10/17/2024
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป, ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ช๐ถ๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฏ๐ฒ, ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐ฝ๐๐ฏ๐น๐ถ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ข๐ฐ๐๐ผ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ญ๐ฒ, ๐ญ๐ต๐ฑ๐ฌ
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ต๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ฆ, the beginning of C S Lewisโ โfantasyโ series, ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ช๐ข , was published on October 16, 1950. Lewis wrote the book for his goddaughter, Lucy Barfield. Time magazine included the novel in its list of the 100 Best Young-Adult Books of All Time, as well as its list of the 100 best English-language novels published since 1923.
At the beginning of the Second World War, many British children were evacuated from London and other cities to the countryside to escape German air raids. Early in September 1939, three schoolgirls, Margaret, Mary and Katherine, came to live in The Kilns. Lewis's home outside Oxford. Lewis later said the experience gave him a renewed appreciation for children, and that month he began writing a children's story:
โThis book is about four children whose names were Ann, Martin, Rose and Peter. But it is most about Peter, who was the youngest. They all had to go away from London suddenly because of Air Raids, and because Father, who was in the Army, had gone off to the War and Mother was doing some kind of war work. They were sent to stay with a kind of relation of Mother's who was a very old professor who lived all by himself in the country.โ Lewis used his own real-life experience as the โframeโ for the story.
The story takes place in Narnia, a land of talking animals and mythical creatures ruled by the evil White Witch. The tale opens with four English school children relocated to a large, old country house during the wartime evacuation. The youngest, Lucy, visits Narnia three times via the magic of a wardrobe in a spare room. Lucyโs three siblings are with her on her third visit to Narnia. In Narnia, the children fulfil an old prophecy and find themselves fighting to save both Narnia and their own lives. The lion Aslan gives his life to save one of the children; he later rises from the dead, vanquishes the White Witch, and crowns the children Kings and Queens of Narnia.
Here are a few of the memorable lines from ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ต๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ฆ:
โI wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand a word you say, but I shall still be your affectionate Godfather, C. S. Lewis.โ
โMeanwhile,โ said Mr Tumnus, โit is winter in Narnia, and has been for ever so long, and we shall both catch cold if we stand here talking in the snow. Daughter of Eve from the far land of Spare Oom where eternal summer reigns around the bright city of War Drobe, how would it be if you came and had tea with me?โ
โAlways winter but never Christmas.โ
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โWho is Aslan?โ asked Susan.
โAslan?โ said Mr. Beaver, โWhy, donโt you know? Heโs the King. Heโs the Lord of the whole wood, but not often here, you understand. Never in my time or my fatherโs time. But the word has reached us that he has come back. He is in Narnia at this moment. Heโll settle the White Queen all right. It is he, not you, that will save Mr. Tumnus.โ
โShe wonโt turn him into stone too?โ said Edmund.
โLord love you, Son of Adam, what a simple thing to say!โ answered Mr. Beaver with a great laugh. โTurn him into stone? If she can stand on her two feet and look him in the face itโll be the most she can do and more than I expect of her. No, no. Heโll put all to rights, 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, sorrows will be no more,
When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death
And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.
Youโll understand when you see him.โ
โBut shall we see him?โ asked Susan.
โWhy, Daughter of Eve, thatโs what I brought you here for. Iโm to lead you where you shall meet him,โ said Mr. Beaver.
โIs--is he a man?โ asked Lucy.
โAslan a man!โ said Mr. Beaver sternly. โCertainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. Donโt you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion--the Lion, the great Lion.โ
โOoh!โ said Susan, โIโd thought he was a man. Is he--quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.โ
โThat you will, dearie, and no mistake,โ said Mrs. Beaver. โIf thereโs anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, theyโre either braver than most or else just silly.โ
โThen he isnโt safe?โ said Lucy.
โSafe?โ said Mr. Beaver. โDonโt you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? โCourse he isnโt safe. But heโs good. Heโs the King, I tell you.โ
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โHe'll be coming and going" he had said. "One day you'll see him and another you won't. He doesn't like being tied down--and of course he has other countries to attend to. It's quite all right. He'll often drop in. Only you mustn't press him. He's wild, you know. Not like a tame lion.โ
โAll names will soon be restored to their proper owners.โ
โIt means,โ said Aslan, โthat 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 traitorโs stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward. And nowโฆโ
โTo the glistening eastern sea, I give you Queen Lucy the Valiant. To the great western woods, King Edmund the Just. To the radiant southern sun, Queen Susan the Gentle. And to the clear northern skies, I give you King Peter the Magnificent. Once a king or queen of Narnia, always a king or queen of Narnia. May your wisdom grace us until the stars rain down from the heavens.โ
โAnd Peter became a tall and deep-chested man and a great warrior, and he was called King Peter the Magnificent. And Susan grew into a tall and gracious woman with black hair that fell almost to her feet and the kings of the countries beyond the sea began to send ambassadors asking for her hand in marriage. And she was called Queen Susan the Gentle. Edmund was a graver and quieter man than Peter, and great in council and judgment. he was called King Edmund the Just. But as for Lucy, she was always gay and golden-haired, and all princes in those parts desired her to be their Queen, and her own people called her Queen Lucy the Valiant.โ
The original English versions were profusely illustrated with the lively drawings of Pauline Baynes, a friend of JRRR Tolkien and illustrator of many of his works. Unfortunately, little of her work was used in any of the American versions of ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ช๐ข
