It was a sunny day at the Pevensie house, but poor little Lucy was stuck indoors with a sore throat and a stuffy nose. She sat by the front window and watched her two older brothers and her older sister romp around outside, wishing she could join them in their horseplay. Her mother had gone to the market; her father, to work; and she was left alone. She knocked on the window and motioned to her siblings to come inside.
Peter poked his head in the door and asked, "What is it, Lu?"
"I'm bored. Will someone stay in here and keep me company?" She smiled sweetly and batted her long eyelashes at her brother Edmund.
Scowling, Edmund briefly glared at his little sister, then turned his gaze to his older sister Susan.
She returned his stare as she responded, "Come on, Ed. How horrible could it be?"
"Mother's home, Susan. Let's go help her with the groceries." Peter and Susan left the room, leaving Edmund to do Lucy's bidding.
Crossing his arms, Edmund asked, "All right, Lucy. What do you want to do?"
Lucy's round little face lit up in an instant. "Let's pretend we're at school. You can be the teacher, and I--"
"School?! Forget it! Wait for me, I'll help put the food away, too!"
Edmund ran into the kitchen, and Lucy watched him go. A tear trickled down her face, and a moment later, she ran into her bedroom to hide in her closet.
Lucy closed the door behind her, and crawled to the farthest corner of the closet. However, when she leaned back, the closet wall was not there to support her. A slight smile crossed her lips, for she knew what would happen next.
Tissues in hand, Lucy stood up and spun around. She continued to walk until she realized she was in someone's house. Not wanting to intrude, she turned to go back. She had not gotten far before she heard a sneeze. Once again, the small girl turned around. She whispered, "Oh dear, some poor soul has a cold."
Hardly missing a beat, a voice called out, "Is someone there? Who is it?"
Lucy rounded a corner, and there she saw Mr. Tumnus, bundled up in a blanket, his red scarf, and a pair of green hoof-warmers. After two more sneezes, Mr. Tumnus's face broke into a grin. "Well, well, Lucy Pevensie, what a wonderful surprise!"
"Mr. Tumnus, you're sick You poor thing." Lucy walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"It's not so bad. It only happens once or twice a year when the weather changes. Oh, but what a joy it is to have you here to cheer me up."
It was Lucy's turn to smile. "I'll be happy to do anything I can to make you feel better. I'm sick too, so perhaps you can cheer me up as well."
"With pleasure." Mr. Tumnus smiled, just before he sneezed again.
"Now tell me, what brings you here to my humble home?"
"I asked Edmund to play school with me, and he refused. I went to hide in my closet, and the next thing I knew, I was here."
Mr. Tumnus looked a little confused. "School? What sort of a game is that, and how do you play?"
Lucy couldn't help but laugh. "It's not really a game, you silly faun. It's where children go to learn things. Sometimes it's boring, but mostly it's quite fun. Don't you have school here in Narnia?"
Mr. Tumnus shook his head. "No. Anything we need to learn as children is taught to us by our parents. What sorts of things do you learn there?"
"We learn all kinds of things, such as history, reading, writing, arithmetic..."
"What is that? That last one you said."
"Arithmetic? It teaches about numbers, like adding and subtracting." Lucy thought for a moment, then continued. "Mr. Tumnus, how would you like to go to school? We could take turns being the teacher and the pupil."
"What is a pupil?" Mr. Tumnus had that confused look on his face again.
"It's the person who is learning. I'll teach you a few things from my school, then you could teach me some of the things you learned when you were little."
Mr. Tumnus flashed another toothy grin at Lucy as he agreed. "Yes, it sounds like fun. Oh, hoorah, I'm going to sc--sc--aah-choo!"
Lucy giggled at she sent a "God bless you" in his direction.
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"Good morning, class. My name is Miss Lucy, and I am going to be your teacher. Anytime you have a question, please raise your hand and wait to be called on. Now, first things first. Let me call the roll."
Immediately a hand went up in the front row. Miss Lucy looked at the student and simply stated, "Yes?"
"Pardon me, Miss Lucy, but a roll is a small piece of bread. Why are you calling it?"
Miss Lucy chuckled to herself. "Not that kind of roll. The roll I'm referring to is a list of names that is given to a teacher to let her know who is in her class. Now, when I call your name, please answer by saying, 'Here.' Mr. Tumnus?"
The student who had asked the question instantly answered with the correct response, then added, "Oh, what fun. School is just beginning, and I've learned something already."
"Mr. Tumnus, please," Miss Lucy scolded. "I haven't finished calling the roll yet."
Mr. Tumnus looked slowly around the room. "But, Miss Lucy, you and I are the only ones that are here."
She had to agree that he had a point. "Let's get started then. Now, do you know your alphabet?"
"Do you mean my letters, like 'a', 'b', and 'c'? Yes, I seem to remember something about that."
"Good. Then we'll work on our reading and writing, without having to learn the basics."
Mr. Tumnus and Lucy played school for hours. They took turns teaching and learning the entire day. Lucy taught Mr. Tumnus about reading, writing, and arithmetic, and, in turn, he at least attempted to teach her how to play two Narnian Lullabyes.
The day was over before the two friends knew it. Lucy looked out the window and noticed that the sun had gone down.
"Oh dear. Mr. Tumnus, I'm afraid I must be going. I've had such a wonderful time today. Thank you for playing with me."
Mr. Tumnus kindly smiled. "It was my pleasure. I enjoyed school ever so much. And if I may say so, you don't sound nearly as stuffy as you did when you first arrived this morning."
"Oh well, thank you," Lucy returned. "Neither do you. I haven't heard you sneeze in quite some time. I'm so glad that you're feeling better. However, you still need to rest, so get back into your chair and I will cover you with your blanket. Come on now."
Lucy took Mr. Tumnus by the hand, leading him to his seat. After making her friend comfortable, she hugged him goodbye.
"Thank you, Lucy, for your company today, and thank you for cheering me up. It means a lot to me." Mr. Tumnus smiled again as he waved farewell.
The girl walked back through Mr. Tumnus' house and found herself in her closet once again. She opened the door and stepped into her bedroom. Going to the kitchen, she saw that her mother and siblings were almost done putting the groceries away.
"Hello, Lucy," her mother greeted her. "Are you feeling any better, sweetheart?"
"Much better, thank you. Might I have some juice, Mother? I'm thirsty."
"Of course, dear. So tell me, since you can't go outside, what have you been doing today?"
Lucy smiled as she thought of her sick faun friend in Narnia. Knowing her mother would not believe her if she mentioned Mr. Tumnus and would most likely scold her for making up stories, Lucy only shrugged. "Not too much. I went to my room and played quietly. And you never would have known I was there."
The next morning, Mr. Tumnus rose from his chair to run some errands. He opened his front door and quickly realized that what he saw was not Narnia. Instead, it was a small room filled with clothing. He made his way through the dense forest of softness, and when he opened the next door that he came to, he saw little Lucy Pevensie, asleep in bed. He sat beside his young teacher, and noticing it was dark outside her window, he assumed that it was nighttime here in Lucy's world.
Not wanting to disturb his small friend, he quietly rose from beside her on her bed. Before reentering the closet, Mr. Tumnus scribbled a note on a square paper that had a flap on one side and writing on the other, using a little red stick that he found in a box filled with other colored sticks.
His spelling was not very good, since he had only learned to write the day before, but when Lucy read his letter, she understood every word:
"dere miss lusie, thank yoo for being my teechur. i had such fun with yoo win yoo wur heer. i hope yoo kum bak soon. yore frend, mistur tumnus."
Looking up from the envelope, Lucy had to smile. Mr. Tumnus had always held a special place in her heart, and she loved him dearly. She tucked his letter away in her pocket, and looked forward to when she could visit Mr. Tumnus again.