Prince Caspian Read Online Free PDF

And so they reigned for ever so long and everyone had a lovely time, and it was all because of Aslan—”
    “Who’s he?” said Miraz. And if Caspian had been a very little older, the tone of his uncle’s voice would have warned him that it would be wiser to shut up. But he babbled on,
    “Oh, don’t you know?” he said. “Aslan is the great Lion who comes from over the sea.”
    “Who has been telling you all this nonsense?” said the King in a voice of thunder. Caspian was frightened and said nothing.
    “Your Royal Highness,” said King Miraz, letting go of Caspian’s hand, which he had been holding till now, “I insist upon being answered. Look me in the face. Who has been telling you this pack of lies?”
    “N—Nurse,” faltered Caspian, and burst into tears.
    “Stop that noise,” said his uncle, taking Caspian by the shoulders and giving him a shake. “Stop it.And never let me catch you talking—or thinking either—about all those silly stories again. There never were those Kings and Queens. How could there be two Kings at the same time? And there’s no such person as Aslan. And there are no such things as lions. And there never was a time when animals could talk. Do you hear?”
    “Yes, Uncle,” sobbed Caspian.
    “Then let’s have no more of it,” said the King. Then he called to one of the gentlemen-in-waiting who were standing at the far end of the terrace and said in a cold voice, “Conduct His Royal Highness to his apartments and send His Royal Highness’s nurse to me AT ONCE .”
     

    Next day Caspian found what a terrible thing he had done, for Nurse had been sent away without even being allowed to say good-bye to him, and he was told he was to have a Tutor.
    Caspian missed his nurse very much and shed many tears; and because he was so miserable, he thought about the old stories of Narnia far more than before. He dreamed of Dwarfs and Dryads every night and tried very hard to make the dogs and cats in the castle talk to him. But the dogs only wagged their tails and the cats only purred.
    Caspian felt sure that he would hate the new Tutor, but when the new Tutor arrived about a week later he turned out to be the sort of person itis almost impossible not to like. He was the smallest, and also the fattest, man Caspian had ever seen. He had a long, silvery, pointed beard which came down to his waist, and his face, which was brown and covered with wrinkles, looked very wise, very ugly, and very kind. His voice was grave and his eyes were merry so that, until you got to know him really well, it was hard to know when he was joking and when he was serious. His name was Doctor Cornelius.

    Of all his lessons with Doctor Cornelius the one that Caspian liked best was History. Up till now, except for Nurse’s stories, he had known nothing about the History of Narnia, and he was very surprised to learn that the royal family were newcomers in the country.
    “It was your Highness’s ancestor, Caspian the First,” said Doctor Cornelius, “who first conquered Narnia and made it his kingdom. It was he who brought all your nation into the country. You are not native Narnians at all. You are all Telmarines—that is, you all came from the Land of Telmar, far beyond the Western Mountains. That is why Caspian the First is called Caspian the Conqueror.”
    “Please, Doctor,” asked Caspian one day, “who lived in Narnia before we all came here out of Telmar?”
    “No men—or very few—lived in Narnia before the Telmarines took it,” said Doctor Cornelius.
    “Then who did my great-great-grandcesters conquer?”
    “ Whom , not who , your Highness,” said Doctor Cornelius. “Perhaps it is time to turn from History to Grammar.”
    “Oh please, not yet,” said Caspian. “I mean, wasn’t there a battle? Why is he called Caspianthe Conqueror if there was nobody to fight with him?”
    “I said there were very few men in Narnia,” said the Doctor, looking at the little boy very strangely through