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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

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Discussion Questions

When Lucy Pevensie first enters Narnia, it seems like a mystical winter oasis. However, Lewis soon reveals that Narnia has some very real dangers of its own. To what extent can The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe be described as an escapist fantasy? Support your response with textual evidence.

Mrs. Beaver bakes a “great and gloriously sticky marmalade roll” that both satiates the children’s hunger and delights their senses (83). Food features as an important motif in the novel. Trace the appearance of food and consider how Lewis’s use of food imagery changes as the plot progresses.

Certain aspects of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe have been read as Christian allegory . Identify two chapters in the novel that employ religious symbolism and analyze them, strengthening your answer with textual support.

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The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

By c.s. lewis.

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• Mr. Tumnus was a spy with a good heart. He is one of the first characters we meet in Narnia and his warm hospitality causes him to befriend Lucy and save her from the White Witch. If you found a world in the back of your closet, what type of creature or character would you want to meet first? Describe him/her.

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W hy's T his F unny?

A Summary and Analysis of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe , published in 1950, was the first of the seven Chronicles of Narnia to be published. The book became an almost instant classic, although its author, C. S. Lewis, reportedly destroyed the first draft after he received harsh criticism on it from his friends and fellow fantasy writers, including J. R. R. Tolkien.

How should we analyse The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe : as Christian allegory, as wish-fulfilment fantasy, or as something else? Before we embark on an analysis of the novel, it might be worth briefly recapping the plot.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe : summary

The novel is about four siblings – Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie – who are evacuated from London during the Second World War and sent to live with a professor in the English countryside. One day, Lucy discovers that one of the wardrobes in the house contains a portal through to another world, a land covered in snow.

Soon after arriving there, she (quite literally) bumps into a faun (half-man, half-goat) named Mr Tumnus, who takes her to his house and gives her tea while he tells her about the land she has wandered into. Its name is Narnia, and it is always winter (but never Christmas) ever since the White Witch cast a spell over the land. Indeed, Tumnus confesses to Lucy that he should report Lucy’s presence in Narnia to the White Witch, but he can’t bring himself to do it. Instead, he helps her find her way back to the portal so she can return home.

When Lucy gets back and tells her three siblings about her adventure in Narnia, none of them believes her – although Edmund, intrigued, follows her into the wardrobe when she goes back there and finds himself in Narnia, where he meets the White Witch. She gives him Turkish Delight and he tells her about himself and his brother and sisters. She tells him she will make him a prince if he persuades his other siblings to come with him to Narnia.

However, when Edmund talks to Lucy about where they’ve been, and he learns that the White Witch is bad news, he denies that Narnia even exists when Lucy is telling Peter and Susan about it. He accuses her of lying. But eventually all four of them go through the wardrobe into Narnia. When Lucy takes them to visit Mr Tumnus, however, they find that he has been arrested.

The children are befriended by Mr and Mrs Beaver, from whom they learn more information about Narnia. There is a prophecy that when two boys and two girls become Kings and Queens of Narnia, the White Witch will lose her power over the land; this is why the White Witch was so keen to lure the children to Narnia, with Edmund’s help, so she can destroy them and ensure the prophecy does not come true. The Beavers also tell the children that Aslan, the great lion, is on the move, and that he is due to return.

Edmund slips away from them and goes to the White Witch, telling her everything he knows. She takes him to the Stone Table, where Aslan is due to reappear, and orders her servants (wolves) to track down Edmund’s siblings and kill them so the prophecy cannot come true. Mr and Mrs Beaver take the other three children to the Stone Table to meet Aslan.

The snow in Narnia is melting, and Father Christmas appears: proof that the White Witch’s spell over the land is losing its power. Father Christmas gives Lucy, Peter, and Susan presents which will help them in their quest. They arrive at the Stone Table and meet Aslan. The White Witch’s wolf captain Maugrim approaches the camp and attacks Susan, but Peter, armed with the sword Father Christmas gave him, saves his sister and kills the wolf.

The White Witch arrives, and she and Aslan discuss her right to execute Edmund for treason, invoking ‘Deep Magic from the Dawn of Time’. Edmund is spared, but that night the children witness the White Witch putting Aslan to death on the Stone Table. Aslan has gone willingly to his death, in order to save Edmund.

However, the children are surprised and relieved when, the following morning, Aslan comes back to life, citing ‘Deeper Magic from before the Dawn of Time’, which means that a willing victim who sacrificed himself in place of a traitor can be brought back from death. Aslan and the children march to battle against the Witch, with Aslan raising additional troops for his army by breathing on the stone statues in the White Witch’s castle courtyard: traitors she had turned to stone with her magic.

Many years pass. The four Pevensie children have grown into young adults, and have been Kings and Queens of Narnia (reigning jointly) for many years. One day, while they are out hunting the White Stag (which, when caught, can grant wishes), they ride to the lamppost where Lucy first met Mr Tumnus: the location of the portal leading to and from their (and our) world.

Without realising this, the four of them pass through the portal and find themselves back in the wardrobe in the professor’s house. They are children again, as they were before they left all those years ago: time hasn’t passed in our world while they have been away.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe : analysis

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a classic children’s novel which looks back to both earlier fantasy fiction by Victorian writers like William Morris and George MacDonald (the latter a particular influence on C. S. Lewis) as well as pioneering children’s novels by E. Nesbit.

Indeed, the Pevensie children were partly inspired by Nesbit’s Bastable children, who feature in a series of her novels, including The Story of the Treasure Seekers . Nesbit, however, had also written portal fantasy novels (as had George MacDonald, such as his 1895 novel Lilith ) involving children leaving our world behind for a fantastical other world: see her novel The Magic City , for example.

Say ‘ Chronicles of Narnia ’ or ‘ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe ’ and many people will say, ‘Oh, the C. S. Lewis book(s) that are Christian allegory, right?’

But C. S. Lewis didn’t regard them as allegory: ‘In reality,’ he wrote, Aslan ‘is an invention giving an imaginary answer to the question, “What might Christ become like if there really were a world like Narnia, and He chose to be incarnate and die and rise again in that world as He actually has done in ours?” This is not allegory at all.’

In short, Lewis rejects the idea that his Narnia books are allegory because, for them to qualify as allegorical, Aslan would have to ‘represent’ Jesus. But he doesn’t: he is Jesus, if Narnia existed and a deity decided to walk among the people of that world. We might think of this as something like the distinction between simile and metaphor: simile is like allegory, because one thing is like something else, whereas in metaphor, one thing is the other thing.

Aslan is not like Jesus (allegory): he is Jesus’ equivalent in Narnia. Perhaps this is a distinction without a difference to many readers, but it’s worth bearing in mind that if anyone should know what allegory is, it’s C. S. Lewis: he wrote a whole scholarly work, The Allegory of Love , about medieval and Renaissance allegory.

Readers might quibble over Lewis’s categorisation here, and decide that what he is outlining is a distinction without a difference (perhaps clouded by his Christianity, and his unwillingness to see his children’s books as ‘mere’ allegory for Christianity, but instead as something more direct and powerful).

But if we stick with mid-twentieth-century fiction and animals for a moment, we can find an example of unequivocal allegory: George Orwell’s Animal Farm (1945), which we have analysed here . Certainly, there are subtle differences between Orwell’s novel in which animal characters ‘stand in’ for human counterparts, and what Lewis is doing with Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia .

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is, nevertheless, a novel in which Lewis draws on the Christian story of salvation through a godlike figure (Aslan’s sacrifice on the Stone Table, and subsequent resurrection, are clearly meant to summon the Crucifixion and subsequent Resurrection of Jesus Christ), in order to promote the Christian story. But what if we aren’t ‘sold’ on the Christian aspect of the story? Does the novel’s only value lie in its power as an allegory – or whatever term we might employ instead of allegory?

Part of the reason for the novel’s broader appeal, even in an increasingly secular age, is that it provides escapism and wish-fulfilment aplenty. The whole idea of a portal to another world symbolises the children’s literal escape from a dreary wartime world (where the danger of being bombed during the Blitz has given way to a rather dull life in the countryside with a professor) into a world of crisp snow, magic, and adventure.

Although The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was published five years after the end of the Second World War, children in the early 1950s were still living through a time of rationing and austerity. Even that Turkish Delight that Edmund is given – his thirty pieces of silver to betray his siblings, of course – must have seemed like an almost unattainable treat to Lewis’s original readers.

Even the device with which the novel ends, by which the four children learn that during the years they have spent in Narnia, no time has passed back home, recalls the force of a powerful dream whereby we feel we have ‘lived’ an intense, and intensely long, experience only to wake up and discover it’s only the next morning after all.

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5 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis”

Fascinating post. Curious that a modern counterpart Philip Pullman loathes and detests the works of C S Lewis.

Read it as a kid, and remains a favorite. As a kid, I never saw the Jesus connection, it wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized it. I love Turkish delight and can understand why Edmund was so tempted. I enjoyed this post.

I think this story must have combined with The Stream that stood Still and Alice in Wonderland to give me the inspiration for my new “Penny ” books as these are also a portal to another land stories with a time slip. Instead of a Christian background I have an ecological one but hope children will find them just as exciting.”Penny down the Drain” is out now and “Penny and the Poorly Parrot,” ( inspired by the pandemic) will be followed by “Penny and The Creeping Weed.” Amazon seem determined to ignore a self published author but I shall renew my marketing efforts with book 2 after the lockdown.

• Pingback: A Summary and Analysis of Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Selfish Giant’ – Interesting Literature

You’re absolutely right to point out that this isn’t allegory. It is a fictional story featuring Jesus in another world setting which is exactly what Lewis does with the ‘Out of the Silent Planet’ trilogy too – where he attempts to move the traditional Earth-centric ideology of the Christian world into our solar system. How would Christ behave with aliens, is the question Lewis poses there.

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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Essay Topics & Writing Assignments

Essay Topic 1

Aslan and the White Witch were both very dynamic leaders in this book with strong followings. What are the differences in the two styles of leadership, and how do these differences affect their characters, their followers, and their roles in the plot?

Essay Topic 2

Edmund endures many different trials before the end of the book. What are some of these trials and what lessons does he learn through these experiences?

Essay Topic 3

Mr. Tumnus was a minor character whose presence made a big difference in the plot. How does he accomplish this? What are some ways that his presence, however brief, alters the outcome of the plot? What would have happened differently if he had not been in the book at all?

Essay Topic 4

Security and safety were two themes that were touched on a number of times throughout the course of this book. What are...

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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

By c. s. lewis, the lion, the witch and the wardrobe themes, an alternative education.

Peter , Susan , Edmund , and Lucy stay with the Professor at his house in the country during the school holiday. Presumably, the children are to be presented with an alternative education to supplement the one provided by their schools. The Professor gives Peter and Susan a strange yet valuable lesson in logic when he suggests that Lucy may be telling them the truth about Narnia. Additionally, the Professor repeatedly expresses his exasperation with the school system, lending credence to the possibility that Lewis himself was frustrated with the English educational system. The increasingly negative personality that Edmund has been exhibiting at school worries Peter and Susan. Their quest in the world of Narnia, however, leads the children through a process of spiritual transformation that is particularly significant for Edmund.

In Narnia, the children are exposed to crucial lessons about friendship, loyalty, good judgment, forgiveness, faith, courage, and self-sacrifice. The reader is invited along on this journey, but learning these lessons requires imagination and a willingness to trust in the simple, clear logic that suggests that a world like Narnia might actually exist. The universe that Lewis presents to his readers becomes a vehicle through which he offers an alternative means for learning the crucial elements of personal and spiritual growth.

Logic and Faith

When Peter and Susan approach the Professor with their concerns about Lucy and her story about Narnia, the Professor leads them through a simple exercise in logic, in which they take what they know to be true (Lucy is a truthful girl) and what they have observed (Lucy has not gone mad) in order to reach the logical conclusion. This conclusion, the Professor suggests, is that the story of Narnia is true. Acceptance of this logical conclusion, however, requires a significant amount of faith. In this manner, Lewis constructs the scaffolding for a narrative that will enable the reader to believe in the existence of a place like Narnia.

The skepticism that detracts from the possibility that Lucy's story about Narnia is true is expressed through the character of Edmund, who questions the benevolence of the robin, Mr. Tumnus , and Mr. Beaver . The White Witch herself also expresses skepticism about whether or not Aslan will keep the promise he has made to her. In each of these cases, there is a logical argument that can be made in support of faith, yet the skeptics exhibit little willingness to accept the goodness of the other characters.

This story can be read as a children's story, and Lewis certainly makes use of this genre, as the form is essentially that of a fairy tale. However, more can be said about childhood in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe . Lucy, the youngest, is the first to express curiosity about the wardrobe. Without her pure, innocent curiosity, the children would never have traveled to Narnia. Throughout the story, Lucy is depicted as the most observant of the characters. In the end, even as she takes the throne, she maintains a delightful, childlike quality.

Through Lucy's innocence, Lewis shows the importance of clinging to what one knows to be true, loyalty, friendship, and genuine faith. If one possesses these attributes, he appears to believe, there is no place for skepticism.

Christian Symbolism

Lewis was clearly influenced by his Christian beliefs when he wrote this story, though it can also be read as a simple tale of human growth. The stories of the Passion of Christ and the Resurrection of Christ are reflected in the character of the lion Aslan, who is the son of the deified Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. Aslan arrives in Narnia to save it from the White Witch. His decision to allow himself to be killed by the witch in Edmund's place echoes Christ's willingness to die for the sins of mankind. Both Christ and Aslan walk to their deaths filled with a heavy sadness, fearful of the pain and the suffering that they are about to endure, and struggle to maintain their faith that they will indeed be brought back to life. In a scene recalling the crucifixion of Christ, Aslan is tied down to the Stone Table and slain with a knife. After some time, Aslan returns to life, and is more magnificent than ever. His resurrection inspires wonder in Susan and Lucy, who both witnessed his death.

Peter and Edmund both come of age by translating their specific skills into remarkable acts of courage, particularly in battle. Peter exhibits his valor by killing the grey wolf, and Edmund shows his courage by making the most of the clean slate he has been given, smashing the White Witch's wand during the last battle. Aslan knights both boys in order to reward their bravery. Aslan is another example of a courageous character, because he faces death without turning his back on his promise.

Forgiveness

When Edmund is rescued from certain death at the hand of the White Witch, he has a long talk with Aslan, the contents of which no one knows except for the lion and Edmund. Edmund is forgiven by Aslan, as well as his brother and sisters, all of whom agree that the past is the past. The supreme act of forgiveness and self-sacrifice is made by Aslan, who accepts death at the hand of the White Witch in Edmund's place. He believes that Edmund's life is worth dying for, in spite of his past actions. Lewis appears to believe that forgiveness for past mistakes is the way that relationships heal and strengthen. It is also the foundation for a strong community.

Friendship and Loyalty

Lucy and Mr. Tumnus, the faun, are the first true friends that we see in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe . Lucy gives away her handkerchief, and Mr. Tumnus refuses to turn his new friend in to the White Witch. Friendship is later exemplified in the characters of Mr. and Mrs. Beaver , who lead the children to the Stone Table, where they find Aslan. Mr. Beaver shows Lucy's handkerchief as a sign that he is a friend of Mr. Tumnus's and, therefore, a friend of Lucy's. Lucy's show of loyalty to Mr. Tumnus is also a driving force behind the story, in that the characters do all that they can to save Mr. Tumnus.

Lucy's lunches with Mr. Tumnus and the wholesome meal prepared by Mr. and Mrs. Beaver stand in stark contrast to Edmund's endless appetite for the Turkish Delights given to him by the White Witch. The meals with Mr. Tumnus and Mr. and Mrs. Beaver are accompanied by friendship and useful conversation, including stories about the forest, and information about Aslan. The White Witch's gift of Turkish Delights, however, is purely evil and intended to create in Edmund an unhealthy, insatiable appetite for more, thereby transforming him into her slave.

The tea tray that Father Christmas presents to the Beavers and the children, along with the breakfast in the forest that the White Witch and Edmund stumble upon, reveal that meals can serve as celebrations of good cheer, friendship, and family. The White Witch, however, calls the meal sheer "gluttony", and changes the creatures consuming it into stone. The fact that the White Witch herself is never seen eating suggests that she is different from the other, "good" creatures.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Why do you think Edmund shouted out not harm animals to the queen?

Chapter please?

Describe what happened in Peter's first battle.

In Chapter Twelve, Peter and Aslan hear the sound of a horn. When they look back to see the wolf that was sent by the Witch, it is threatening to kill Susan, who climbed a tree before alerting them with the horn she received from Father Christmas....

In the first two chapters of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe what are some unrealistic characters?

In Chapter One, for Lucy, the lamp-post is the first signal that the wood she has entered is not a regular wood, closely followed by the second signal: the appearance of the faun, a man with the legs of a goat and two horns on his head.

In Chapter...

Study Guide for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe study guide contains a biography of C. S. Lewis, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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Essays for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

• The Function of the Secondary World in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
• Independent Growth Through Gendered Alternate Universes: Peter and Wendy and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
• Analyzing the Character of The White Witch in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
• Comparing Child Protagonists in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Ursula Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea
• Structuralist Conventions, Religious Intents: The Uses of Fantasy in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and His Dark Materials

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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

C. s. lewis.

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C.S. Lewis, a devout Christian, suffused his most famous work, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with overt Christian symbolism and structured its conclusion around the resurrection of a Christ figure and a climactic battle for the very soul of Narnia. Lewis, however, did not set out to write a biblical allegory; rather, he wanted to imbue a fairy story with elements of the story of the Jesus Christ in order to allow children to see the miraculous elements of Christ’s story in a new light—and perhaps relate to them anew and understand their wonder more deeply. Through the character of Aslan , and his role in Peter , Susan , Edmund , and Lucy ’s story, Lewis created an allegory for the triumph of Christian ideology, and used The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to subtly suggest that a world that rejects Christianity will be a poorer one marked by strife, suffering, and a literal winter of the soul. In contrast, a world that embraces Christlike values—turning the other cheek, honoring promises, and making sacrifices for others—will be full, bountiful, and prosperous.

The religious symbolism Lewis employs throughout the novel is pointed and ubiquitous. From Lucy’s first solo journey through the wardrobe to the world on the other side, there is the sense that Lewis has created a world that is in dire need of deliverance. Lucy finds Narnia covered in snow her first time through the wardrobe. This initially gives the world a quiet, still magic, and Lucy, seeing the Faun Mr. Tumnus carrying packages in his arms, believes Christmas must be near. However, Tumnus reveals to her that the world of Narnia is under siege: the White Witch has made it so that it “always winter and never Christmas” in Narnia. This withholding of Christmas—the holiday commemorating the birth of Christ—is implied to be a purposeful withholding of the celebration of Jesus. Mr. Tumnus also notably refers to Lucy as a “Daughter of Eve”—the way Narnians refer to humans is Daughters of Eve for women, and Sons of Adam for men. This biblical reference points to humans as divine creations in God’s image, and their fated destiny to rule Narnia above all of the other magical creatures who live there is in a way a divine right. Lucy and her siblings will be heralded as saviors or deliverers, destined to, alongside the mighty Aslan, pull Narnia from its eternal winter. Sin and corruption have come to roost in Narnia under the White Witch’s rule, and Lewis uses the White Witch’s forced perpetual winter as a metaphor for the desolation and emptiness of Narnia’s soul in the absence of its ruler—the Christ figure Aslan.

Aslan is the most overt symbol of Christ in the novel; just the sound of the name inspires strong feelings in all who hear it. The first time Aslan is mentioned to the children, Edmund feels a “mysterious horror,” Peter feels “suddenly brave,” Susan feels something “delicious [or] delightful” float by her, and Lucy feels a sense of gleeful anticipation akin to the feeling of waking up on the first day of a holiday. Lewis is clearly using Aslan’s ineffable power to echo the feelings of “horror” that sinners and liars such as Edmund feel at the mention of Christ, and the bravery, glee, and peace Christ’s name inspires in his followers. Aslan’s approach severely weakens the White Witch’s power. After Edmund deserts the group to enter the employ of the White Witch, Mr. Beaver and Mrs. Beaver bring Peter, Susan, and Lucy to the Narnian landmark of the Stone Table to meet Aslan. Changes immediately begin to occur in the landscape. First, Father Christmas arrives at last to deliver presents and encouragement to Peter, Susan, and Lucy. Before he leaves, he shouts, “Merry Christmas! Long live the true King!” Though this is ostensibly a reference to Aslan (or the future High King Peter), it is also clearly a reference to Christ himself, the King of Kings. Meanwhile, as the White Witch travels to the Stone Table, she finds that the snow has begun to melt, severely impeding the movement of her sleigh. Lewis shows Aslan’s power against the Witch—and, symbolically, Christianity’s power against heretics and nonbelievers—to be powerful even from a distance. Lewis’s belief in the almighty nature of Jesus Christ is evident as the novel speeds towards a climactic battle for Narnia’s soul.

In the novel’s climax, Aslan and the White Witch face off at the Stone Table—itself a biblical symbol reminiscent of the stone tablets bearing the commandments brought down from Sinai by Moses. The White Witch, with a coterie of giants, werewolves, and the spirits of trees behind her, confronts Aslan at the Table. Aslan has rescued Edmund from the Witch’s clutches, but she now taunts the lion as she reminds him of the “Deep Magic” that the Emperor of Narnia put into the world “at the very beginning.” Under this Deep Magic, every traitor belongs to the White Witch—Edmund, as a traitor, is hers to kill. In this way, she is an allegory for Satan, to whom sinners “belong” when they are sent to Hell. Aslan cannot deny the power of this Deep Magic, but he makes a deal with the White Witch, allowing her to kill him in Edmund’s place. Thus, the most potent metaphor for the Passion and Crucifixion of Jesus Christ emerges. Aslan is led to the Stone Table by the Witch’s attendants, and is taunted, shamed, and shaved of his mane. The Witch then kills Aslan, as a horrified Lucy and Susan look on. The Witch and her minions abandon Aslan’s corpse, and Lucy and Susan attend to it, freeing him from his bonds. As the sun begins to rise, though, Aslan is resurrected before the girls’ eyes, and the Stone Table cracks in two. As in the New Testament, when Mary and Mary Magdalene attended Jesus’s body ahead of his resurrection—during which Jesus rolled aside a stone boulder and emerged from his tomb— Lewis creates a profound and instantly recognizable image of Aslan as Narnia’s immortal savior.

After Aslan’s resurrection, a climactic battle ensues—Aslan and the four siblings are triumphant, and so Lewis’s narrative confirms the inherent righteousness and ultimate unassailability of Christian values. The novel’s central conflict is the struggle between Christianity’s tenets of sacrifice, empathy, and striving towards goodness and godlessness, sin, and selfishness. In couching this struggle in symbol and metaphor and pitting Aslan and the White Witch against one another, Lewis literally lionizes Christianity and situates the religion’s central story, the story of Jesus Christ, in a fantasy realm where its miraculous happenings and moral core can be viewed in a new light.

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Christian Allegory Quotes in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

“But what have you done?” asked Lucy.

“My old father, now,” said Mr. Tumnus; “that's his picture over the mantelpiece. He would never have done a thing like this.”

“A thing like what?” said Lucy.

“Like what I've done,” said the Faun. “Taken service under the White Witch. That's what I am. I'm in the pay of the White Witch.”

“The White Witch? Who is she?”

“Why, it is she that has got all Narnia under her thumb. It's she that makes it always winter. Always winter and never Christmas; think of that!”

“How awful!” said Lucy.

“I had orders from the White Witch that if ever I saw a Son of Adam or a Daughter of Eve in the wood, I was to catch them and hand them over to her. And you are the first I’ve ever met. And I've pretended to be your friend and asked you to tea, and all the time I've been meaning to wait till you were asleep and then go and tell Her.”

“Oh, but you won't, Mr. Tumnus,” said Lucy. “You won't, will you? Indeed, indeed you really mustn't.”

“And if I don't,” said he, beginning to cry again, “she's sure to find out. And she'll have my tail cut off, and my horns sawn off, and my beard plucked out, and she'll wave her wand over my beautiful cloven hoofs and turn them into horrid solid hoofs like a wretched horse's. And if she is extra and specially angry she'll turn me into stone and I shall be only a statue of a Faun in her horrible house until the four thrones at Cair Paravel are filled-and goodness knows when that will happen, or whether it will ever happen at all.”

While he was eating the Queen kept asking him questions. At first Edmund tried to remember that it is rude to speak with one's mouth full, but soon he forgot about this and thought only of trying to shovel down as much Turkish Delight as he could, and the more he ate the more he wanted to eat, and he never asked himself why the Queen should be so inquisitive. She got him to tell her that he had one brother and two sisters, and that one of his sisters had already been in Narnia and had met a Faun there, and that no one except himself and his brother and his sisters knew anything about Narnia. She seemed especially interested in the fact that there were four of them, and kept on coming back to it. “You are sure there are just four of you?” she asked. “Two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve, neither more nor less?” and Edmund, with his mouth full of Turkish Delight, kept on saying, “Yes, I told you that before,” and forgetting to call her “Your Majesty,” but she didn't seem to mind now. At last the Turkish Delight was all finished and Edmund was looking very hard at the empty box and wishing that she would ask him whether he would like some more. Probably the Queen knew quite well what he was thinking; for she knew, though Edmund did not, that this was enchanted Turkish Delight and that anyone who had once tasted it would want more and more of it, and would even, if they were allowed, go on eating it till they killed themselves.

“They say Aslan is on the move—perhaps has already landed.”

And now a very curious thing happened. None of the children knew who Aslan was any more than you do; but the moment the Beaver had spoken these words everyone felt quite different. Perhaps it has sometimes happened to you in a dream that someone says something which you don't understand but in the dream it feels as if it had some enormous meaning—either a terrifying one which turns the whole dream into a nightmare or else a lovely meaning too lovely to put into words, which makes the dream so beautiful that you remember it all your life and are always wishing you could get into that dream again. It was like that now. At the name of Aslan each one of the children felt something jump in its inside. Edmund felt a sensation of mysterious horror. Peter felt suddenly brave and adventurous. Susan felt as if some delicious smell or some delightful strain of music had just floated by her. And Lucy got the feeling you have when you wake up in the morning and realize that it is the beginning of the holidays or the beginning of summer.

“Is he—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”

“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver; “if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly.”

“Then he isn't safe?” said Lucy.

"Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.”

“I'm longing to see him,” said Peter, “even if I do feel frightened when it comes to the point.”

“The quickest way you can help [Mr. Tumnus] is by going to meet Aslan,” said Mr. Beaver, “once he's with us, then we can begin doing things. Not that we don't need you too. For that's another of the old rhymes:

When Adam's flesh and Adam's bone Sits at Cair Paravel in throne,

The evil time will be over and done.

So things must be drawing near their end now he's come and you've come.”

You mustn't think that even now Edmund was quite so bad that he actually wanted his brother and sisters to be turned into stone. He did want Turkish Delight and to be a Prince (and later a King) and to pay Peter out for calling him a beast. As for what the Witch would do with the others, he didn't want her to be particularly nice to them—certainly not to put them on the same level as himself; but he managed to believe, or to pretend he believed, that she wouldn't do anything very bad to them, “Because,” he said to himself, “all these people who say nasty things about her are her enemies and probably half of it isn't true. She was jolly nice to me, anyway, much nicer than they are. I expect she is the rightful Queen really. Anyway, she'll be better than that awful Aslan!” At least, that was the excuse he made in his own mind for what he was doing. It wasn't a very good excuse, however, for deep down inside him he really knew that the White Witch was bad and cruel.

And he stood there gloating over the stone lion, and presently he did something very silly and childish. He took a stump of lead pencil out of his pocket and scribbled a moustache on the lion's upper lip and then a pair of spectacles on its eyes. Then he said, “Yah! Silly old Aslan! How do you like being a stone? You thought yourself mighty fine, didn't you?” But in spite of the scribbles on it the face of the great stone beast still looked so terrible, and sad, and noble, staring up in the moonlight, that Edmund didn't really get any fun out of jeering at it. He turned away and began to cross the courtyard.

“Come on!” cried Mr. Beaver, who was almost dancing with delight. “Come and see! This is a nasty knock for the Witch! It looks as if her power is already crumbling.”

It was a sledge, and it was reindeer with bells on their harness. […] And on the sledge sat a person whom everyone knew the moment they set eyes on him. He was a huge man in a bright red robe (bright as hollyberries) with a hood that had fur inside it and a great white beard that fell like a foamy waterfall over his chest. Everyone knew him because, though you see people of his sort only in Narnia, you see pictures of them and hear them talked about even in our world—the world on this side of the wardrobe door. But when you really see them in Narnia it is rather different. Some of the pictures of Father Christmas in our world make him look only funny and jolly. But now that the children actually stood looking at him they didn't find it quite like that. He was so big, and so glad, and so real, that they all became quite still. They felt very glad, but also solemn.

“I've come at last,” said he. “She has kept me out for a long time, but I have got in at last. Aslan is on the move. The Witch's magic is weakening.”

Now they were steadily racing on again. And soon Edmund noticed that the snow which splashed against them as they rushed through it was much wetter than it had been all last night. At the same time he noticed that he was feeling much less cold. It was also becoming foggy. In fact every minute it grew foggier and warmer. And the sledge was not running nearly as well as it had been running up till now. […] The sledge jerked, and skidded and kept on jolting as if it had struck against stones. And however the dwarf whipped the poor reindeer the sledge went slower and slower. There also seemed to be a curious noise all round them, but the noise of their driving and jolting and the dwarf's shouting at the reindeer prevented Edmund from hearing what it was, until suddenly the sledge stuck so fast that it wouldn't go on at all. When that happened there was a moment's silence. And in that silence Edmund could at last listen to the other noise properly. […] All round them though out of sight there were streams, chattering, murmuring, bubbling, splashing and even (in the distance) roaring. And his heart gave a great leap (though he hardly knew why) when he realized that the frost was over.

But as for Aslan himself, the Beavers and the children didn't know what to do or say when they saw him. People who have not been in Narnia sometimes think that a thing cannot be good and terrible at the same time. If the children had ever thought so, they were cured of it now. For when they tried to look at Aslan's face they just caught a glimpse of the golden mane and the great, royal, solemn, overwhelming eyes; and then they found they couldn't look at him and went all trembly.

At last the rabble had had enough of this. They began to drag the bound and muzzled Lion to the Stone Table, some pulling and some pushing. He was so huge that even when they got him there it took all their efforts to hoist him onto the surface of it. Then there was more tying and tightening of cords.

“The cowards! The cowards!” sobbed Susan. “Are they still afraid of him, even now?”

As soon as the wood was silent again Susan and Lucy crept out onto the open hilltop. The moon was getting low and thin clouds were passing across her, but still they could see the shape of the Lion lying dead in his bonds. And down they both knelt in the wet grass and kissed his cold face and stroked his beautiful fur—what was left of it—and cried till they could cry no more. And then they looked at each other and held each other’s hands for mere loneliness and cried again; and then again were silent.

“Oh, you're real, you're real! Oh, Aslan!” cried Lucy, and both girls flung themselves upon him and covered him with kisses.

“But what does it all mean?” asked Susan when they were somewhat calmer.

“It means,” said Aslan, “that though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward. And now—”

“Oh yes. Now?” said Lucy, jumping up and clapping her hands.

“Oh, children,” said the Lion, “I feel my strength coming back to me.”

“And now! Those who can't keep up—that is, children, dwarfs, and small animals—must ride on the backs of those who can—that is, lions, centaurs, unicorns, horses, giants and eagles. Those who are good with their noses must come in the front with us lions to smell out where the battle is. Look lively and sort yourselves.”

And with a great deal of bustle and cheering they did. The most pleased of the lot was the other lion who kept running about everywhere pretending to be very busy but really in order to say to everyone he met, “Did you hear what he said? Us Lions—That means him and me. Us Lions. That's what I like about Aslan. No side, no stand-off-ishness. Us Lions. That meant him and me.”

The Professor, who was a very remarkable man, didn't tell them not to be silly or not to tell lies, but believed the whole story. “No,” he said, “I don't think it will be any good trying to go back through the wardrobe door to get the coats. You won't get into Narnia again by that route. Nor would the coats be much use by now if you did! Eh? What's that? Yes, of course you'll get back to Narnia again someday. Once a King in Narnia, always a King in Narnia. But don't go trying to use the same route twice. Indeed, don't try to get there at all. It'll happen when you're not looking for it. And don't talk too much about it even among yourselves. And don't mention it to anyone else unless you find that they've had adventures of the same sort themselves. What's that? How will you know? Oh, you'll know all right. Odd things they say—even their looks—will let the secret out. Keep your eyes open.”

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