Courage, dear heart - C.S. Lewis
A line of cold sweat ran down his face. The same idea was occurring to everyone on board. “We shall never get out, never get out. He’s steering us wrong. We’re going round and round in circles. We shall never get out.”
Lucy leant her head on the edge and whispered, “Aslan, Aslan, if ever you loved us at all, send us help now.” The darkness did not grow any less, but she began to feel a little - a very, very little - better. “After all, nothing has really happened to us yet,” she thought. “Look!” There was a tiny speck of light ahead, and while they watched a broad beam of light fell from it upon the ship. It did not alter the surrounding darkness, but the whole ship was lit up as if by searchlight.
Lucy looked along the beam and presently saw something in it. At first it looked like a cross and at last it was an albatross. It circled three times around the mast and then perched for an instant. It called out in a strong sweet voice what seemed to be words though no one understood them. After that it spread its wings and began to fly ahead. But no one except Lucy knew that it had whispered to her, “Courage, dear heart,” and the voice, she felt sure, was Aslan’s, and with the voice a delicious smell breathed in her face.
In a few moments the darkness turned to greyness ahead, and then, almost before they dared to begin hoping, they had shot out into the sunlight and were in the warm, blue world again. And all at once everybody realised that there was nothing to be afraid of and never had been. And then first one, and then another, began laughing.
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