Tirian would very much like to have followed the first plan： he hated the idea of leaving the Ape to bully his people one moment longer than need be. On the other hand， the way the Dwarfs had behaved the previous night was a warning. Apparently one couldn‘t be sure how people would take it even if he showed them Puzzle. And there were the Calormene soldiers to be reckoned with. Poggin thought there were about thirty of them. Tirian felt sure that if the Narnians all rallied to his side， he and Jewel and the children and Poggin （Puzzle didn’t count for much） would have a good chance of beating them. But how if half the Narnians.including all the Dwarfs.just sat and looked on？ or even fought against him？ The risk was too great. And there was， too， the cloudy shape of Tash. What might it do？
And then， as Poggin pointed out， there was no harm in leaving the Ape to deal with his own difficulties for a day or two. He would have no Puzzle to bring out and show now. It wasn‘t easy to see what story he.or Ginger.could make up to explain that. If the Beasts asked night after night to see Aslan， and no Aslan was brought out， surely even the simplest of them would get suspicious.
