A Return to Childhood

The Magician's Nephew by C. S. Lewis

We watched the 2005 version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe while our girls were home for Christmas.  I realized once again how much I love all things Narnia so I decided to read (actually listen to) the stories once again.  I'm listening to them in Narnian chronological order rather than in the order of publication.

The Magician's Nephew is the story of Digory and his friend Polly who are tricked by Digory's Uncle Andrew into taking a trip to other worlds.  They meet  evil Queen Jadis from the rapidly dying world of Charn.  When they realize just how evil she is they try to leave Charn without her, but end up bringing her back to our world.  They try to lose her again, but accidentally take her to Narnia at the time when Aslan is first creating Narnia.  Aslan tells the children that Jadis will be kept in check for a time, but then she will do harm to Narnia.

I love C. S. Lewis.  I love the way he describes the beginning of Narnia.  This is my favorite passage describing the creation of the animals:

Can you imagine a stretch of grassy land bubbling like water in a pot?  For that is really the best description of what was happening.  In all directions it was swelling into humps.  They were of very different sizes, some no bigger than molehills, some as big as wheelbarrows, two the size of cottages.  And the humps moved and swelled till they burst, and the crumbled earth poured out of them, and from each hump there came out an animal.  The moles came out just as you might see a mole come out in England.  The dogs came out, barking the moment their heads were free, and struggling as you've seen them do when they are getting through a narrow hole in a hedge.  The stags were the queerest to watch; for of course  the antlers came up a long time before the rest of them, so at first Digory thought they were trees.  The frogs, who all came up near the river, went straight into it with a plop-plop and a loud croaking.  The panthers, leopards, and things of that sort sat down at once to wash the loose earth off their hind quarters and then stood up against the trees to sharpen their front claws.  Showers of birds came out of the trees.  Butterflies fluttered.  Bees got to work on the flowers as if they hadn't a second to lose.  But the greatest moment of all was when the biggest hump broke like a small earthquake and out came the sloping back, the large, wise head, and the four baggy-trousered legs of an elephant.  Chapter 9 The Founding of Narnia

I hope you won't judge me too harshly when I admit that I still hope that maybe one day I'll find a way to Narnia.

I do encourage you to re-read children's books and young adult books that were important to you when you were maturing.  I also encourage you to make your way to the children's and young adult section of the library to find new or new to you stories.  

Until next time...