"What are you?" said the Queen again. "Are you a great
overgrown dwarf that has cut off its beard?"
"No, your Majesty," said Edmund, "I never had a beard, I'm
a boy."
"A boy!" said she. "Do you mean you are a Son of Adam?"
Edmund stood still, saying nothing. He was too confused by this
time to understand what the question meant.
"I see you are an idiot, whatever else you may be," said the Queen.
"Answer me, once and for all, or I shall lose my patience. Are you
human?"
"Yes, your Majesty," said Edmund.
"And how, pray, did you come to enter my dominions?"
"Please, your Majesty, I came in through a wardrobe."
"A wardrobe? What do you mean?"
"I — I opened a door and just found myself here, your Majesty," said
Edmund.
"Ha!" said the Queen, speaking more to herself than to him. "A door.
A door from the world of men! I have heard of such things. This may
wreck all. But he is only one, and he is easily dealt with." As she spoke
these words she rose from her seat and looked Edmund full in the
face, her eyes flaming; at the same moment she raised her wand.
Edmund felt sure that she was going to do something dreadful but he
seemed unable to move. Then, just as he gave himself up for lost, she
appeared to change her mind.
"My poor child," she said in quite a different voice, "how cold you
look! Come and sit with me here on the sledge and I will put my
mantle round you and we will talk."
Edmund did not like this arrangement at all but he dared not
disobey; he stepped on to the sledge and sat at her feet, and she put
a fold of her fur mantle round him and tucked it well in.
"Perhaps something hot to drink?" said the Queen. "Should you like
that?"
"Yes please, your Majesty," said Edmund, whose teeth were chattering.
The Queen took from somewhere among her wrappings a very
small bottle which looked as if it were made of copper. Then, holding
out her arm, she let one drop fall from it on the snow beside the
sledge. Edmund saw the drop for a second in mid-air, shining like a
diamond. But the moment it touched the snow there was a hissing
sound and there stood a jewelled cup full of something that steamed.
The dwarf immediately took this and handed it to Edmund with a bow
and a smile; not a very nice smile. Edmund felt much better as he
began to sip the hot drink. It was something he had never tasted
before, very sweet and foamy and creamy, and it warmed him right
down to his toes.
"It is dull, Son of Adam, to drink without eating," said the Queen
presently. "What would you like best to eat?"
"Turkish Delight, please, your Majesty," said Edmund.
The Queen let another drop fall from her bottle on to the snow, and
instantly there appeared a round box, tied with green silk ribbon,
which, when opened, turned out to contain several pounds of the best
Turkish Delight. Each piece was sweet and light to the very centre and
Edmund had never tasted anything more delicious. He was quite
warm now, and very comfortable.
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 back to it. "You are sure there are just four of you?" she
asked. "Two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve, neither more
nor less?" and Edmund, with his mouth full of Turkish Delight, kept on
saying, "Yes, I told you that before," and forgetting to call her "Your
Majesty", but she didn't seem to mind now.
At last the Turkish Delight was all finished and Edmund was looking
very hard at the empty box and wishing that she would ask him
whether he would like some more. Probably the Queen knew quite
well what he was thinking; for she knew, though Edmund did not, that
this was enchanted Turkish Delight and that anyone who had once
tasted it would want more and more of it, and would even, if they were
allowed, go on eating it till they killed themselves. But she did not offer
him any more. Instead, she said to him,
"Son of Adam, I should so much like to see your brother and your
two sisters. Will you bring them to see me?"
"I'll try," said Edmund, still looking at the empty box.
"Because, if you did come again — bringing them with you of course
— I'd be able to give you some more Turkish Delight. I can't do it now,
the magic will only work once. In my own house it would be another
matter."
"Why can't we go to your house now?" said Edmund. When he had
first got on to the sledge he had been afraid that she might drive away
with him to some unknown place from which he would not be able to
get back; but he had forgotten about that fear now.
"It is a lovely place, my house," said the Queen. "I am sure you
would like it. There are whole rooms full of Turkish Delight, and what's
more, I have no children of my own. I want a nice boy whom I could
bring up as a Prince and who would be King of Narnia when I am gone.
While he was Prince he would wear a gold crown and eat Turkish
Delight all day long; and you are much the cleverest and handsomest
young man I've ever met. I think I would like to make you the Prince
— some day, when you bring the others to visit me."
"Why not now?" said Edmund. His face had become very red and
his mouth and fingers were sticky. He did not look either clever or
handsome, whatever the Queen might say.
"Oh, but if I took you there now," said she, "I shouldn't see your
brother and your sisters. I very much want to know your charming
relations. You are to be the Prince and — later on — the King; that is
understood. But you must have courtiers and nobles. I will make your
brother a Duke and your sisters Duchesses."
"There's nothing special about them," said Edmund, "and, anyway,
I could always bring them some other time."
"Ah, but once you were in my house," said the Queen, "you might
forget all about them. You would be enjoying yourself so much that
you wouldn't want the bother of going to fetch them. No. You must go
back to your own country now and come to me another day, with
them, you understand. It is no good coming without them."
"But I don't even know the way back to my own country," pleaded
Edmund. "That's easy," answered the Queen. "Do you see that lamp?"
She pointed with her wand and Edmund turned and saw the same
lamp-post under which Lucy had met the Faun. "Straight on, beyond
that, is the way to the World of Men. And now look the other way'-
here she pointed in the opposite direction — "and tell me if you can
see two little hills rising above the trees."
"I think I can," said Edmund.
"Well, my house is between those two hills. So next time you come
you have only to find the lamp-post and look for those two hills and
walk through the wood till you reach my house. But remember — you
must bring the others with you. I might have to be very angry with you
if you came alone."
"I'll do my best," said Edmund.
"And, by the way," said the Queen, "you needn't tell them about me.
It would be fun to keep it a secret between us two, wouldn't it? Make
it a surprise for them. Just bring them along to the two hills — a clever
boy like you will easily think of some excuse for doing that — and
when you come to my house you could just say "Let's see who lives
here" or something like that. I am sure that would be best. If your sister
has met one of the Fauns, she may have heard strange stories about
me — nasty stories that might make her afraid to come to me. Fauns
will say anything, you know, and now -"
"Please, please," said Edmund suddenly, "please couldn't I have just
one piece of Turkish Delight to eat on the way home?"
"No, no," said the Queen with a laugh, "you must wait till next time."
While she spoke, she signalled to the dwarf to drive on, but as the
sledge swept away out of sight, the Queen waved to Edmund, calling
out, "Next time! Next time! Don't forget. Come soon."
Edmund was still staring after the sledge when he heard someone
calling his own name, and looking round he saw Lucy coming towards
him from another part of the wood.
"Oh, Edmund!" she cried. "So you've got in too! Isn't it wonderful,
and now-"
"All right," said Edmund, "I see you were right and it is a magic
wardrobe after all. I'll say I'm sorry if you like. But where on earth
have you been all this time? I've been looking for you everywhere."
"If I'd known you had got in I'd have waited for you," said Lucy, who
was too happy and excited to notice how snappishly Edmund spoke
or how flushed and strange his face was. "I've been having lunch with
dear Mr Tumnus, the Faun, and he's very well and the White Witch has
done nothing to him for letting me go, so he thinks she can't have
found out and perhaps everything is going to be all right after all."
"The White Witch?" said Edmund; "who's she?"
"She is a perfectly terrible person," said Lucy. "She calls herself the
Queen of Narnia though she has no right to be queen at all, and all the
Fauns and Dryads and Naiads and Dwarfs and Animals — at least all
the good ones — simply hate her. And she can turn people into stone
and do all kinds of horrible things. And she has made a magic so that
it is always winter in Narnia — always winter, but it never gets to
Christmas. And she drives about on a sledge, drawn by reindeer, with
her wand in her hand and a crown on her head."
Edmund was already feeling uncomfortable from having eaten too
many sweets, and when he heard that the Lady he had made friends
with was a dangerous witch he felt even more uncomfortable. But he
still wanted to taste that Turkish Delight again more than he wanted
anything else.
"Who told you all that stuff about the White Witch?" he asked.
"Mr Tumnus, the Faun," said Lucy.
"You can't always believe what Fauns say," said Edmund, trying to
sound as if he knew far more about them than Lucy.
"Who said so?" asked Lucy.
"Everyone knows it," said Edmund; "ask anybody you like. But it's
pretty poor sport standing here in the snow. Let's go home."
"Yes, let's," said Lucy. "Oh, Edmund, I am glad you've got in too.
The others will have to believe in Narnia now that both of us have been
there. What fun it will be!"
But Edmund secretly thought that it would not be as good fun for
him as for her. He would have to admit that Lucy had been right,
before all the others, and he felt sure the others would all be on the
side of the Fauns and the animals; but he was already more than half
on the side of the Witch. He did not know what he would say, or how
he would keep his secret once they were all talking about Narnia.
By this time they had walked a good way. Then suddenly they felt
coats around them instead of branches and next moment they were
both standing outside the wardrobe in the empty room.
"I say," said Lucy, "you do look awful, Edmund. Don't you feel well?"
"I'm all right," said Edmund, but this was not true. He was feeling
very sick.
"Come on then," said Lucy, "let's find the others. What a lot we shall
have to tell them! And what wonderful adventures we shall have now
that we're all in it together."