The_Complete_Chronicles_of_Narnia_(volumes_1-7,_in_order_of_publication)

white at the knuckles) and then up came a head and a pair of shoulders. A moment later
there was a boy of Shasta's own age sitting astride the sill with one leg hanging down
inside the room.
Shasta had never seen his own face in a looking-glass. Even if he had, he might not have
realized that the other boy was (at ordinary times) almost exactly like himself. At the
moment this boy was not particularly like anyone for he had the finest black eye you ever
saw, and a tooth missing, and his clothes (which must have been splendid ones when he
put them on) were torn and dirty, and there was both blood and mud on his face.
"Who are you?" said the boy in a whisper.
"Are you Prince Corin?" said Shasta.
"Yes, of course," said the other. "But who are you?"
"I'm nobody, nobody in particular, I mean," said Shasta. "King Edmund caught me in the
street and mistook me for you. I suppose we must look like one another. Can I get out the
way you've got in?"
"Yes, if you're any good at climbing," said Corin. "But why are you in such a hurry? I
say: we ought to be able to get some fun out of this being mistaken for one another."
"No, no," said Shasta. "We must change places at once. It'll be simply frightful if Mr
Tumnus comes back and finds us both here. I've had to pretend to be you. And you're
starting tonight - secretly. And where were you all this time?"
"A boy in the street made a beastly joke about Queen Susan," said Prince Corin, "so I
knocked him down. He ran howling into a house and his big brother came out. So I
knocked the big brother down. Then they all followed me until we ran into three old men
with spears who are called the Watch. So I fought the Watch and they knocked me down.
It was getting dark by now. Then the Watch took me along to lock me up somewhere. So
I asked them if they'd like a stoup of wine and they said they didn't mind if they did. Then
I took them to a wine shop and got them some and they all sat down and drank till they
feel asleep. I thought it was time for me to be off so I came out quietly and then I found
the first boy - the one who had started all the trouble - still hanging about. So I knocked
him down again. After that I climbed up a pipe on to the roof of a house and lay quiet till
it began to get light this morning. Ever since that I've been finding my way back. I say, is
there anything to drink?"
"No, I drank it," said Shasta. "And now, show me how you got in. There's not a minute to
lose. You'd better lie down on the sofa and pretend-but I forgot. It'll be no good with all
those bruises and black eye. You'll just have to tell them the truth, once I'm safely away."
"What else did you think I'd be telling them?" asked the Prince with a rather angry look.
"And who are you?"