Once there were 4 children whose names were… PETER, SUSAN, EDMUND, …and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them, when they were sent away from London during the war.
They were sent to the house of an old professor, in the heart of the country. It was the sort of house you never seemed to come to the end of, and it was full of unexpected places.

Look! Look! Quick, there it is!

Hush.

I know what it is—it’s a Beaver! I saw the tail.

It wants us to go with it, and it’s warning us not to make a noise. The question is, are we to go with it or not? What do you think, Lu?

I think it’s a nice Beaver. Do you know, I really believe he means us to follow him…

I apologise for not believing in you, LUCY:. It’s pretty cold; what about putting on some of these coats?

They’re not ours.

I am sure nobody would mind. It isn’t as if we wanted to take them out of the house; we shan’t take them even out of the wardrobe.

I never thought of that.

Of course, now you put it that way. No one could say you had bagged a coat as long as you leave it in the wardrobe where you found it! And I suppose this whole country is in the wardrobe!

We can pretend we are Arctic explorers!

This is going to be exciting enough without pretending.

Come on, let’s give it a try. We ought to be a match for a Beaver if it turns out to be an enemy.

Are you the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve?

We are some of them.

Shush, not so loud, please—we are not safe even here.

There is no one here but ourselves.

There are the trees—they are always listening. Most of them are on our side, but there are trees that would betray us to …the Queen.

Who is this Queen, Lu?

She isn’t a real queen at all. She’s a horrible witch, the White Witch. Everyone – all the wood people – hate her. She has made an enchantment over the whole country so that it is always winter here and never Christmas.

I mean, it doesn’t seem particularly safe here and it looks as if it won’t be much fun either. It’s getting colder every minute and we have nothing to eat. What about just going home?

Ohh…. but we can’t; it is all on my account—the poor fawn has got in trouble. We simply must try to rescue him.

A lot WE could do if we haven’t got anything to eat!

I have a horrid feeling Lu is right, I don’t want to go a step further and I wish we had never come. But I think we must try to do something to Mr whatever his name is – I mean the Fawn.

If it comes to talking about sides, how do we know you’re a friend?

Quite right, quite right, here is my token.

Oh, of course—it’s my handkerchief, the one I gave to poor Mr Tumnus.

Poor fellow! He got wind of the arrest before it happened. He said if anything happened to him, I must meet you here and take you onto… Aslan, they say he is on the move…

What about Mr Tumnus? Where is he?

S-s-s-sh—not here. I must bring you to MRS BEAVER, where we can have a real talk.

So you have come at last, at last! To think I should ever live to see the day. The potatoes are boiling, the kettle singing, and I dare say, MR BEAVER, you will get us some fish…

Do please tell us what’s happened to Mr Tumnus—where’s he been taken to?

Well, they were heading northwards when they were last seen, and we all know what that means.

No, we don’t.

I am afraid it means they were taking him to her House. I don’t doubt you’d save him if you could, dearie.

Couldn’t we have some strategy? There must be some way.

It’s no good, Son of Adam, now that Aslan is on the move…

Oh, yes! Tell us about Aslan!

Aslan? Who is Aslan?

He is in Narnia at this moment. It is he, not you, who will save Mr Tumnus.

The Witch won’t turn him to stone too, will she?

No, no. Aslan will put all to right, as it says in an old rhyme in these parts.

Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight, At the sound of his roar, sorrow will be no more. When he bares his teeth, winter retreats, And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.

But shall we see him?

Is he a man?

Aslan is a lion, the great Lion.

Oh, I thought he was a man—is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.

I am longing to see him, even if I do feel frightened when it comes to the point.

That’s right, Son of Adam, and so you shall! Word has been sent that you are to meet him tomorrow if you can, at the stone table.

Where’s that?

I’ll show you. It’s down the river, a good step from here. I’ll take you to it!

But meanwhile what about poor Mr Tumnus?

The quickest way you can help him is by going to meet Aslan. Once he’s with us, then we can begin doing things. Not that we don’t need you too.

When Adam’s flesh and Adam’s bone

(Reads book) Sits at Cair Paravel in throne,

(Reads book) The evil time will be over and done.

So things must be drawing near their end now he’s come and you’ve come. We’ve heard of Aslan coming into these parts before – long ago, nobody can say when. But there’s never been any of your race here before.

That’s what I don’t understand, MR BEAVER. I mean isn’t the Witch herself human?

She’d like us to believe it.

And it’s on that that she bases her claim to be Queen. But there isn’t a drop of real human blood in the Witch. That’s why she’s bad through all through, MR BEAVER.

True enough, MRS BEAVER.

I’ve known good Dwarfs.

So’ve I, now you come to speak of it. The Witch is always on the lookout for any humans in Narnia; if she knew there were four of you she’d be more dangerous still.

What’s that to do with it?

Down at Cair Paravel there are four thrones and it’s a saying in Narnia that when two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve sit on those four thrones, then it will be the end not only of the White Witch’s reign but of her life, and that is why we had to be so cautious as we came along, for if she knew about you four, your lives wouldn’t be worth a shake of my whiskers!

I say, where’s EDMUND:!

Who saw him last?

How long has he been missing?

Is he outside?

EDMUND!, EDMUND!, EDMUND!

How perfectly dreadful! Oh how I wish we’d never come!

What on earth are we to do, MR BEAVER?

Do?, Do?, We must be off at once. We haven’t a moment to spare!

We’d better divide into four search parties and all go in different directions. Whoever finds him must come back at once and –

There’s no point in looking for him.

What do you mean? He can’t be far away yet. And we’ve got to find him. What do you mean when you say there’s no use looking for him?

We know already where he’s gone!

Don’t you understand! He’s gone to her—the White Witch! He has betrayed us all!

Oh surely – oh really! He can’t have done that!

Can’t he?

Yes… quietly. I am afraid he has…

Don’t you remember? It was EDMUND: who asked whether the Witch could turn Aslan into stone.

Mark my words, he has already met the White Witch and joined her side.

All the same, we’ll still have to go and look for him. He is our brother after all, even if he is a little beast. And he’s only a kid.

Go to the White Witch’s House. The only chance of saving either him or yourselves is to keep away from her.

How do you mean?

Once you were all four inside her House, her job would be done – and there’d be four new statues in her collection before you’d had time to speak!

You’re right—we must all get away from here. There’s not a moment to lose!

(apart from EDMUND) LUCY!

Now of course you want to know what happened to EDMUND. All these people who say nasty things about the Witch and her enemies …probably half of it isn’t true. She was jolly nice to me anyways, much nicer than they are. I expect she is the rightful Queen really. Anyways, she’ll be better than that awful Aslan!