JILL IS GIVEN A TASK WITHOUT a gla Jill the lion rose to its feet and gave one last blow. Then, as if satisfied with its work, it turned and stalked slowly away, bato the forest.
"It must be a dream, it must, it must," said Jill to herself. "Ill wake up in a moment." But it wasnt, and she didnt.
"I do wish wed never e to this dreadful place," said Jill. "I dont believe Scrubb knew any more about it than I do. Or if he did, he had no busi me here without warning me what it was like. Its not my fault he fell over that cliff. If hed left me alone we should both be all right." Then she remembered again the scream that Scrubb had given when he fell, and burst into tears.
g is all right in its way while it lasts. But you have to stop sooner or later, and then you still have to decide what to do. When Jill stopped, she found she was dreadfully thirsty. She had been lying face downward, and now she sat up. The birds had ceased singing and there erfect silence except for one small, persistent sound, which seemed to e from a good distance away. She listened carefully, a almost sure it was the sound of running water.
Jill got up and looked round her very carefully. There was no sign of the lion; but there were so many trees about that it might easily be quite close without her seeing it. For all she khere might be several lions. But her thirst was very bad now, and she plucked up her ce to go and look for that running water. She went on tiptoes, stealing cautiously from tree to tree, and stopping to peer rou every step.
The wood was so still that it was not difficult to decide where the sound was ing from. It grew clearer every moment and, soohan she expected, she came to an open glade and saw the stream, bright as glass, running across the turf a stohrow away from her. But although the sight of the water made her feel ten times thirstier than before, she didnt rush forward and drink. She stood as still as if she had been turned into stone,
with her mouth wide open. And she had a very good reason; just on this side of the stream lay the lion.
It lay with its head raised and its two fore-paws out in front of it, like the lions in Trafalgar Square. She k ohat it had seen her, for its eyes looked straight into hers for a moment and then turned away - as if it knew her quite well and didnt think much of her.
"If I run away, itll be after me in a moment," thought Jill. "And if I go on, I shall run straight into its mouth." Anyway, she couldnt have moved if she had tried, and she couldnt take her eyes off it. How long this lasted, she could not be sure; it seemed like hours. And the thirst became so bad that she almost felt she would not mind beien by the lion if only she could be sure of getting a mouthful of water first.
"If youre thirsty, you may drink.」
They were the first words she had heard since Scrubb had spoken to her on the edge of the cliff. For a sed she stared here and there, w who had spoken. Then the voice said again, "If you are thirsty, e and drink," and of course she remembered what Scrubb had said about animals talking in that other world, and realized that it was the lion speaking. Anyway, she had seen its lips move this time, and the voice was not like a mans. It was deeper, wilder, and stronger; a sort of heavy, golden voice. It did not make her any less frightehan she had been before, but it made her frightened in rather a differe