ENGLISH LESSONS FOR RUSSIAN-SPEAKERS BASED ON C.S. LEWIS'S "THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE"
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Lesson One (of five)
Read the texts and complete the exercises.
Summary of chapters 1-3
The Pevensie children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, have been evacuated from their home, like multitudes of other British children, to protect them from German air raids during World War II. They have been sent to the home of an old professor out in the countryside, far from the large population centers. The only full-time residents of the house are the professor, his rather severe housekeeper Mrs. Macready, and three servants who play no role in the story. On their first full day there after arriving, the children are bored, with nothing to do, because it's raining outside, and so they go exploring around the house. They separate and go their own ways. Lucy finds a room that is empty except for an old wardrobe (free-standing closet). It is full of fur coats. Entering it, out of curiosity, Lucy finds that she can keep going farther back in the wardrobe than she thought possible. Finally, she discovers that she isn't in the wardrobe anymore but in a completely different place, a snow-covered forest. There she meets a faun (a mythical figure, half-man, half-goat), who is more shocked and frightened at seeing her than she is at seeing him. Overcoming their fear, however, they introduce themselves to each other. The faun's name is Mr. Tumnus.
Tumnus invites Lucy to his home, which is a residence made out of a cave. Tumnus acts very hospitably, providing Lucy with a nice meal: an egg, sardines on toast, buttered toast, toast with honey, cake, and tea. Then Mr. Tumnus starts to tell Lucy about the old days, before Narnia (the land in which Lucy has found herself) was trapped in perpetual winter. Then Tumnus plays a tune on his flute, and in response Lucy gets drowzy and finally falls asleep.
When Lucy wakes up, Tumnus is weeping. He confesses that he has tricked Lucy into staying longer than she intended. His purpose was to capture her and hand her over to the White Witch. But now he regrets his treachery and, when Lucy asks him to let her go home, he agrees. He leads her back to the lamp-post (which Lucy found close to the wardrobe door when she entered Narnia; it's a strange lamp-post because it seems to be alive, like a tree), and from there Lucy finds her way back to the wardrobe and into the professor's house again.
Back in the house, Lucy hurries to tell her siblings that she's back and all right, but they don't understand what she means, because, to them, no time has passed at all, except for a few minutes, since they saw her. Time has worked very differently in Narnia than in our world. Lucy tries to convince the others that she was really in a different world for hours, but they don't believe her. When they check the wardrobe, it is simply a normal wardrobe, with a wooden wall at the back. Lucy breaks into tears that her brothers and sister won't believe her.
But a few days later the children decide to play Hide-and-Seek. Lucy decides to hide in the wardrobe and, when she enters it, she finds that it has again turned into a portal to Narnia, so she enters Narnia again. But this time Edmund has caught sight of Lucy going into the wardrobe, so he decides to follow her in and tease her. Then he discovers that he, too, is in another world. He is scared and calls for Lucy but she is nowhere to be seen.
Just as he is about to go back into the wardrobe, he hears the tinkling of bells. He looks around and sees a sleigh (sledge) drawn by two small reindeer, and in the sleigh are a tall woman all in white fur, wearing a tall, pointy, golden crown, and, driving the sleigh, a dwarf wearing a red hood.
When the riders in the sleigh see Edmund, the lady orders the dwarf to stop. She asks Edmund, strangely, what he is, and Edmund, not knowing what else to say, tells her his name. She is angry because he has failed to say "Your Majesty" (not knowing she considers herself a queen). He apologizes and she tells him she is Queen of Narnia. She asks him again what he is, and he tells her that he doesn't know what she means.
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Three excerpts, one from each from chapter:
(After the children agree to explore the house....)
It was the sort of house that you never seem to come to the end of, and it was full of unexpected places. The first few doors they tried led only into spare bedrooms, as everyone had expected that they would; but soon they came to a very long room full of pictures and there they found a suit of armor; and after that was a room all hung with green, with a harp in one corner; and then a kind of little upstairs hall and a door that led out onto a balcony, and then a whole series of rooms that led into each other and were lined with books--most of them very old books and some bigger than a Bible in a church. And shortly after that they looked into a room that was quite empty except for one big wardrobe; the sort that has a looking-glass in the door. There was nothing else in the room at all except a dead blue-bottle on the window-sill.
(In Mr. Tumnus's home, while he is preparing tea and Lucy is looking around, noticing what the room contains....)
Lucy thought she had never been in a nicer place. It was a little, dry, clean cave of reddish stone with a carpet on the floor and two little chairs ("one for me and one for a friend," said Mr. Tumnus) and a table and a dresser and a mantelpiece over the fire and above that a picture of an old Faun with a gray beard. In one corner there was a door which Lucy thought must lead to Mr. Tumnus's bedroom, and on one wall was a shelf full of books. Lucy looked at these while he was setting out the tea things. They had titles like The Life and Letters of Silenus or Nymphs and Their Ways or Men, Monks, and Gamekeepers; a Study in Popular Legend or Is Man a Myth?
(When Edmund finds himself also in Narnia....)
There was crisp, dry snow under his feet and more snow lying on the branches of the trees. Overhead there was a pale blue sky, the sort of sky one sees on a fine winter day in the morning. Straight ahead of him he saw between the tree-trunks the sun, just rising, very red and clear. Everything was perfectly still, as if he were the only living creature in that country. There was not even a robin or squirrel among the trees, and the wood stretched as far as he could see in every direction. He shivered.
He now remembered that he had been looking for Lucy; and also how unpleasant he had been to her about her "imaginary country" which now turned out not to have been imaginary at all. He thought that she must be somewhere quite close and so he shouted, "Lucy! Lucy! I'm here too--Edmund."
There was no answer.
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Exercise A: Replace the words in underlined bold font, in the first and third excerpts, with words from this list.
draped
continued
kind
opened
large
row
recalled
apart from
above
a single
near
searching
mirror
several
soon
light
vacant
completely
forest
right
unkind
reply
yelled
Exercise B: Answer the following questions in English.
- Tell me, briefly, how you suppose the Pevensie children felt when they were evacuated from their home and had to go live with strangers. How did their parents feel? What kind of a time was this for the society in general?
2. Why (in the imaginary world of this story) is this the perfect time for the children to find themselves in a different world facing unexpected adventures? In other words, why is this good for them? And why is Lucy the first one to discover Narnia? How is this a test for her brothers and sister?
3. Why is Mr. Tumnus so sorrowful? What makes him change?
4. Characterize Edmund's motives for following Lucy into the wardrobe. Do his motives mean that only bad things can result? Why? Explain your position.
5. Is this "queen" going to be a good or evil figure in the story? Even if you didn't know the story already, what would you expect? Why? What are the signs or indications already concerning her character/temperament?
Exercise C: Translate the following excerpt from the Summary into Russian. You can use Google Translate for the initial translation, but then you must polish it into good Russian, both grammatically and stylistically.
Be creative!
ALSO, take note that the typical manner of narration in English is in the Present Simple ("The man walks up to the door, knocks, waits....") but the typical manner of narration in Russian is in the Past ("Chelovek podoshol k dveri, postuchal, ozhydal....").
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Back in the house, Lucy hurries to tell her siblings that she's back and all right, but they don't understand what she means, because, to them, no time has passed at all, except for a few minutes, since they saw her. Time has worked very differently in Narnia than in our world. Lucy tries to convince the others that she was really in a different world for hours, but they don't believe her. When they check the wardrobe, it is simply a normal wardrobe, with a wooden wall at the back. Lucy breaks into tears that her brothers and sister won't believe her.
But a few days later the children decide to play Hide-and-Seek. Lucy decides to hide in the wardrobe and, when she enters it, she finds that it has again turned into a portal to Narnia, so she enters Narnia again. But this time Edmund has caught sight of Lucy going into the wardrobe, so he decides to follow her in and tease her. Then he discovers that he, too, is in another world. He is scared and calls for Lucy but she is nowhere to be seen.
Just as he is about to go back into the wardrobe, he hears the tinkling of bells. He looks around and sees a sleigh drawn by two small reindeer, and in the sleigh are a tall woman all in white fur, wearing a tall, pointy, golden crown, and, driving the sleigh, a dwarf wearing a red hood.
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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Lesson Two (of five)
Read the texts and complete the exercises.
Summary of chapters 4-6
The "Queen" reformulates her question in various ways, in order to find out for sure whether Edmund is a human being, a "Son of Adam." She finally ascertains that he is indeed a human boy and that he has two sisters and a brother. She is particularly concerned that there are four of them. For a moment, it seems she is about to destroy Edmund but suddenly her attitude completely changes. She begins to act very friendly and caring, inviting Edmund to join her on the sleigh and get warm inside her fur mantle. She magically creates a hot drink for him, and then asks him what he'd like to eat. He asks for Turkish Delight. She magically makes a box full of Turkish Delight, and Edmund greedily eats all of it while the Queen pumps him for information. Having ascertained that Edmund comes from The World of Men and that he doesn't get along very well with his siblings, the Queen flatters Edmund, telling him she would like him to become her prince, the future king. She asks him to bring his siblings to her at her home, and promises that he'll be able to eat all the Turkish Delight he ever wants at her house. Edmund promises to try, and the Queen rides away.
At that moment, Lucy emerges from the woods and rejoices at seeing Edmund there. She has been visiting Mr. Tumnus, who told her that he was safe and the White Witch hadn't discovered that Lucy had been in Narnia or that he had helped her. Edmund asks who this White Witch is, and Lucy explains that she's an evil witch who calls herself the queen and keeps all of Narnia in perpetual winter. Edmund begins to understand that this is the same "queen" he was just talking to. But he wants more of that (enchanted) Turkish Delight so much that he is ready to betray his own siblings. As the children re-enter our world, Lucy is excited that now, finally, with Edmund's help, she can prove to Peter and Susan that Narnia is real. But Edmund is actually trying to think of how to avoid admitting that he was wrong and also how he can hide the fact that he is on the White Witch's side.
Back in our world, the younger children find Peter and Susan, and Lucy immediately tells them that Edmund was with her in Narnia. But when the older children look at Edmund for confirmation, he pretends that it was only make-believe, a game, and that Lucy is just getting carried away. Lucy, shocked, runs away crying. Peter and Susan are furious with Edmund for encouraging Lucy in these fantasies, which was not the reaction Edmund expected and now Edmund is even more hostile toward his siblings.
Peter and Susan, afraid that Lucy might be losing her mind, consult with the professor (whose house they are living in). To their amazement, the professor takes Lucy's side. He says that, if Lucy does not as a rule lie, and if she's not insane (and he feels sure she isn't), then the only remaining possibility is, she's telling the truth. This is not at all the advice the children expected. But they have no choice than to accept the professor's advice to mind their own business.
A few days later a tourist group is given a tour of the mansion. Mrs. Macready, the strict housekeeper, has warned the children to stay out of sight when tourists are in the mansion. So, when the children find that the sound of visitors seems to chase them from every direction, they flee to the room with the wardrobe, and as the doorknob is turning they jump into the wardrobe itself.
Hiding in the wardrobe, the children suddenly sense cold, dampness and light, as if they are outside on a winter's day. And Susan suddenly realizes she is sitting against the trunk of a tree. They are in Narnia! Peter and Susan realize that Lucy was telling the truth (though they don't yet understand that Edmund was lying). Peter apologizes to Lucy for not believing her. Peter gives Lucy the prerogative of choosing where they will go, since she was the first in Narnia, and she says she wants to introduce them to Mr. Tumnus. The children take fur coats from the wardrobe and put them on. They head to Mr. Tumnus' home, with Lucy in the lead. But Edmund suggests they should head in another direction (toward the Witch's house), which makes Peter and Susan realize that Edmund really was in Narnia before and was lying when he said he wasn't. Peter calls Edmund a "poisonous little beast", which Edmund resents very much; he is determined to make his siblings "pay" for treating him so badly.
When they get to Mr. Tumnus's home, they find that it has been destroyed. The door is torn off the hinges and the whole interior of the home is wrecked. An official notice has been posted, saying that Tumnus was arrested as a traitor to the queen, for assisting the queen's enemy, a human being.
Susan wants to go back home to the "real" world, Edmund is angry at all of them and wants to go back to the Queen for more Turkish Delight, Lucy is terribly upset about Mr. Tumnus, and Peter feels a deep responsibility to do the right thing. Peter agrees with Lucy that they should try to help Tumnus, and Susan finally agrees. Edmund has no choice except to go with them.
Outside Tumnus' house, a robin in a tree seems to signal to them that they should follow him. When they start following him, he jumps from tree to tree, clearly leading them somewhere. This continues for some time and then, when Edmund starts complaining that maybe the robin is really an enemy and maybe Tumnus was also on the wrong side, and Peter starts arguing with Edmund, the robin flies away. The children are alone, and they don't know where they are.
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Three excerpts, one from each from chapter:
(Edmund is stuffing his mouth with Turkish Delight while the White Witch coaxes information from him....)
While he was eating the Queen kept asking him questions. 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. 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. She seemed especially interested in the fact that there were four of them, and kept on coming backto it.
(The professor is telling Peter and Susan why they should not assume Lucy's story isn't true....)
"Logic!" said the Professor half to himself. "Why don't they teach logic at these schools? There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth. You know she doesn't tell lies and it is obvious that she is not mad. For the moment then and unless any further evidence turns up, we must assume that she is telling the truth."
Susan looked at him very hard and was quite sure from the expression on his face that he was not making fun of them.
"But how could it be true, sir?" said Peter.
"Why do you say that?" asked the Professor.
"Well, for one thing," said Peter, if it was real why doesn't everybody find this country every time they go to the wardrobe? I mean, there was nothing there when we looked; even Lucy didn't pretend there was."
"What has that to do with it?" said the Professor.
"Well, sir, if things are real, they're there all the time."
"Are they?" said the Professor; and Peter did not know quite what to say.
(What the children saw when they entered Tumnus' home....)
The door had been wrenched off its hinges and broken to bits. Inside, the cave was dark and cold and had the damp feel and smell of a place that had not been lived in for several days. Snow had drifted in from the doorway and was heaped on the floor, mixed with something black, which turned out to be the charred sticks and ashes from the fire. Someone had apparently flung it about the room and then stamped it out. The crockery lay smashed on the floor and the picture of the Faun's father had been slashed into shreds with a knife.
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Exercise A: Replace the words in underlined bold font with words from this list.
thrown
attempted
look
returning
suppose
inhabited
torn
impolite
insane
continued
evidently
pieces
curious
intently
desired
piled
talk
certain
particularly
clear
beside
Exercise B: Answer the following questions in English.
1. Tell me two or three key moments, "turning points," at which Edmund should have realized that he was going in the wrong direction and should correct his moral trajectory.
2. Tell me one or two ways, or moments, when Peter and Susan could possibly have reacted differently to Edmund and, thus, stopped him from falling completely into treachery.
3. What do you think of the Professor's advice to the children? Was it good advice? Why or why not?
4. Even though this is a children's story, a "fairy tale," it throws light on some very "adult" themes and concepts. Can you name some of them? Also, at what point (when?) does this story become "darker" than a typical fairy tale?
5. Can you characterize the four children's personalities with one word for each? Do you have some aspect of each of these children in yourself? Explain.
Exercise C: Translate the following excerpt from the Summary into Russian. You can use Google Translate for the initial translation, but then you must polish it into good Russian, both grammatically and stylistically.
Be creative!
ALSO, take note that the typical manner of narration in English is in the Present Simple ("The man walks up to the door, knocks, waits....") but the typical manner of narration in Russian is in the Past ("Chelovek podoshol k dveri, postuchal, ozhydal....").
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At that moment, Lucy emerges from the woods and rejoices at seeing Edmund there. She has been visiting Mr. Tumnus, who told her that he was safe and the White Witch hadn't discovered that Lucy had been in Narnia or that he had helped her. Edmund asks who this White Witch is, and Lucy explains that she's an evil witch who calls herself the queen and keeps all of Narnia in perpetual winter. Edmund begins to understand that this is the same "queen" he was just talking to. But he wants more of that (enchanted) Turkish Delight so much that he is ready to betray his own siblings. As the children re-enter our world, Lucy is excited that now, finally, with Edmund's help, she can prove to Peter and Susan that Narnia is real. But Edmund is actually trying to think of how to avoid admitting that he was wrong and also how he can hide the fact that he is on the White Witch's side.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Lesson Three (of five)
Read the texts and complete the exercises.
Summary of chapters 7-9
The children leave Mr. Tumnus's ruined home, following a robin that leads them into the woods. Suddenly the robin abandons them, and the children realize they don't know how to go back home even if they tried. But then a beaver appears and signals to them to follow him. They decide to trust him. He leads them deeper into the forest, then stops and asks them whether they are the Sons and Adam and Daughters of Eve. After they confirm that they are, he tells them that Mr. Tumnus anticipated his arrest and asked Mr. Beaver to help the children if they came back. As proof, Beaver shows the handkerchief that Lucy left with Tumnus. Then Mr. Beaver tells the children that "Aslan is on the move". The children have no idea who Aslan is, but the name fills them with strong, strange feelings.
Beaver brings the children to his home, to give them dinner and fill them in on the recent events in Narnia. From Beaver's home, which is on top of a dam, Edmund can see the two hills the White Witch pointed out to him as near her house. He is thinking about Turkish Delight and the Witch's promises.
At the home of Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, the children are given a hearty supper of freshly caught fish, potatoes, bread, milk, then a dessert of marmelade cake, fresh out of the oven, with tea. When they've all had their fill, Beaver commences to fill the children in on the present situation in Narnia.
Word has gotten about that Aslan has returned, and that he will gather his followers at the Stone Table. This means that the White Witch's illegitimate and cruel reign is coming to an end and soon Narnia's perpetual winter will be over. The children ask who Aslan is. Beaver is shocked that they have never heard of him. He tells them Aslan is a lion--the lion, King of the whole wood (forest)! His return signals that the old prophecies are about to be fulfilled: when Aslan returns, the White Witch will be destroyed, and then two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve will reign as kings and queens of Narnia. The children want very much to rescue Mr. Tumnus from the White Witch, so everyone agrees that they should leave tomorrow, after a good night's sleep, to go meet Aslan and join forces with him.
But then they realize Edmund is missing. He managed to quietly slip out of the house, unnoticed, while they were absorbed in their discussion. The children can't understand what has happened, but Mr. Beaver immediately understands. He had noticed a sinister look on Edmund's face from the very start and suspected that Edmund had tasted the White Witch's magical food. Now, when he finds out from the children that, yes, Edmund has been in Narnia previously and, no, they don't know how he spent that time here, Beaver is positive: Edmund met the White Witch and became her ally, and now he is on his way to her, to betray them! The children are shocked but they are forced to admit that Beaver must be right. He announces that they must flee the house immediately, because the Queen will surely come after them as soon as she finds out from Edmund where they are.
In the meantime, Edmund has started on his way to the White Queen's house. He has not taken his coat with him, so he is freezing, and there are no roads, and he must struggle through a thick, dark, snow-and-ice-covered forest. Finally, in a miserable state, Edmund arrives at the Witch's house, which is really a castle. The castle gates are open and Edmund discovers that the courtyard is filled with stone statues of all kinds of animals and strange, fabulous creatures--the kind that populate our own world's ancient myths and legends. He realizes these must be enemies the Queen turned into stone. Approaching the entrance to the main hall, Edmund is surprised when a wolf, which Edmund assumed was just another statue, jumps up and challenges him. The wolf is the Queen's chief of security. Edmund tells the wolf why he has come, and the wolf tells him to wait while he goes to announce him to the Queen. When the wolf returns he says Edmund may come in. Entering the main hall, Edmund rushes eagerly to tell the Queen he's done what she asked. But she is furious that he has not brought his siblings with him. He tells her everything that has happened, including the conversation about Aslan. She is startled at the mention of Aslan. She calls the dwarf and tells him to get her sleigh ready.
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Three excerpts, one from each from chapter:
(Mr. Beaver has just mentioned Aslan for the first time....)
And now a very curious thing happened. None of the children knew who Aslan was any more than you do; but the moment the Beaver had spoken these words everyone felt quitedifferent. 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 enormousmeaning--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. It was like that now.
(After supper, Beaver again mentions Aslan....)
"Who is Aslan?" asked Susan
"Aslan?" said Mr. Beaver. "Why, don't you know? He's the King. He's the Lord of the whole wood, but not often here, you understand. Never in my time or my father's time. But the word has reached us that he has come back. He is in Narnia at the moment. He'll settle the White Queen all right. It is he, not you, that will save Mr. Tumnus."
"She won't turn him into stone too?" said Edmund.
"Lord love you, Son of Adam, what a simple thing to say!" answered Mr. Beaver with a great laugh. "Turn him into stone? If she can stand on her two feet and look him in the face it'll be the most she can do and more than I expect of her. No, no! He'll put all to rights as it says 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.
You'll understand when you see him."
(Edmund has slipped out of the house and, with great difficulty, is making his way to White Witch's house....)
It was growing darker every minute and what with that and the snowflakes swirling all round him he could hardly see three feet ahead. And then too there was no road. He kept slipping into deep drifts of snow, and skidding on frozen puddles, and tripping over fallen tree-trunks, and sliding down steep banks, and barking his shins against rocks, till he was wet and cold and bruised all over. In fact I really think he might have given up the wholeplan and gone back and owned up and made friends with the others, if he hadn't happened to say to himself, "When I'm King of Narnia the first thing I shall do will be to make some decent roads."
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Exercise A: Next to the words below, write their synonyms (or near-synonyms) from the three excerpts above (i.e., the words in bold font).
tremendous
said
confessed
poem
life...life
stumbling
comprehend
actually
news
entire
occurred
reconciled
barely
naive
because of
odd
falling
occasionally
change
proper
seems
skinning
instant
right now
getting
returned
very
loud
whirling
Exercise B: Answer the following questions in English.
1 Why doesn't Edmund see things as they really are? Why can't he alter his moral trajectory and simply reject the White Witch's enticements?
2. C.S. Lewis tells us that Edmund was on the verge (na grani) of giving up and going back to make up with his siblings, when a thought came to him: as king he would make good roads through the forest. And that thought encouraged Edmund to go on. What particularly deceptive aspect of temptation is Lewis alluding (namekat', upominat', soslat'sa) to here?
3. Lewis tells the reader in great detail about Edmund's long, lonely, scary, painful, angry and miserable journey to the White Queen's house. What is Lewis indicating by this about the nature of sin and temptation?
4. If Beaver noticed something "not right" in Edmund's look (expression, face, demeanor) from the very beginning, shouldn't he have said something immediately, maybe challenge Edmund to tell them whether he'd ever met the White Queen, and, so, forestall (predotvratit') all the complications that came after? Is there any justification for Beaver's not doing so? How does this relate to our own lives in the real world?
Exercise C: Translate the following excerpt from the Summary into Russian. You can use Google Translate for the initial translation, but then you must polish it into good Russian, both grammatically and stylistically.
Be creative!
ALSO, take note that the typical manner of narration in English is in the Present Simple ("The man walks up to the door, knocks, waits....") but the typical manner of narration in Russian is in the Past ("Chelovek podoshol k dveri, postuchal, ozhydal....").
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Word has gotten about that Aslan has returned, and that he will gather his followers at the Stone Table. This means that the White Witch's illegitimate and cruel reign is coming to an end and soon Narnia's perpetual winter will be over. The children ask who Aslan is. Beaver is shocked that they have never heard of him. He tells them Aslan is a lion--the lion, King of the whole wood (forest)! His return signals that the old prophecies are about to be fulfilled: when Aslan returns, the White Witch will be destroyed, and then two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve will reign as kings and queens of Narnia. The children want very much to rescue Mr. Tumnus from the White Witch, so everyone agrees that they should leave tomorrow, after a good night's sleep, to go meet Aslan and join forces with him.
But then they realize Edmund is missing. He managed to quietly slip out of the house, unnoticed, while they were absorbed in their discussion. The children can't understand what has happened, but Mr. Beaver immediately understands. He had noticed a sinister look on Edmund's face from the very start and suspected that Edmund had tasted the White Witch's magical food. Now, when he finds out from the children that, yes, Edmund has been in Narnia previously and, no, they don't know how he spent that time here, Beaver is positive: Edmund met the White Witch and became her ally, and now he is on his way to her, to betray them! The children are shocked but they are forced to admit that Beaver must be right. He announces that they must flee the house immediately, because the Queen will surely come after them as soon as she finds out from Edmund where they are.
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