The_Complete_Chronicles_of_Narnia_(volumes_1-7,_in_order_of_publication)

As it was now past the middle of the day, they rested with the Centaurs and ate such food
as the centaurs provided cakes of oaten meal, and apples, and herbs, and wine, and
cheese.
The next place they were to visit was quite near at hand, but they had to go a long way
round in order to avoid a region in which Men lived. It was well into the afternoon before
they found themselves in level fields, warm between hedgerows. There Trufflehunter
called at the mouth of a little hole in a green bank and out popped the last thing Caspian
expected - a Talking Mouse. He was of course bigger than a common mouse, well over a
foot high when he stood on his hind legs, and with ears nearly as long as (though broader
than) a rabbit's. His name was Reepicheep and he was a gay and martial mouse. He wore
a tiny little rapier at his side and twirled his long whiskers as if they were a moustache.
"There are twelve of us, Sire," he said with a dashing and graceful bow, "and I place all
the resources of my people unreservedly at your Majesty's disposal." Caspian tried hard
(and successfully) not to laugh, but he couldn't help thinking that Reepicheep and all his
people could very easily be put in a washing basket and carried home on one's back.
It would take too long to mention all the creatures whom Caspian met that day - Clodsley
Shovel the Mole, the three Hardbiters (who were badgers like Trufflehunter), Camillo the
Hare, and Hogglestock the Hedgehog. They rested at last beside a well at the edge of a
wide and level circle of grass, bordered with tall elms which now threw long shadows
across it, for the sun was setting, the daisies closing, and the rooks flying home to bed.
Here they supped on food they had brought with them and Trumpkin lit his pipe
(Nikabrik was not a smoker).
"Now," said the Badger, "if only we could wake the spirits of these trees and this well, we
should have done a good day's work."
"Can't we?" said Caspian.
"No," said Trufflehunter. "We have no power over them. Since the Humans came into the
land, felling forests and defiling streams, the Dryads and Naiads have sunk into a deep
sleep. Who knows if ever they will stir again? And that is a great loss to our side. The
Telmarines are horribly afraid of the woods, and once the Trees moved in anger, our
enemies would go mad with fright and be chased out of Narnia as quick as their legs
could carry them."
"What imaginations you Animals have!" said Trumpkin, who didn't believe in such
things. "But why stop at Trees and Waters? Wouldn't it be even nicer if the stones started
throwing themselves at old Miraz?"
The Badger only grunted at this, and after that there was such a silence that Caspian had
nearly dropped off to sleep when he thought he heard a faint musical sound from the
depth of the woods at his back. Then he thought it was only a dream and turned over
again; but as soon as his ear touched the ground he felt or heard (it was hard to tell
which) a faint beating or drumming. He raised his head. The beating noise at once