They both looked at it hard and， as you might have expected， the letters cut in the stone were strange. But now a great wonder happened： for， as they looked， though the shape of the strange letters never altered， they found that they could understand them. If only Digor y had remembered what he himself had said a few minutes ago， that this was an enchanted room， he might have guessed that the enchantment was beginning to work. But he was too wild with curiosity to think about that. He was longing more and more to know what was written on the pillar. And very soon they both knew. What it said was something like this.at least this is the sense of it though the poetry， when you read it there， was better：
Make your choice， adventurous Stranger； Strike the bell and bide the danger，Or wonder， till it drives you mad， What would have followed if you had.
“No fear！” said Polly. “We don’t want any danger.”
“Oh， but don‘t you see it’s no good？” said Digory. “We can‘t get out of it now. We shall always be wondering what else would have happened if we had struck the bell. I’m not going home to be driven mad by always thinking of that. No fear！”