But while they were standing thus a great horn, wonderfully loud and sweet, blew from somewhere ihat walled garden and the gates swung open.
Tirian stood holding his breath and w who would e out.And what came was the last thing he had expected：a little, sleek, bright-eyed Talking Mou with a red feather stu a circlet on its head and its left paw resting on a long sword.It bowed, a most beautiful bow, and said in its shrill voice：
“Wele, in the Lion’s name.e further up and further in.”
Then Tirian saw Kier and King Edmund and Queen Lucy rush forward to kneel down and greet the Mou and they all cried out“Reepicheep！”And Tiriahed fast with the sheer wonder of it, for now he khat he was looking at one of the great heroes of Narnia, Reepicheep the Mou who had fought at the great Battle of Beruna and afterward sailed to the World’s end with King Caspian the Seafarer.But before he had had much time to think of this he felt tw arms thrown about him a a bearded kiss on his cheeks and heard a well remembered voice saying：
“What, lad?Art thicker and taller since I last touched thee！”
It was his own father, the good King Erlian, but not as Tirian had en him last when they brought him home pale and wounded from his fight with the giant, nor even as Tirian remembered him in his later years when he was a grey-headed warrior.This was his father, young and merry, as he could just remember him from very early days when he himlf had been a little boy playing games with his father in the castle garden at Cair Paravel, just before bedtime on summer evenings.The very smell of the bread-and-milk he ud to have for supper came ba.
Jewel thought to himlf,“I will leave them to talk for a little and then I will go and greet the good King Erlian.Many a bright apple has he given me when I was but a colt.”But moment he had somethio think of, for out of the gateway there came a hor so mighty and hat even a Uniight feel shy in its prence：a great winged hor.It looked a moment at the Lord Digory and the Lady Polly and neighed out“What, cousins！”and they both shouted“Fledge！Good old Fledge！”and rushed to kiss it.
But by now the Mou was again urging them to e in.So all of them pasd in through the golden gates, into the delicious smell that blew toward them out of that garden and into the ixture of sunlight and shadow uhe trees, walking on springy turf that was all dotted with white flowers.The very first thing which struck everyone was that the place was far larger than it had emed from outside.But no one had time to think about that for people were ing up to meet the newers from every dire.