The Story inside the Story: Chapter One
This is the tale of a young girl who's name was Anne. She was not a very attractive and learnt sort of girl, but nevertheless she was very wise. She was loyal, brave and forgiving and this was good enough for everyone who knew her. When she did not know something or dreaded the very thought of what was being talked about, she would remain silent, for she deemed it wise never to insult or judge or say something just to say something. She was a very sensible person, but not at all curious or motivated. Her head was always in the clouds or in fantasy books, which she was very learnt in, and she just thought the real world to be a terrifiying and cruel place. She was modest, yet she was not gentle and she was not a very happy person. Any sensible person with a bit of wit would have seen this. She was cold and very broken from all her experiences in this world. Now, if you had been teased all your life and tormented and isolated, I dare say you would feel the same. Books were her escape and they helped her many times in her hard life, even in the future, after her many adventures in Narnia.
Now, anyone who reads this must immediately know that Anne came from our days and not from the years of the Pevensies, though she would encounter them many times.
Her story starts in the summer during her holiday in England, in a great house that had once belonged to a great Professor who's name no one remembered because apparently during the second world war he had become very poor and lost the estate. If you have read C.S Lewis's books then you should know just who this home had belonged to and you might understand much more about the story.
Anne's mother had been the first to discover the mansion and had immediately proposed to go and explore it. Her daughter and her husband thought this was a fine idea and decided to go right away the next day. Anne, though she did not yet know it, had an adventurous soul and longed to see the old manor. So the next morning, they all left in a great hurry to join the ten o'clock tour of the house, and they weren't the only ones. Many people from around the world came to visit the home for it's beauty and wonder. There were Germans and Italians, French people and Dutch people and some Americans that were in their same group. Of course, all these people had to talk, and all these people had to prevent anyone shorter than them from seeing the great sculptures and armors and from understanding anything that was being said. Anne happened to be a bit short for a sixteen year old girl and just happened to be at the back of the line. In fact, there were so many people, I doubt even the tall ones in front understood what was going on around them. It is important, though, to know that for this very reason, the young girl decided to slip away and go on exploring for herself. She waited until everyone had passed her and then she slipped through the first door she saw. Obviously, she thought that in a home so large, the door would lead her into another corridor where she could go along all alone, but by mistake she had entered a spare room with nothing else but a big wardrobe inside of it. Now, if you were her and had read almost all the best fantasy books and in particular the Chronicles of Narnia, you would probably feel the same as she did, for no sooner did she see the wardrobe that the desire to enter it had popped in her mind. And if you hated the real world and had no will to stay in it any longer, you may feel that the desire starts to grow and you soon find yourself advancing towards the wardrobe. She did just this. Anne stared at it and soon realized it was incredibly beautiful. It had so many carvings of animals and mythological creatures on it that she brought herself to believe that it was truly the same wardrobe Lucy had entered in her book. She slowly went towards it and she felt that the rooms had been filled with a strange sort of magic. When she finally reached it, she found she actually had no intention of going into it at all. If you had lived a hard and cruel life as she did, you would understand that a disappointment like that would have killed her. For she felt she would find nothing inside and would be in a more disastrous state than before. Mind you, I do not know if it was magic or the will of someone greater, but all of a sudden, Anne heard voices and before she knew it, the door was being opened. She then jumped inside the wardrobe to hide and closed the door behind her forgetting that one should never shut ones self in a wardrobe. But as sensible as she was, she had got scared and shut the door by accident. She put her ear up to the door and heard the voices of the tour guide and of the tourists. The woman started to explain that that very wardrobe was said to be the magical one that the Pevensies had entered long ago and she asked if anyone would want to try and see if Narnia war really there. When Anne heard this, she started to back up as quickly as possible without making a sound and, just as a light from the room started to peep in, she fell onto the ground. Now, when I say ground that is just what I mean. She had tripped over a tree branch and found herself on the cold wet ground, for it was covered in snow.