C. S. Lewis - The Magicians Nephew (The Chronicles of Narnia, Full-Color Collectors Edition)

The Chronicles of Narnia

BOOK ONE

ILLUSTRATED IN COLOR
BY PAULINE BAYNES

TO THE KILMER FAMILY

THIS IS A STORY ABOUT SOMETHING that happened long ago when your grandfather was a child. It is a very important story because it shows how all the comings and goings between our own world and the land of Narnia first began.

In those days Mr. Sherlock Holmes was still living in Baker Street and the Bastables were looking for treasure in the Lewisham Road. In those days, if you were a boy you had to wear a stiff Eton collar every day, and schools were usually nastier than now. But meals were nicer; and as for sweets, I wont tell you how cheap and good they were, because it would only make your mouth water in vain. And in those days there lived in London a girl called Polly Plummer.

She lived in one of a long row of houses which were all joined together. One morning she was out in the back garden when a boy scrambled up from the garden next door and put his face over the wall. Polly was very surprised because up till now there had never been any children in that house, but only Mr. Ketterley and Miss Ketterley, a brother and sister, old bachelor and old maid, living together. So she looked up, full of curiosity. The face of the strange boy was very grubby. It could hardly have been grubbier if he had first rubbed his hands in the earth, and then had a good cry, and then dried his face with his hands. As a matter of fact, this was very nearly what he had been doing.

Hullo, said Polly.

Hullo, said the boy. Whats your name?

Polly, said Polly. Whats yours?

Digory, said the boy.

I say, what a funny name! said Polly.

It isnt half so funny as Polly, said Digory.

Yes it is, said Polly.

No, it isnt, said Digory.

At any rate I do wash my face, said Polly, which is what you need to do; especially after and then she stopped. She had been going to say After youve been blubbing, but she thought that wouldnt be polite.

All right, I have then, said Digory in a much louder voice, like a boy who was so miserable that he didnt care who knew he had been crying. And so would you, he went on, if youd lived all your life in the country and had a pony, and a river at the bottom of the garden, and then been brought to live in a beastly Hole like this.

London isnt a Hole, said Polly indignantly. But the boy was too wound up to take any notice of her, and he went on

And if your father was away in Indiaand you had to come and live with an Aunt and an Uncle whos mad (who would like that?)and if the reason was that they were looking after your Motherand if your Mother was ill and was going togoing todie. Then his face went the wrong sort of shape as it does if youre trying to keep back your tears.

I didnt know. Im sorry, said Polly humbly. And then, because she hardly knew what to say, and also to turn Digorys mind to cheerful subjects, she asked:

Is Mr. Ketterley really mad?

Well either hes mad, said Digory, or theres some other mystery. He has a study on the top floor and Aunt Letty says I must never go up there. Well, that looks fishy to begin with. And then theres another thing. Whenever he tries to say anything to me at meal timeshe never even tries to talk to hershe always shuts him up. She says, Dont worry the boy, Andrew or Im sure Digory doesnt want to hear about that or else Now, Digory, wouldnt you like to go out and play in the garden?

What sort of things does he try to say?

I dont know. He never gets far enough. But theres more than that. One nightit was last night in factas I was going past the foot of the attic-stairs on my way to bed (and I dont much care for going past them either) Im sure I heard a yell.

Perhaps he keeps a mad wife shut up there.

Yes, Ive thought of that.

Or perhaps hes a coiner.

Or he might have been a pirate, like the man at the beginning of Treasure Island, and be always hiding from his old shipmates.

How exciting! said Polly. I never knew your house was so interesting.

You may think it interesting, said Digory. But you wouldnt like it if you had to sleep there. How would you like to lie awake listening for Uncle Andrews step to come creeping along the passage to your room? And he has such awful eyes.

That was how Polly and Digory got to know one another: and as it was just the beginning of the summer holidays and neither of them was going to the sea that year, they met nearly every day.

Their adventures began chiefly because it was one of the wettest and coldest summers there had been for years. That drove them to do indoor things: you might say, indoor exploration. It is wonderful how much exploring you can do with a stump of candle in a big house, or in a row of houses. Polly had discovered long ago that if you opened a certain little door in the box-room attic of her house you would find the cistern and a dark place behind it which you could get into by a little careful climbing. The dark place was like a long tunnel with brick wall on one side and sloping roof on the other. In the roof there were little chunks of light between the slates. There was no floor in this tunnel: you had to step from rafter to rafter, and between them there was only plaster. If you stepped on this you would find yourself falling through the ceiling of the room below. Polly had used the bit of the tunnel just beside the cistern as a smugglers cave. She had brought up bits of old packing cases and the seats of broken kitchen chairs, and things of that sort, and spread them across from rafter to rafter so as to make a bit of floor. Here she kept a cash-box containing various treasures, and a story she was writing and usually a few apples. She had often drunk a quiet bottle of ginger-beer in there: the old bottles made it look more like a smugglers cave.

Digory quite liked the cave (she wouldnt let him see the story) but he was more interested in exploring.

Look here, he said. How long does this tunnel go on for? I mean, does it stop where your house ends?

No, said Polly. The walls dont go out to the roof. It goes on. I dont know how far.

Then we could get the length of the whole row of houses.

So we could, said Polly. And oh, I say!

What?

We could get into the other houses. Yes, and get taken up for burglars! No thanks.

Dont be so jolly clever. I was thinking of the house beyond yours. What about it?

Why, its the empty one. Daddy says its always been empty ever since we came here.

I suppose we ought to have a look at it then, said Digory. He was a good deal more excited than youd have thought from the way he spoke. For of course he was thinking, just as you would have been, of all the reasons why the house might have been empty so long. So was Polly. Neither of them said the word haunted. And both felt that once the thing had been suggested, it would be feeble not to do it.

Shall we go and try it now? said Digory.