The Magician's Nephew

The Lion paces as it sings. This song is gentler than the one that created the stars and sun; grass and trees begin to grow, progressing from sprouts to full-grown trees in a matter of seconds. While Digory watches this process, Uncle Andrew tries to steal the ring and the Witch yells at him. Uncle Andrew yells back, his temper overcoming his fear. He tells the Witch he would leave her if he could, saying that she has treated him horribly and ruined his reputation. The Cabby tells Uncle Andrew to watch and listen.

Polly begins to notice a correlation between the Lion’s song and the things happening around them. She believes that the flowers, trees, and other beautiful things appearing around them are coming from the Lion’s head, summoned by his song. The Lion paces closer. Polly is too excited to be afraid, but Digory and the Cabby are nervous. Uncle Andrew is terrified, but his legs are shaking too much for him to run. When the Lion is only 12 paces away, the Witch throws the iron bar of the lamppost at him, striking him squarely between the eyes. The iron bar bounces off and the Lion does not react at all. He keeps walking forward as if nothing has happened, his footfalls shaking the ground. The Witch shrieks and runs into the trees. Uncle Andrew turns to follow but trips, landing in a small stream.

The Lion comes so close that the children could touch his mane, but he doesn’t acknowledge any of them. Uncle Andrew again tries to convince Digory to leave, but Digory insists on staying to see what happens, reminding Uncle Andrew that he started this entire adventure. Uncle Andrew says that this world could be profitable if he only had a gun to kill the Lion. The Cabby decides to find his horse, which has wandered off. Digory tells Uncle Andrew that he doubts a gun could kill the Lion since the iron bar didn’t hurt him at all. Digory then notices that a lamppost is growing out of the ground where the iron bar landed.

Uncle Andrew begins thinking of the commercial possibilities of a land where he could bury old iron to “grow” railroads and battleships to sell back in England. He then thinks of marketing this new world as the land of youth. Digory remembers what Aunt Letty said about the fruit from the land of youth and decides to ask the Lion if anything in this world could heal his mother.

Polly follows Digory to where the Lion is standing. The song has changed again, and the earth around the Lion “bubbles” like boiling water. Patches of ground rise and burst, revealing different kinds of animals. Digory cannot take his eyes off of the Lion, who is now silent, walking among the animals. Strawberry, the Cabby’s horse, joins the roaming animals.

The Lion walks around, touching noses with two of each species of animal at a time, and those chosen animals follow him. The rest wander away as the chosen animals sit in a circle around the Lion. The Lion gazes at the animals, and as Digory and Polly watch, the small animals get slightly bigger than average, while the big animals get slightly smaller. The Lion opens his mouth and breathes on them. Finally, he speaks in a deep voice, proclaiming, “Narnia, Narnia, Narnia, awake. Love. Think. Speak. Be walking trees. Be talking beasts. Be divine waters” (129). 

Though the children felt sure the Lion could speak, they are still shocked when he does. As he speaks, satyrs, fauns, dwarves, naiads, and other fairy creatures emerge from the trees and rivers. All the creatures respond, saying, “Hail, Aslan. We hear and obey. We are awake. We love. We think. We speak. We know” (130).

The Lion, Aslan, tells the creatures that he gives them to themselves, just as he gives them this land, the other creatures, and even himself. He tells them to treat the animals who can’t talk with kindness but not to return to their ways, or they themselves will cease to be “Talking Beasts.” All the beasts reply in unison, except for one jackdaw who speaks slightly behind the others. The animals try to repress their laughter, but Aslan tells them to laugh. 

Aslan calls certain creatures to be part of his council because even though Narnia is only five hours old, there is already an evil force at work. Digory follows many paces behind, wanting to ask Aslan about his mother. Polly and the Cabby join him. The animals notice the humans and have no idea what they are, believing them to be a type of lettuce. The Cabby catches Strawberry’s attention and slowly reminds the horse of who he is. Strawberry tells the other animals that before Aslan woke him up, he lived a very different life in another world, but it all feels like “a dream” now. Strawberry agrees to let Digory ride him to Aslan while Polly and the Cabby follow on foot.

As Digory, Polly, and the Cabby walk toward Aslan, the rest of the animals investigate Uncle Andrew. Uncle Andrew has experienced the events very differently. He did not see the Lion choose two animals of each kind: He only saw dangerous, wild beasts walking freely around and wondered why they did not run from the giant lion. Because Aslan’s song made him think and feel things he did not want to think or feel, he convinced himself that the Lion was roaring. When the beasts began to speak, he likewise only heard snarling, barking, cawing, etc. When the animals laughed, it sounded like “bloodthirsty” howling to Uncle Andrew. When he saw Digory, Polly, and the Cabby walk into the midst of the animals, he the animals would devour them and the rings, leaving him stranded.

As the animals now turn to investigate him, Uncle Andrew believes they will kill him. He begins to run, but the animals easily catch him. A kindly bulldog asks Uncle Andrew if he is an animal, vegetable, or mineral, but Uncle Andrew only hears a snarl.