Chapter 1: The Bell and the Hammer
Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer found themselves, in what appeared to be, the ruins of a great city, which was completely deserted, after having been tricked by Digory's awful Uncle Andrew. He had tricked Polly into putting on a yellow ring that took her to, what she and Digory called, the Wood Between Worlds. Instead of going straight back to London, they went to explore another world. So they picked a puddle, for those were the entrances to the worlds, and ended up in the empty ruins under a red sun.
There were no plants, animals, or even bugs. There was no noise, save for the tap of their shoes on the stones. Eventually, they found themselves in a hall that seemed to be inhabited by the only people they had seen. But when they entered they, found that the people were merely images and not alive.
All of the people were dressed in fine clothes of rich colors and covered in precious jewels, and all of them had crowns on their heads. The first of the images appeared kind and wise. After a few steps, the faces of the people became proud and cruel, and the further they walked the meaner the people seemed to become.
The last woman was the most impressive. She was the most richly dressed and looked the proudest. She was also beautiful, but a terrifying beauty. Though she was sitting, she looked to be taller than any woman that Digory or Polly had ever seen, surely she would be seven feet tall if she stood. Digory was fascinated and enchanted by her beauty, but Polly had to look away.
This is when the smaller figure, just to the right of intimidating beauty, caught the young girl's attention. This figure was more like the first that the children had seen. Her face held no pride or cruelty, her clothes were ornate, but simple in the fact that she wore almost no jewels and atop her head was a crown of flowers, rather than a metal crown. She was pale, like all the figures, but her hair was a light brown, instead of black, and her eyes were a warm green, while the other figures had either piercing blue or dark black eyes. Polly liked her much more than the last woman, this girl seemed like she would be kind, the sort you'd like to have as an older sister. She was also much smaller than the others in the hall. She was about the size of the older children at Polly's school.
"I rather like this girl," said Polly, pulling Digory's attention from the figure at the end of the hall.
"Yes, she does seem much kinder than these others." Digory turned his attention to the smaller figure. "I wonder if she was put in the wrong place, or maybe moved."
The two children stood for another minute, the magic in the room still filling them with curiosity and wonder.
"I do wish we knew the story that's behind all this," said Digory, breaking the silence. "Let's go back and look at that table sort of thing in the middle of the room."
The table was less of a table and more of a pillar. On the pillar, there was a plaque, that neither of the children could read and a bell and a hammer. The children were confused by the writing, but the more they stared at it, the clearer the writing became, the magic in the room translating the words into English for them.
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.
"No fear!" said Polly. "We don't want any danger."
"Oh but don't you see it's no good!" said Digory. "We can't get out of it now. We shall always be wondering what else would have happened if we had struck the bell. I'm not going home to be driven mad by always thinking of that. No fear!"
This disagreement sparked a fight, which Digory won through physical force. He grabbed Polly's wrist as she reached for the yellow ring that would take her to the Wood Between Worlds, and, in his anger, he held on too tight and hurt the blonde girl's wrist.
He tapped the small hammer to the bell. The sound from the bell was sweet, but not loud. Instead of dying away, the sound grew and grew, and as it grew it seemed to lose its sweetness and had something horrible to it. The sound grew so loud that the floor under their feet began to shake. At last another sound, at first that of a distant train and then the crash of a falling tree, mixed with the sound of the bell. With the crashing of part of the roof, the noise of the bell stopped and the silence returned.