The_Complete_Chronicles_of_Narnia_(volumes_1-7,_in_order_of_publication)

"Please," she said, "you're so beautiful. You may eat me if you like. I'd sooner be eaten
by you than fed by anyone else."
"Dearest daughter," said Aslan, planting a lion's kiss on her twitching, velvet nose, "I
knew you would not be long in coming to me. Joy shall be yours."
Then he lifted his head and spoke in a louder voice.
"Now, Bree," he said, "you poor, proud frightened Horse, draw near. Nearer still, my son.
Do not dare not to dare. Touch me. Smell me. Here are my paws, here is my tail, these
are my whiskers. I am a true Beast."
"Aslan," said Bree in a shaken voice, "I'm afraid I must be rather a fool."
"Happy the Horse who knows that while he is still young. Or the Human either. Draw
near, Aravis my daughter. See! My paws are velveted. You will not be torn this time."
"This time, sir?" said Aravis.
"It was I who wounded you," said Aslan. "I am the only lion you met in all your
journeyings. Do you know why I tore you?"
"No, sir."
"The scratches on your back, tear for tear, throb for throb, blood for blood, were equal to
the stripes laid on the back of your stepmother's slave because of the drugged sleep you
cast upon her. You needed to know what it felt like."
"Yes, sir. Please-"
"Ask on, my dear," said Aslan.
"Will any more harm come to her by what I did?"
"Child," said the Lion, "I am telling you your story, not hers. No one is told any story but
their own." Then he shook his head and spoke in a lighter voice.
"Be merry, little ones," he said. "We shall meet soon again. But before that you will have
another visitor." Then in one bound he reached the top of the wall and vanished from
their sight.
Strange to say, they felt no inclination to talk to one another about him after he had gone.
They all moved slowly away to different parts of the quiet grass and there paced to and
fro, each alone, thinking.