You may think the animals were very stupid not to see at once that Uncle Andrew was the same kind of creature as the two children and the Cabby.
But you must remember that the animals knew nothing about clothes.
They thought that Polly's frock (連衣裙) and Digory's Norfolk suit (Norfolk suit 諾?？颂籽b) and the Cabby's hat were as much parts of them as their own fur and feathers.
They wouldn't have known even that those three were all of the same kind if they hadn't spoken to them and if Strawberry had not seemed to think so.
And Uncle Andrew was a great deal taller than the children and a good deal thinner than the Cabby.
He was all in black except for his white waistcoat (not very white by now), and the great grey mop (蓬松的頭發(fā)) of his hair (now very wild indeed) didn't look to them like anything they had seen in the three other humans.
So it was only natural that they should be puzzled (迷惑的). Worst of all, he didn't seem to be able to talk.
He had tried to. When the Bulldog spoke to him (or, as he thought, first snarled (咆哮) and then growled at him) he held out his shaking hand and gasped "Good Doggie, then, poor old fellow."
But the beasts could not understand him any more than he could understand them. They didn't hear any words: only a vague (含糊的) sizzling noise.
Perhaps it was just as well they didn't, for no dog that I ever knew, least of all a Talking Dog of Narnia, likes being called a Good Doggie then; any more than you would like being called My Little Man.
Then Uncle Andrew dropped down in a dead faint (昏厥).
"There!" said a Warthog (野豬), "it's only a tree. I always thought so." (Remember, they had never yet seen a faint or even a fall.)
The Bulldog, who had been sniffing (嗅) Uncle Andrew all over, raised its head and said, "It's an animal. Certainly an animal. And probably the same kind as those other ones."
"I don't see that," said one of the Bears. "An animal wouldn't just roll over like that. We're animals and we don't roll over. We stand up. Like this."
He rose to his hind (后部的) legs, took a step backwards, tripped over a low branch (樹枝) and fell flat on his back.
"The Third Joke, the Third Joke, the Third joke!" said the Jackdaw in great excitement.
"I still think it's a sort of tree," said the Warthog.
"If it's a tree," said the other Bear, "there might be a bees' nest (巢) in it."
"I'm sure it's not a tree," said the Badger (獾). "I had a sort of idea it was trying to speak before it toppled (傾倒) over."
"That was only the wind in its branches," said the Warthog.
"You surely don't mean," said the Jackdaw to the Badger, "that you think its a talking animal! It didn't say any words."
"And yet, you know," said the Elephant (the She Elephant, of course; her husband, as you remember, had been called away by Aslan).
"And yet, you know, it might be an animal of some kind. Mightn't the whitish (發(fā)白的) lump at this end be a sort of face? And couldn't those holes be eyes and a mouth? No nose, of course.
"But then - ahem - one mustn't be narrow-minded (狹隘的). Very few of us have what could exactly be called a Nose." She squinted (瞇眼看) down the length of her own trunk (象鼻) with pardonable pride.
"I object to that remark (評論) very strongly," said the Bulldog.
"The Elephant is quite right," said the Tapir (貘).
"I tell you what!" said the Donkey brightly, "perhaps it's an animal that can't talk but thinks it can."
"Can it be made to stand up?" said the Elephant thoughtfully.
She took the limp form of Uncle Andrew gently in her trunk and set him up on end: upside down, unfortunately, so that two half-sovereigns (半英鎊), three halfcrowns (半克朗), and a sixpence (便士) fell out of his pocket.
But it was no use. Uncle Andrew merely collapsed (倒塌，指安德魯舅舅倒下) again.
"There!" said several voices. "It isn't an animal at all, It's not alive."
"I tell you, it is an animal," said the Bulldog. "Smell it for yourself."
"Smelling isn't everything," said the Elephant.
"Why," said the Bulldog, "if a fellow can't trust his nose, what is he to trust?"
"Well, his brains perhaps," she replied mildly (溫和地).
"I object to that remark very strongly," said the Bulldog.
"Well, we must do something about it," said the Elephant. "Because it may be the Neevil, and it must be shown to Aslan. What do most of us think? Is it an animal or something of the tree kind?"
"Tree! Tree!" said a dozen voices.
"Very well," said the Elephant. "Then, if it's a tree it wants to be planted. We must dig a hole."
The two Moles (鼴鼠) settled that part of the business pretty quickly. There was some dispute (爭吵) as to which way up Uncle Andrew ought to be put into the hole, and he had a very narrow escape from being put in head foremost.
Several animals said his legs must be his branches and therefore (因此) the grey, fluffy (蓬松的) thing (they meant his head) must be his root.
But then others said that the forked (分叉) end of him was the muddier and that it spread out more, as roots ought to do. So finally he was planted right way up.
When they had patted down the earth it came up above his knees.
"It looks dreadfully (非常) withered (枯萎的)," said the Donkey.
"Of course it wants some watering," said the Elephant.
"I think I might say (meaning no offence to anyone present) that, perhaps, for that sort of work, my kind of nose -"
"I object to that remark very strongly," said the Bulldog.
But the Elephant walked quietly to the river, filled her trunk with water, and came back to attend to Uncle Andrew.
The sagacious (聰慧的) animal went on doing this till gallons? (加侖) of water had been squirted over him, and water was running out of the skirts (下擺) of his frock-coat as if he had been for a bath with all his clothes on.
In the end it revived (使復活) him. He awoke from his faint. What a wake it was! But we must leave him to think over his wicked (惡劣的) deed (行為) (if he was likely to do anything so sensible) and turn to more important things.
