CHAPTER NINE HOW THEY DISCOVERED SOMETHING WORTH KNOWING（第2/5页）

And gradually even Jill came to see it from his point of view. At any rate，none of them wanted any more lunch. And as soon as they thought it safe they crept quietly out of the hall.

It was now drawing near to that time of the day on which their hopes of escape depended，and all became nervous. They hung about in passages and waited for things to become quiet. The giants in the hall sat on a dreadfully long time after the meal was over. The bald one was telling a story. When that was over，the three travellers dawdled down to the kitchen. But there were still plenty of giants there，or at least in the scullery，washing up and putting things away. It was agonizing，waiting till these finished their jobs and，one by one，wiped their hands and went away. At last only one old giantess was left in the room. She pottered about，and pottered about，and at last the three travellers realized with horror that she did not intend to go away at all.

“Well，dearies,”she said to them. “That job’s about through. Let’s put the kettle there. That’ll make a nice cup of tea presently. Now I can have a little bit of a rest. Just look into the scullery，like good poppets，and tell me if the back door is open.”

“Yes，it is,”said Scrubb.

“That’s right. I always leave it open so as Puss can get in and out，the poor thing.”

Then she sat down on one chair and put her feet up on another.

“I don’t know as I mightn’t have forty winks,”said the giantess. “If only that blarney hunting party doesn’t come back too soon.”

All their spirits leaped up when she mentioned forty winks， and flopped down again when she mentioned the return of the hunting party.

“When do they usually comeback ？”asked Jill.

“You never can tell,”said the giantess. “But there；go and be quiet for a bit，my dearies.”

They retreated to the far end of the kitchen，and would have slipped out into the scullery there and then if the giantess had not sat up，opened her eyes，and brushed away a fly. “Don’t try it till we’re sure she’s really asleep,”whispered Scrubb. “Or it’ll spoil everything.”So they all huddled at the kitchen end，waiting and watching. The thought that the hunters might come back at any moment was terrible. And the giantess was fidgety. Whenever they thought she had really gone to sleep，she moved.

“I can’t bear this,”thought Jill. To distract her mind，she began looking about her. Just in front of her was a clean wide table with two clean pie-dishes on it，and an open book. They were giant pie-dishes of course. Jill thought that she could lie down just comfortably in one of them. Then she climbed up on the bench beside the table to look at the book. She read：

MALLARD. This delicious bird can be cooked in a variety of ways.

“It’s a cookery book,”thought Jill without much interest，and glanced over her shoulder. The giantess’s eyes were shut but she didn’t look as if she were properly asleep. Jill glanced back at the book. It was arranged alphabetically：and at the very next entry her heart seemed to stop beating；It ran—

MAN. This elegant little biped has long been valued as a delicacy. It forms a traditional part of the Autumn Feast，and is served between the fish and the joint. Each Man—but she could not bear to read any more. She turned round. The giantess had wakened up and was having a fit of coughing. Jill nudged the other two and pointed to the book. They also mounted the bench and bent over the huge pages. Scrubb was still reading about how to cook Men when Puddleglum pointed to the next entry below it. It was like this：

MARSH-WIGGLE. Some authorities reject this animal altogether as unfit for giants’ consumption because of its stringy consistency and muddy flavour. The flavour can，however，be greatly reduced if—

Jill touched his feet，and Scrubb’s，gently. All three looked back at the giantess. Her mouth was slightly open and from her nose there came a sound which at that moment was more welcome to them than any music；she snored. And now it was a question of tip-toe work，not daring to go too fast，hardly daring to breathe， out through the scullery（giant sculleries smell horrid），out at last into the pale sunlight of a winter afternoon.