“I desire and propo, O my father,” said Rabadash, “that you immediately call out your invincible armies and ihe thrice-accurd land of Narnia and waste it with fire and sword and add it to your illimitable empire, killing their High King and all of his blood except the queen Susan. For I must have her as my wife, though she shall learn a sharp lesson first.”
“Uand, O my son,” said the Tisroc, “that no words you speak will move me to open war against Narnia.”
“If you were not my father, O ever-living Tisroc, “said the Prince, grinding his teeth, “I should say that was the word of a coward.”
“And if you were not my son, O most inflammable Rabadash,” replied his father, “your life would be short and your death slow when you had said it.”（The cool, placid voi which he spoke the words made Aravis’s blood run cold.）
“But why, O my father,” said the Prihis time in a much more respectful voice, “why should we think twice about punishing Narnia any more than about hanging an idle slave or nding a worn-out hor to be made into dog’s meat? It is not the fourth size of one of your least provinces. A thousand spears could quer it in five weeks. It is an unemly blot on the skirts of your empire.”
“Most undoubtedly,” said the Tisroc. “The little barbarian tries that call themlves free （which is as much as to say, idle, disordered, and unprofitable） are hateful to the gods and to all persons of disment.”
“Then why have we suffered such a land as Narnia to remain thus long unsubdued?”
“Know, O enlightened Prince,” said the Grand Vizier, “that until the year in which your exalted father began his salutary and unending reign, the land of Narnia was covered with id snow and was moreover ruled by a most powerful entress.”
“This I know very well, O loquacious Vizier,” answered the Prince. “But I know also that the entress is dead. And the id snow have vanished, so that Narnia is now wholesome, fruitful, and delicious.”
“And this ge, O most learned Prince, has doubtless been brought to pass by the powerful intations of tho wicked persons who now call themlves kings and queens of Narnia.”
“I am rather of the opinion,” said Rabadash, “that it has e about by the alteration of the stars and the operation of natural caus.”
“All this,” said the Tisroc, “is a question for the disputations of learned men. I will never believe that so great an alteration, and the killing of the old entress, were effected without the aid of strong magid such things are to be expected in that land, which is chiefly inhabited by demons in the shape of beasts that talk like men, and mohat are half man and half beast. It is only reported that the High King of Narnia （whom may the gods utterly reject） is supported by a demon of hideous asped irresistible malefice ears in the shape of a Lion. Therefore the attag of Narnia is a dark and doubtful enterpri, and I am determined not to put my hand out farther than I draw it back.”