DIGORY kept his mouth very tight shut. He had been growing more and more uncomfortable. He hoped that, whatever happened, he wouldn't blub or do anything ridiculous.
“Son of Adam, ” said Aslan. “Are you ready to undo the wrong that you have done to my sweet country of Narnia on the very day of its birth? ”
“Well, I don't see what I can do, ” said Digory. “You see, the Queen ran away and—”
“I asked, are you ready? ” said the Lion.
“Yes, ” said Digory. He had had for a second some wild idea of saying “I'll try to help you if you'll promise to help my Mother, ” but he realized in time that the Lion was not at all the sort of person one could try to make bargains with. But when he had said “Yes, ” he thought of his Mother, and he thought of the great hopes he had had, and how they were all dying away, and a lump came in his throat and tears in his eyes, and he blurted out: “But please, please—won't you—can't you give me something that will cure Mother? ” Up till then he had been looking at the Lion's great feet and the huge claws on them; now, in his despair, he looked up at its face. What he saw surprised him as much as anything in his whole life. For the tawny face was bent down near his own and (wonder of wonders) great shining tears stood in the Lion's eyes. They were such big, bright tears compared with Digory's own that for a moment he felt as if the Lion must really be sorrier about his Mother than he was himself.
“My son, my son, ” said Aslan. “I know. Grief is great. Only you and I in this land know that yet. Let us be good to one another. But I have to think of hundreds of years in the life of Narnia. The Witch whom you have brought into this world will come back to Narnia again. But it need not be yet. It is my wish to plant in Narnia a tree that she will not dare to approach, and that tree will protect Narnia from her for many years. So this land shall have a long, bright morning before any clouds come over the sun. You must get me the seed from which that tree is to grow.”