The Magician's Nephew



The Magician's Nephew was the sixth book published in the The Chronicles of Narnia. It was originally published in 1955 by The Bodley Head, a publishing establishment in England. In more recent editions of The Chronicles of Narnia, the books have been re-ordered with The Magician's Nephew as the first book.

Plot
Young Digory Kirke lived in a house in London around 1900 with his sick mother, his Aunt Letty, and his mysterious Uncle Andrew, while his father was in India. One day while exploring the back passages of the house with his friend Polly Plummer, they opened a door and found themselves in Uncle Andrew's Study. Uncle Andrew offered Polly a yellow ring and when she touched it, she disappeared instantly.



Andrew then explained to the astonished Digory that the ring was a magic ring, able to transport a person to another world. Rather than try it himself, he had tricked Polly into going. The only way for Polly to get back was for Digory to go there himself and take Polly a green ring, which could transport them back. Furious at his uncle’s cowardly and manipulative behavior, Digory nevertheless realised he must rescue Polly, so he put two green rings in his pocket before picking up another yellow ring, and also vanished.

He materialized standing in a pool of water, in a quiet forest dotted with other pools. Polly was nearby. He explained how they both got there, and they were about to use the green rings to return when Digory had an idea. Maybe each of the pools in the forest was a magic portal to another world, like their pool was a portal to Earth. They experimented and found that the green rings could transport them to other worlds, including back to Earth, while the yellow rings transport them back to the Wood between the Worlds. Assured that they can get back home again, they tried exploring one of the other pools.

The release of Jadis
They materialized outside a ruined palace on a lifeless world with a red sun. They explored the palace and found a hall of very human-like statues of kings and queens. There was a bell with an inscription saying:

Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;

Strike the bell and bide the danger,

Or wonder, till it drives you mad,

''What would have happened if you had.

Digory decided to strike the bell ignoring Polly's vociferous objections. The statue of a tall queen came to life. She told them her name was Jadis, the last Empress of the empire of Charn. She explained how her world became lifeless: long ago she and her sister were rivals, and fought a worldwide civil war for the throne of Charn. When Jadis lost, she used a magical ‘weapon of mass destruction’, an evil incantation called the Deplorable Word, which destroyed all life on Charn except her. She had been waiting in suspended animation for millenia for travellers to come by, and demanded that they take her back to Earth with them.

Digory and Polly tried to escape her by using the rings, but Jadis grabbed Polly’s hair and teleported with them, first to the Wood between the Worlds, then back to Earth. Back in Uncle Andrew’s study, she began ordering people around, and planning to take over the world. She left with Uncle Andrew to get clothes. Meanwhile, Digory and Polly hatched a plan to get Jadis off Earth. In a few hours Jadis returned, driving a hansom cab like a chariot. Digory grabbed Jadis, while Polly, holding his hand, touched her ring. They were successful, and all three were teleported to the Wood between the Worlds. Unfortunately, everyone else touching Jadis – Uncle Andrew, Frank the cabby, Strawberry the horse, and even the cab – was transported with them. In the Wood, Strawberry walked into another pool to drink, and the group was accidently transported to a new world.

The creation of Narnia
This world was dark, and bare, and they witness it’s ‘creation’. A Voice began singing, and as it sang the contents of the world came into being; first the stars, moon, and sun appeared, then plants and animals sprang up from the ground. The Singer, the creator of the world, is revealed to be a lion, Aslan. Spirits such as Naiads and Dryads, and dwarves, appeared. Aslan breathed intelligence into some of the animals and they became talking beasts. Aslan told them,

"I give you this land of Narnia forever."

- Aslan

The children loved Aslan instantly, but Andrew and Jadis hated him. Jadis threw an iron bar, which she had torn off a lamp-post in London, at Aslan, but it did not hurt him at all. Terrified, she ran off into the wilderness. Under the influence of Aslan’s song, the bar lying on the ground grew into a full sized Lamp-post.

The quest for the apple
Meanwhile, Aslan called a council of the inhabitants of Narnia. He called the children over and explained that they had brought an evil witch, Jadis, into his innocent new world, and that trouble would come of it, but the trouble wouldn't happen for many years, and he would take the worst of it on himself. He asked the children if they were willing to try to amend the evil that they had caused. He told them to travel north into Narnia and find a garden, with a magical apple tree in it, and bring him back an apple from it. To help them, he turned the cabbie’s horse, Strawberry, into a flying horse, and renamed him Fledge.

Digory and Polly rode on Fledge’s back far into the northern wilderness of Narnia, and found the garden, and Digory went in. However he found Jadis had gotten there first, and eaten an apple. She tempted him to eat also, saying that they give eternal life, but Digory refused. Then the witch offered a far worse temptation. An apple from the tree, taken back to Earth, would cure his mother of her illness. How could he forgive himself, if he didn’t take one for her? Digory finally decided to obey Aslan, and refused, but was struck to the heart with guilt and misery.

They returned to Aslan with the apple, and he praised them. He had them plant it in the ground, where it quickly grew into a full sized tree, the Tree of Protection. Aslan told them that the apple Jadis ate will indeed give her endless life, but she will hate the smell of the apples forever after, so the tree will protect Narnia from her for hundreds of years. He invited the cabbie Frank to stay in Narnia and made him the first king, King Frank, after bringing his wife Helen from Earth to join him.

Aslan told Digory that stealing an apple without permission, as Jadis tempted him, would indeed have cured his mother, but that the resulting evil would have made them eventually wish that she had died. As reward for his obedience, he gave Digory permission to take an apple to his mother. Digory picked an apple from the tree, then he and Polly returned to Earth, bringing Uncle Andrew with them. They buried the magic rings in the ground so Andrew couldn't do any more mischief with them. Digory fed his mother the apple, and she recovered from her illness.

On impulse, they planted the seeds from the magic apple in Digory’s back yard, and a magnificent apple tree grew up. Many years later when it blew down, the adult Digory had it cut up and made into a wardrobe. This is the origin of the wardrobe that was the access portal to Narnia for the Pevensies.

Controversy
In the 1990s, book publishers started putting this one first in sequence, since it's the first story to happen chronologically. However, many fans disagree with this numbering, arguing that readers should start instead with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (the first published book), since many surprises are revealed in Magician's that would later pay off in Lion.

Characters

 * Polly Plummer


 * Digory Kirke


 * Andrew Ketterley


 * Jadis


 * Letitia Ketterley


 * Sarah


 * King Frank


 * Queen Helen


 * Fledge


 * Aslan


 * Jackdaw
 * Mabel Kirke
 * Mrs. Lefay (mentioned only)