He was so big, and so glad, and so real, that they all became quite still. But now that the children actually stood looking at him they didn't find it quite like that. Some of the pictures of Father Christmas in our world make him look only funny and jolly. But when you really see them in Narnia it is rather different. 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. 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. And on the sledge sat a person whom everyone knew the moment they set eyes on him. It was a sledge, and it was reindeer with bells on their harness. “Come and see! This is a nasty knock for the Witch! It looks as if her power is already crumbling.” Beaver, who was almost dancing with delight.
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. Susan felt as if some delicious smell or some delightful strain of music had just floated by her.
Peter felt suddenly brave and adventurous. Edmund felt a sensation of mysterious horror. At the name of Aslan each one of the children felt something jump in its inside. 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. 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. “They say Aslan is on the move-perhaps has already landed.”Īnd now a very curious thing happened. 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.
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. “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. “You are sure there are just four of you?” she asked. She seemed especially interested in the fact that there were four of them, and kept on coming back to it.
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. 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. While he was eating the Queen kept asking him questions.
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