Tea and Fauns Who Drink It
I have C. S. Lewis to thank for my early introduction to the English ritual of tea. Proper tea is not just the actual tea. It is scones, small sandwiches, crackers and spread and smoked goodies and whatever else happens to be available. It is a fourth meal in a world that only has room for three. Coffee has been condensed into a drive-thru at Starbucks or an hour-old pot sitting on a counter, whereas tea makes you sit and wait while it steeps before you can enjoy it. High tea really is a fourth meal and if you leave feeling less than full, you've done it wrong.

Tea also has a certain mysticism about it. It was cultivated in the far east and brought back for consumption by those who could afford blends with exotic sounding names like Assam, Dimbuta, Nilgiri and Darjeeling. It also is the source for my favorite quote from Toy Story, by Buzz Lightyear (who just found out he was only a toy): "One minute you're defending the whole galaxy, and, suddenly, you find yourself sucking down Darjeeling with Marie Antoinette... and her little sister."

Today, I enjoy green tea as it helps alleviate my Fibromyalgia symptoms. While I drink it for the curative powers, humans and--as luck would have it--polite fauns drink it as a way to be social and hospitable.

Tumnus introduces himself to Lucy and he's unsure at first what to do when he learns that she's a human girl. We find out later that he has general instructions from the White Witch to kidnap any humans he finds and bring them to her. Tumnus slips into the role of "traitor" with only a moment's hesitation. He almost says, "That is to say, delighted ...if we weren't under the curse and control of the White Witch, who, by the way, wants to kill you." That's an awkward way to start off a conversation. He doesn't want Lucy's friendship at all at first. He immediately begins luring her back to his cave to feed her and put her to sleep to kidnap her. Because she's from an age where anyone with manners would be assumed to have wholesome intentions, Lucy believes the faun. She's innocent, trusting and more filled with wonder than fright in this new land.

Jack's description of the cave is the antithesis of what we would call a cave. Where all the caves I've been in are cold, dank and dark, this one is immediately cozy and warm with rugs, a fire, furniture and bookcases filled with strange titles like,"Is Man a Myth?" It gives explanation for the fright Tumnus has. He meets Lucy with the same composure as we would if we were to meet Sasquatch or the Loch Ness monster.

Tumnus tells her tales of Narnia that is really our only indication in this book of what Narnia once was before the spell of the White Witch. He is quite nostalgic over the memories he has. The author draws from Greco-Roman mythology as well as the mythology used by his friend, J.R.R. Tolkien.

Tumnus then plays a flute for Lucy and uses an enchantment to put her to sleep. Lewis never lets us know how successful he is in doing so because he plays it from Lucy's point of view, and she is never aware that she is enchanted, merely that she was there for what must have been hours and then she shook herself. It could be that Tumnus allowed Lucy to awaken or it may have been Aslan's intervention, as the recent LWW movie implies. At any rate, Tumnus is overcome with regret and contrition as he comes to realize that humans are harmless and how his betrayal of such a harmless being is reprehensible and vile.

We see from Lucy's point of view when Tumnus reveals his treachery to her. She is horrified at the prospect of such a sinister action and Tumnus is redeemed by his risking his life to return Lucy to her world. Realizing that the White Witch's power extends throughout Narnia turns a bright and snowy land to a cruel, cold world. Lucy's escape is a breathless one.

Of Fauns And Men
Again, Lewis brings so much in such a short time. The world of Narnia is implied to have an economy (the parcels Tumnus carries), publishers and authors (because of the books in his cave), teachers and sciences (school and geography), family history and other structures similar to our world, and yet none of it is ever seen in LWW and very little elsewhere in the Chronicles of Narnia. It's not essential to the story, so I think Jack included it to make Tumnus much more "human" so we would later feel Lucy's urgency in trying to rescue Tumnus from the clutches of the witch.

Additionally, most folks, even children can relate to a trust betrayed or even a betrayal. It's the first of two betrayals, both in the favor of the White Witch. Jack wants us to revile her from the start. She is evil and rules by evil means. Jack would never do this to a human, so he makes her unhuman to compliment her inhumanity. But that's for later chapters.

Please comment with what you think.

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Wasting Little Time With Exposition
Jack has a great grasp of the children of his time. Lucy's scared of the odd-looking professor and Edmund wants to laugh at him. Peter and Susan know better and act it. Additionally, Jack wastes no time telling us what kind of children they are and uses their reactions to the story's set-up (the old house, the rain keeping them indoors, etc.) to tell us what kind of children they are. Jack also helps those outside of English culture by describing the house well enough that most people get the feel of the old English manors that were expanded room upon room without central hallways and without much of a overall plan, i.e., "...three steps down and five steps up."

How Lucy finds the wardrobe in the first place also tells her personality. Young children can be painfully curious and interest in fur coats is (or was) very natural for children. The progression is natural for the supernatural discovery of an entire world within a wardrobe and she controls her curiosity enough to remember to keep an eye on her way back out to the world she came from.

Jack's description of Tumnus is incredibly helpful for those who don't have much experience with mythology. Most children don't, anyway and it makes the rest of the story approachable, even when full descriptions aren't always given. His closing of the first chapter offers such an interesting event that it soars easily over what is the biggest obstacle in a series, the end of the first chapter of the first book. Jack passes it like it's not even there.

Bigger On the Inside
One of the recurring elements in the Chronicles is with us from the first chapter. The assumption of a physical impossibility, of something being larger on the inside than it is on the outside, is one of the mysteries that leads to the first conflict (Lucy vs. the other children). No rational person would believe such an impossibility, yet it is the primary way Lewis establishes Narnia. The later difference in the passage of time contributes to the impossibility and yet it helps establish Lucy's credibility in Chapter V. Taking some things in life by faith, no matter how impossible they may be, is something Lewis isn't shy about introducing, even this early on in the book.

Reflections on Chapter I
I get a sort of giddy anticipation with this first chapter that I don't often see with other books. You want to finish the scene with Lucy and Tumnus and then you realize you've only read eight pages! Why not go a few more--please! It's also easy to find myself almost wishing that new worlds were just around the corner or in the closet behind the stairs. And I already feel like smacking Edmund across the face.

Feel free to chime in or at least read along with me.

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It's been on my mind a long time now to do a series of posts based on The Chronicles of Narnia. C. S. Lewis has always been my favorite writer, ever since my father began reading the Chronicles to my sisters and I after dinner. Jack--as his friends called him--had a superb grasp of the ways God has revealed Himself to us. With my learning disability, his was one of the few books I could read without losing heart. I think that's because Jack and I both hated the schools we were subjected to and I found the characters so relatable. While The Chronicles of Narnia were his most well-known works, I have also read some of his other non-fiction works. Mere Christianity seems to be my favorite; it's one of the few theological books that really set the record straight on man's relationship with God.

Anyway, The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe (LWW) is my first and favorite of the Chronicles and its there that I will begin in a few hours.

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