereafterthem。Thiserriblehem。Thenutstheyhadcarefullyhoardedforthewinterhadnearlyallbeeenbynow;awerelefttheyhadalreadygiventheApefarmorethantheycouldspare。
Thenadeepvoice—itbelooagreattuskedandshaggyBoar—spokefromaofthecrowd。
“Butwhy'terlyandtalktohim?”itsaid。“WheoappearinNarniaintheolddayseveryoalktohimfacetoface。”
“Don'tyoubelieveit，”saidtheApe。“Awastrue，timeshaveged。Aslansayshe'sbeenfartoosoftwithyoubefore，doyousee?Well，heisn'tgoianymore。He'sgoingtolitoshapethistime。He'llteachyoutothinkhe'satamelion!”
Alowmoaningandwhimperingwasheardamos;a，adeadsilencewhiiserablestill。
“Andnowthere'sahingyougottolearn，”saidtheApe。“IhearsomeI'manApe。Well，I'mnot。I'maMan。IfIlooklikea'sbesoveryold:hundredsandhundredsofyearsold。Andit'sbesooldthatI'msowise。Andit'sbesowisethatI'mtheonlyoneAslaospeakto。He'tbebotheredtalkingtoalotofstupidanimals。He'lltellmewhatyou'vegottodo，andI'lltelltherestofyou。Andtakemyadvidseeyoudoitiime，forhedoesn'tmeantostandanynonsense。”
Therewasadeadsilehenoisebadgerditsmtomakeitkeepquiet。
“Andnowhere'sahion，fittiintoitscheek，“Ihearsomeoftheh，Let'shurryupahisjtimberoverasquicklyaswedthenwe'llbefreeagain。Well，yougetthatideaoutofyourheadsatoonlytheHorseseither。Everybodywhoioworkinfuture。AslanhasitallsettledwiththeKingofeisroc，asourdarkfadstheenescallhim。AllyouHorsesandBullsaobesentdownintoentoworkf—pullingandgthewayhorsesandsuch-likedoiries。AndallyoudigginganimalslikeMolesandRabbitsandDwarfsaregoingdowntoworkiisroines。And—”
“No，no，no，”howledtheBeasts。“It'tbetrue。AslanwouldoslaverytotheKingofen。”
&!Holdyournoise!”saidtheApewithasnarl。“Whosaidanythingaboutslavery?Youwon'tbeslaves。You'llbepaid—verygoodwagestoo。Thatistosay，yourpaywillbepaidintoAslan'streasuryandhewilluseitallforeverybody'sgood。”Thenheglandalmostwiheeheenebolied，inthepompouseneway:“MostsapientMouthpieceofAslaisroc（mayhe-live-forever）iswhollyofohyourlordshipinthisjudi。”
“There!Yousee!”saidtheApe。“It'sallarranged。Andallfood。We'llbeable，withthemoomakeNarniaatrywin。There'llbeesandbananaspin—androadsandbigdsdoffidwhipsandmuzzlesandsaddlesanddkennelsandprisohing。”
“Butwedon'twantallthosethings，”saidanoldBear。“Wewanttobefree。AohearAslanspeakhimself。”
“Nowdon'ty，”saidtheApe，“forit'sathingIwon'tstand。I'maMan:you'reonlyafat，stupidoldBear。Whatdoyouknowaboutfreedom?Youthinkfreedommeansdoingwhatyoulike。Well，y。Thatisn'ttruefreedom。TruefreedommeansdoingwhatItellyou。”
“H-n-n-h，”gruheBearandscratcheditshead;itfoundthissortofthinghardtouand。
“Please，please，”saidthehighvoib，whowassoyoungthateveryonerisedhedaredtospeakatall。
“Whatisitnoe。“Bequick。”
“Please，”saidtheLamb，“I'tuand。WhathavewetodowiththeeoAslaash。TheyhaveagodcalledTash。Theysayhehasfourarmsandtheheadofavulture。TheykillMenonhisaltar。Idon'tbelievethere'saash。Butiftherewas，howcouldAslahhim?”
Alltheanimalscockedtheirheadssidewaysaeyesflashedtoe。Theykwasthebestquestionanyonehadaskedyet。
TheApejumpedupandspatattheLamb。
“Baby!”hehissed。“Sillylittlebleater!Gohometoyourmotheranddrinkmilk。Whatdoyouuandofsugs?Buttheothers，listen。TashisonlyanothernameforAslan。Allthatoldideaofusbeingrightandtheeneswrongissilly。WekheenesusedifferentwordsbutweallmeaashandAslawodifferentnamesforyouknowWho。That'swhythereeverbeaweeintoyourheads，youstupidbrutes。TashisAslan:AslanisTash。”
Youknowhowsady'sfaes。ThinkofthatahinkofallthefacesofthoseTalkis—allthoseho，humble，bewilderedBirds，Bears，Badgers，Rabbits，Moles，andMice—allfarsadderthaailwasdown，everywhiskerdrooped。Itwouldhavebrokehverypitytoseetheirfaces。Therewasonlyonewhodidnotlookatallunhappy。
Itwasagi—agreatbigTomintheprimeoflife—rightwithhistailcurledrouheveryfrontrowofalltheBeasts。HehadbeenstaringhardattheApeandtheeaiimeandhadneveronkedhiseyes。
“Excuseme，”saidtheCatverypolitely，“butthisisme。Doesyourfriendfromensaythesame?”
“Assuredly，”saidtheeenedApe—Man，Imean—isi。Aslaherlessash。”
“Especially，Aslanmeaash?”suggestedtheCat。
“all，”saidtheene，lookiraightintheface。
“Isthatgoodeninger?”saidtheApe。
“Ohly，”saidGingercoolly。“Thankyouverymulywaeclear。Ithiouand。”
UptillnowtheKingandJewelhadsaidnothing:theywerewaitinguntiltheApeshouldbidthemspeak，fortheythoughtitwaserrupting。Butnow，asTirianlookedroundonthemiserablefacesoftheNarnians，andsaouldallbelievethatAslanandTashwereohesame，hecouldbearitnolonger。
“Ape，”hecriedwithagreatvoinably。Youlielikeaene。YoulielikeanApe。”
&ogoonandaskhodTashwhofedonthebloodofhispeoplecouldpossiblybethesameasthegoodLionbywhosebloodallNarniawassaved。Ifhehadbeeospeak，theruleoftheApemighthaveeday;theBeastsmighthaveseehandthroedown。Butbeforehecouldsayawoeruthemouthwithalltheirfordathird，frombehind，kickedhisfeetfromunderhim。AheApesquealedierror。
“Takehimaway。Takehimaway。Takehimwhereheothearus，heretiehimtoatree。Iwill—Imean，Aslanwill—dojustilater。”