Chapter 3: Edmund's Gift and Lucy's Choice

Lucy rose to her feet and threw her arms around Edmund. "Thank you, brother," she said. "It was not necessary to follow me, however," she added quickly; "the situation was quite under control."

Edmund (who was, in Narnia, as capable and mature as a boy twice his age) did not let his guard down even for his sister. He kept his eyes on the wolf. "Lucy, what do you propose we do with this beast?"

Lucy's mind was divided. "Get rid of it," she said distastefully, but inside she felt guilty.

"I think we ought to give him a fair trial," Edmund suggested wisely. "Talking to the Wolf ourselves, however, is first on my mind. I heard a bit of what he said to you, Lucy, and I find myself quite interested."

"How amusing: he's a Human with a brain," muttered Dargrip. He said aloud, "An open mind is a rare gift."

"Well said," agreed Edmund. He sat down (still holding his sword) and began to talk very earnestly with the Wolf.

Lucy stood feeling awkward for a moment, before exclaiming in bafflement, "Edmund! What are you doing?! This is a Wolf—you know, like Maugrim?"

"So?" asked Edmund.

"So—he's a ferocious monster!" Lucy was raising her voice and getting red in the face. In truth she was beginning to see that her fear of wolves was a very childish fear for a Narnian Queen, but it was difficult to admit that she was wrong. "Don't you remember Captain Maugrim? He attacked us, Edmund! Susan was almost killed by him!"

Edmund simply answered, "This isn't Maugrim."

"Anyway," said the Wolf, focusing on Edmund, "I doubt that you or your sister can understand my situation. You've never had to choose between family and morality."

"It would be a tough choice," stated Edmund. "I've been guilty of high treason before, but I did that out of pure selfishness. Now I'm learning to think about others. Wouldn't it be selfish to sacrifice my brothers and sisters for the sake of my behavioral principles? In a situation like yours, Dargrip, I would be confused!"

Having composed herself, Lucy tried to think about this situation open-mindedly. She could admit that Talking Wolves were no more monster than any other Talking Beast—but she could not excuse Dargrip for joining the White Witch. Since she was a very earnest, very truthful girl, Lucy tried hard to place herself in the Wolf's shoes.

"I think I understand," she said suddenly. "I have faced a choice like yours, Dargrip."

Darrip's pale, noble-looking eyes shot towards Lucy. Edmund listened intently as well.

"I remember when we first met the Beavers," Lucy said fondly. "They took us to their dam, and then Edmund ran away to join the White Witch. We all came out and started looking for him. Peter said we should start a search party. But Mr. Beaver told us that the Witch had our brother, and only Aslan could help us."

"You went along with the old fat Beaver I suppose," Dargrip said dryly.

"As a matter of fact I did," rejoined Lucy defiantly. "But not right away. Peter was the worst; it took a little while for him to agree with Mr. Beaver. Susan complained that we never should have come at all. I felt the same as Peter: there's no way we could leave our brother behind. But Peter will agree to something once the faultiness of his own plan is revealed (usually). Susan was willing to give it a try, and being the smallest I had to go along with them. I must admit, however, that I was much more concerned about saving Edmund than I was about helping Narnia.

"When the rescue party came to the camp with Aslan," the Queen continued, "I was beginning to think that I could help Narnia after all. I could be a Queen now that Edmund was safe. But then the Witch came to camp and Edmund was in danger all over again. I was in the same situation again. There was only one thing different: I realized there was no way for me to protect my family from the Witch. It was simply impossible."

"…So…what did you do?" ventured Dargrip, interested.

"I had to make a very important decision. I could rush in and try to protect Edmund myself—which would endanger Narnia, because it would break the laws of Deep Magic—or I could quite simply sit back and let Aslan work this out."

"What right does he have to protect your family when nobody else can—or will?" snarled Dargrip. "He's not a member of your family or mine."

"All of Narnia is his family," asserted Edmund. "You know he didn't just die to save me, he died to save Narnia's entire world. If Aslan hadn't made the sacrifice, I would be killed, the four thrones would never be filled, and the White Witch would reign till the end of the world."

"I never thought about it like that," grumbled Dargrip. "Does that mean…Aslan really does care about the Wolves after all?"

Edmund only said, "…What do you think?"

Dargrip's canine face grew fierce. "He didn't save my people from being attacked by the Witch. He didn't liberate us after we were forced to join her. Your Aslan seems pretty callous; he never spoke to me."

"Maybe you just weren't listening," said a voice.

The Wolf, Edmund, and Lucy all around and stared into the thicket, surrounded by old-growth tree-trunks. Somebody was coming toward them.