Narnia, Part the Fourth

Welcome back to “Laura Meanders Through The Narnia Books While Also Navigating The End Of American Civilization And Tries Not To Talk About Politics!”

We have fun here. Grab a drink.

When we last left Narnia, I was sighing over the Aslan/Jesus correlation. I asked some friends on Threads, and many of them said they figured it out themselves, some said they missed it until the end of “Dawn Treader,” some learned it ahead of time from parents of friends, and some missed it altogether until later. My parents made sure to point it out to me right away. I don’t remember how I handled it, and my daughter doesn’t either.

The general consensus DID seem to be “Publication Order is Best” but we will fight that battle later.

Anyway. Aslan. He has come back to Narnia, and he wants to meet the children—tomorrow, if possible. Lucy still wants to save poor Mr. Tumnus, but the Beavers assure them that the best way to save him is by meeting Aslan. There are prophecies, you see. When Aslan returns? Spring will return. And when two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve sit on the thrones of Cair Paravel? Well…that’s the end of the bad times FOR GOOD.

Sounds simple enough. Except for the fact that Edmund? He’s missing. He has snuck away and no one remembers when. Peter wants to go looking for him right away, but Mr. Beaver realizes that Edmund is on the way to the White Witch. The tiny cat of irritation and treachery which had curled up inside Edmund’s heart had stretched out, woken up, and led him straight to her castle. More arguments ensue as the children, again, want to rescue Edmund, but Mr. Beaver knows they have to head out immediately to get to Aslan if they want to last the night. So off they go. 

And chapter 9 finds us with Edmund, who is on his way to the witch’s house through the snow…without his coat. He is a child, after all. I think he is supposed to be 9 or 10 years old at this point. Lewis tries to get us not to think TOO poorly of Edmund, even though he is on his way to betray his siblings, because he doesn’t ACTUALLY want the witch to turn them into statues. But Lewis also lets us know that Edmund DOES know the Witch is evil. 

As the kids say these days, Edmund is about to enter the second half of FAFO.

Edmund stumbles through the forest, eventually finding his way to a river which leads to the Witch’s house/castle. A castle in the dark in the snow could have been beautiful, but Lewis describes it as a strange and forbidding place. Edmund finally dares to enter the courtyard, and finds lion. He doesn’t realize at first, but it’s a statue. The whole courtyard is full of statues. And yet even here, Edmund does not turn back.

He climbs the stairs and moves to step over one more statue, but it’s not a statue at all: it’s a real wolf! It’s Maugrim (also known as Fenris Ulf? Maybe? Check this at home.)

Maugrim goes to tell the Witch that Edmund has arrived, then returns to bring him to the Witch herself. The Witch is livid that Edmund has come alone until he reveals that all the children are in the Beavers’ house and that Aslan is coming.

As with the Beavers and the children, the name of Aslan changes everything with the Witch. She calls a dwarf to come and “Make ready our sledge…and use the harness without bells.” (LWW 99)

You have to turn your brain off a little bit to read the Narnia books, this is true. But Lewis can write a stinger of a last sentence. Cliffhanger for the win.

Chapter 10 brings us back to the Beavers and the other children. 

**Laura spends several days on a side quest about biblical history that is available on (insert link here)**

And now, back to your adventure in Narnia, already in progress.

Mrs. Beaver packs a pack for each of them, much to the chagrin of Mr. Beaver who just wants to be off already. Mr. Beaver knows that the witch will be driving in her sledge and so he leads the children off through the woods to another hole in the ground where they curl up and go to sleep.

They wake up the next morning to the sound of sleigh bells. Mr. Beaver slips out of their hidey-hole to see who it is, and then joyfully cries out for the children to come and see.

And here, dear reader, we get to the part where Tolkien lost his damn mind.

Now, if you’re familiar at all with Narnia, you know where I’m going. For those of you who are new here? Well, I’ll let Lewis and Mr. Beaver tell you:

“Didn’t I tell you,” answered Mr. Beaver, “that she’d made it always winter and never Christmas? Didn’t I tell you? Well, just come and see!”

And then they were all at the top and did see. (LWW 106)

FATHER CHRISTMAS HAS COME TO NARNIA.

Now I can’t find any specific letter in which Tolkien blasted Lewis about this. But it was no secret among the Inklings (the Oxford writing group that included Lewis and Tolkien) that Tolkien thought it was complete nonsense that literal Father Christmas would show up in the same world as fauns, tree spirits, and a talking Jesus lion. Tolkien wrote plenty on Father Christmas (and even quite famously wrote a series of letters from Father Christmas to his own children) but those are outside the scope of this project. 

This is the only time that Father Christmas shows up in the Narnia books, that I can recall. But he does come bearing gifts. A new sewing machine for Mrs. Beaver (honestly, this causes more questions. Are there…Narnian toy-making elves? Or is there just one North Pole for Earth and also for Narnia? Did Father Christmas bring Mrs. Beaver the original sewing machine in the first place? Will Father Christmas now have to come every year and bring gifts to…the little dwarves? To the baby fauns? Do Narnians hang up stockings?)

Lots of people talk about “When I get to heaven I’m gonna talk to CSLewis about Aslan and the children.” Me? I’m gonna demand answers about this damn sewing machine.

I’m not gonna apologize. You know what you signed up for.

Anyway. Father Christmas also has gifts for the children. “They are tools not toys” he warns them. (LWW 108). Peter receives a sword and a shield. On the shield? A lion, of course. Susan receives a bow and arrows, and a horn that will bring help. Lucy receives a dagger and a bottle of “juice of one of the fire-flowers that grow in the mountains of the sun (LWW 109). Father Christmas warns the girls not to fight in the coming battle, although Lucy thinks she could be brave enough. Then he gifts them all breakfast tea and races off into the snow.

The Beavers and the children head back out after breakfast. They still need to meet Aslan.

And with chapter eleven? We return to Edmund, who has been having rather a bad time. He has betrayed his siblings for the promise of Turkish Delight, but the candy has not materialized. The dwarf gives him bread and water, and Edmund hears the Witch order Maugrim and the other wolves to go attack the Beavers.

Edmund and the Witch get into the sledge and head off, trying to find a place to cross the river and beat the children to Aslan.

And here I find something that’s only funny today, having read Lord of the Rings. Lewis is describing the journey in the sledge, and he writes “This lasted longer than I could describe even if I wrote pages and pages about it.”

JACK.

MY GOOD SIR.

Is this or is this not a dig at your very good friend John who could abso-fucking-lutely have written pages and pages about it?

Anyway. Back to the story. Edmund and the Witch come across a delightful party of animals having a Christmas Tea. The Witch demands to know where they got the goodies and is furious to hear that Father Christmas has given the treats to the animals. (Huh. So he does visit the animals. Perhaps he even brings cheeses to the meeces. We’ll have to ask Reepicheep.) The Witch, in her fury, turns the animals into a party of stone statues. And off she goes again. 

She’s mad because she knows in trouble. She’s furious because she has made it always Winter and never Christmas and yet…Father Christmas has been here. Her power is weakening and there’s a deep terror she feels, probably for the first time since the first snowflake fell.

For now…not only has Father Christmas come to the animals and the children, but Narnia is speed running spring. 

The rivers are running. The snow is melting. The grass is growing. And the sledge is stuck fast in the mud.

The Witch demands that the dwarf tie Edmund’s hands and that they all march on to where Aslan awaits the children.

Chapter 12 returns us to the Beavers and the other children. They have been walking all day as they watch spring appear around them. And finally, as evening approaches, they climb the hill and find a great crowd of Animals. And in the center? Aslan.

 

After a bit of scuffling to see who will go first, the children present themselves to the Lion. He asks them about their missing brother, and Peter tries to take some of the blame for helping Edmund go astray. Lucy begs Aslan to help Edmund and the Lion replies cryptically, “All shall be done…But it may be harder than you think” (LWW 129).

Then Aslan takes Peter aside to show him the castle at Cair Paravel, where the four children will be kings and queens of Narnia. Suddenly, they hear a horn. Aslan tells Peter that this is Susan’s horn, and that Susan must be in trouble. A wolf has arrived in Aslan’s camp and has chased Susan up a tree. Susan is about to faint (and I would get mad at Lewis except for the fact that Susan is 12 years old, from the city, and quite honestly? After the day she’s had? Same, girl. Big old same.)

So Peter closes his eyes and stabs at the wolf and somehow he kills the wolf. Remember Peter is also about 13 years old and has also lived in the city his whole life so I think that was pretty damn brave of him. Aslan sends a group of animals off to rescue Edmund, and then he reminds Peter to always clean his sword. (Lewis fills his books with handy hints for the kids who were reading his books. I have never once forgotten to clean MY sword.)

Chapter 13 takes us back to Edmund again. The Witch and the Dwarf have finally stopped to talk in the gathering darkness. Edmund lies face down on the ground, “not even caring what was going to happen next provided they would let him lie still” (LWW 134) and I HAVE BEEN THERE. A wolf runs up to the Witch and the Dwarf to report that Aslan’s forces are gathering at the mysterious Stone Table and that the wolf that Peter killed was Maugrim, the captain of the guard. The witch realizes that the only way to prevent Edmund from being rescued is to kill him here and now. So she sends messengers for all of her supporters to meet her there and she begins to sharpen her stone knife.

However.

Right at this moment, Aslan’s rescue party arrives and Edmund is saved! The Witch and her dwarf evade capture as she is able to disguise them as a boulder and a tree (this was included in the BBC version of the movie and not the Disney one and I was very disappointed in not being able to see the “fancy version” of this transformation.)

The other children wake in the morning to find Edmund walking with Aslan, and hugs are had all around. 

The dwarf arrives with a message from the Witch, who wishes to meet with Aslan. He says she can approach—without her wand. This is not the first meeting between these two legendary characters, but it has been a few hundred years. She claims the right to Edmund’s life, as he is a traitor and that is what is declared by the Deep Magic.

“DO NOT QUOTE THE DEEP MAGIC TO ME WITCH!” Aslan growls.

Wait a minute.

**flips back a page**

**flips forward a page**

**flips back a few pages**

**flips forward a few pages**

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT LINE ISNT IN THE BOOK?????? THATS THE BEST LINE!!!!!

But whether or not Lewis actually wrote the best line in the whole story, the Lion and the Witch have a private conversation. SOMETHING is decided, for the Witch has agreed that she will not claim Edmund’s life after all.

Chapter Fourteen is called “The Triumph of the Witch,” but it will have to wait for next week.

Thank you all for meandering through this story with me again. I’m enjoying experiencing it again with different eyes.