THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA
THE LION THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE BBC
PART 2
WHAT LUCY FOUND THERE
PREVIOUSLY: Four Pevensie children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, have been sent away from London during the World War II. They're taking in by professor Digory Kirke, who lives in the vast house in the middle of the countryside with his loyal but stern housekeeper Mrs. Macready. During of their exploration trip around the house at the rainy day, Lucy founds a mysterious wardrobe, that leads her to the mysterioys wintery forest where she finds the lamppost standing in middle of the forest, but ends up running into a strange creature with the goat-like legs.
Lucy stood there, right in next to the lamppost, frightened, while staring at the strange goat-legged creature who stood in the darkness of the forest, staring back at her warily.
However, it didn't take long for Lucy to realize that this creature had been as scared of her as she was of him.
Seeing this strange creature's parcels lying in the snow, she mustered up her courage and slowly stepped forward towards the parcels, but kept her guard up just in case and kept her eyes on the creature, who hadn't moved from his own spot yet.
The creature, though cautious like an animal in the close presence of the human, stared at Lucy curiously, as she knelt over one of his parcels and picked it up from the snow.
"Uhh... good evening, sir." Lucy said politely and held the parcel out for him. "I think you dropped this."
The creature, mustering his own courage as he saw what Lucy was doing and realized, or assumed, that she did mean no harm, walked slowly and cautiously forward, step by step out of the darkness into the light of the lamppost, standing right in front of Lucy.
And when the light shone on his red faces, which were hidden under the shadow of both the dark of the forest and the umbrella he was carrying over his head when he and Lucy startled each other, Lucy found them a bit strange but quite pleasant face.
Once there, he lowered his umbrella, shook the snow off it, closed it, and placed it on the hook to hang from his arm, while reaching out his other hand towards the parcel in Lucy's hands.
"Umm... good evening." the creature said back nervously. "And thank you." he added quickly before he snatched the parcel out of Lucy's hands a bit too hastily.
"Can't believe we were both actually afraid of each other." Lucy said with a light chuckle, trying to bring a bit of humor in this pretty awkward situation.
The creature, however, didn't responded in kind. He just put the parcel Lucy had handed to him under his arm and then busied himself by picking up the rest of his parcels but kept his eyes on Lucy, while Lucy herself eyed the creature's goat-like legs curiously.
"Excuse me, sir?" Lucy said, making the creature to turn to her after he had picked up the rest of the parcels, save for the last one that was lying in Lucy's feet, curious of what she had to say. "But may I ask you something?"
"Uhh... sure. Ask away." the creature said, not taking eyes off her for a second.
"Well..." Lucy began hesitantly for a moment, not wishing to be rude, before she gestured with her hand to the creature's goat legs. "What exactly are you?"
"Oh! Well... I'm a Faun." the creature, called Faun, said.
A Faun? You are a Faun." Lucy repeated, amazed.
"Yes. Yes I am." Faun confirmed.
The Faun looked Lucy over intently, from head to toes as if studying her. He was certainly having some assumptions about her but wasn't quite sure about them just yet.
"And what about you? What are you?" the Faun asked. "You're not very tall, I see, but also so young. So are you some kind of... overgrown young Dwarf?"
"No, I am not a Dwarf!" Lucy said, shaking her head in denial, before she knelt down and picked up the last parcel from the snow. "And, actually, I'm a tallest in my class."
The Faun then looked Lucy over again, before he began to circle her, moving slowly to Lucy's left and behind her, before leaning his head closer but not too close in order not to give her a discomfortable feeling, while Lucy looked at him in confusion.
"Then should I be right in thinking that you are a Daughter of Eve?" the Faun asked curiously.
"My name's Lucy, sir. Lucy Pevensie." Lucy said, not quite understanding what he was after. "And my mother's name is Helen."
"Y-yes, yes, yes, yes, but..." the Faun said, before he moved around from Lucy's right side in front of her. "But you are—forgive me—you are what they call... a girl?"
"Of course I'm a girl," said Lucy.
"And that you are... in fact... Human?" the Faun asked again.
"Of course I'm human," said Lucy, a little puzzled. "I am a girl... and a human."
Hearing this, the last shreds of caution and uncertainty seemed to disappear from the Faun's face instantly
"Well... well, this is delightful! Delightful indeed!" the faun stated, before he felt somewhat awkward. "How stupid of me! I didn't mean to scare you like that. It's just... I've never seen a humans before. I always thought you were just a myth."
"Apology accepted." Lucy said with the sweet smile. "Actually, where I come from, Fauns and Dwarfs are also classified as a myth. But now that I see you... I believe you are real."
"Well..." Faun started. "Well, now that I see you... I believe that you're real too."
Lucy chuckled at Faun's words, making the faun smile a bit.
"Oh! By my beard! Where are my manners!" the Faun suddenly said as if he'd forgotten something, before he politely extended his hand towads Lucy. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tumnus."
"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Tumnus," said Lucy and immediately took Faun's hand, shaking it as a greeting.
"Pleasure is all mine, O Lucy Pevensie, Daughter of Eve." Mr. Tumnus said before letting go of Lucy's hand.
"if you don't mind my asking... how did you get into Narnia?" Mr. Tumnus asked curiously.
Hearing that strange name left Lucy confused. "Narnia? What's that?"
Mr. Tumnus raised an eyebrow at Lucy's naivety of their surroundings."You don't know?"
"No, Mr. Tumnus." Lucy said apologetically. "I just got in here. I don't know what is Narnia."
"Well, my dear girl, it's where we are now." Mr. Tumnus explained, before the Faun walked past Lucy and looked around in the woods around them.
"This is the land of Narnia." Tumnus said and then gestured the lamppost next to them. "Everything that lies between this lamppost..." he then gestured with his hand in the other direction as he continued. "...all the way to the great castle of Cair Paravel on the Eastern Sea."
"The castle of what?" Lucy asked.
"The castle of Cair Paravel... with four thrones." Mr. Tumnus clarified, before he looked away in thoughts and muttered quietly under his breath, but loud enough for Lucy to hear. "Though I don't think you should worry about that since there's only one of you."
"What do you mean?" Lucy asked, not really understanding.
Mr. Tumnus was going to say something to explain this to Lucy, but he quickly stopped himself as if this wasn't appropriate time for it or it was something he wasn't meant to say.
"Nothing. Nothing really." Mr. Tumnus said quickly, dismissing the subject and quickly changing it. "And you... Where did you said you're from? Did you come from the wild woods in the west?
"Oh, no." Lucy said, shaking her head. "I got in through the wardrobe in the spare room."
"Ward... spare..." Mr. Tumnus mumbled, trying to figure out what these "wardrobe" and "spare room" actually were but couldn't come up any explanation of his own to these things.
"Oh, dear!" Mr. Tumnus said in a rather melancholy voice. "If only I had worked harder at geography when I was a little Faun in the school, I should no doubt know all about those strange countries. You might think me very ignorant but I've never heard about this city of War Drobe nor the land of Spare Oom."
"Well, it's just back there." Lucy said, gesturing her hand at the fir trees behind of which the wardrobe and spare room were. "I think."
Mr. Tumnus looked to whrere Lucy was gesturing to, but he saw nothing but the bunch of fir trees.
"And it's also summer there." Lucy added.
The word of "summer" left a rather longing and miserable look on Mr. Tumnus' face.
"And winter here." he said in a rather melancholy voice. "It's been winter in Narnia for... ever so long."
Tumnus looked longingly away from Lucy into the woods for a moment, before he quickly cleared his throat and turned back to Lucy.
"And we shall both catch cold if we stand here talking in the snow." he said, remaining Lucy about the cold aid, which made the girl to adjust her fur coat to get warmer.
"So, Lucy Pevensie, Daughter of Eve from the far land of Spare Oom where eternal summer reigns around the bright city of War Drobe..." Mr. Tumnus started, making Lucy to giggle in amusement of how the Faun hyphenated the words "wardrobe" and "Spare room", though not bothered to correct him. "How would it be if you came and had tea with me?"
Lucy gasped, thrilled by the Faun's polite invitation. "I've never taken tea with Faun before." Lucy admitted. "Thank you very much, Mr. Tumnus."
Mr. Tumnus smiled, delighted, and gently put the parcels from his arms into Lucy's, needing his both hands to open his closed umbrella, which he then lifted over his head.
However, even though the idea of having tea with Mr. Tumnus excited Lucy, she began to suspect if she had stayed here already too long, and that the others at home must already be missing her.
"I appreciate your invitation, really, but I suppose I should be getting back." Lucy said with regret to turn down the offer.
Mr. Tumnus' smile dropped from his lips in disappointment, but he was quick to try to convince Lucy to reconsider. "But it's just around the corner. And there'll be a roaring fire ready in the fireplace. And there'll be toast... sardines... and cake."
"Sardines?" Lucy repeated excitedly, because sardines were her favorite delicacy.
"Yes, yes! A lots of sardines." Mr. Tumnus repeated.
It's been a while since the breakfast in the professor's house, and the warm fire in the fireplace and toast, cake and especially sardines sounded nice, but Lucy was still unsure.
"That's very kind of you, and I'd love to, but..." Lucy said.
"Come on." Mr. Tumnus pleaded, almost desperately. "It's not every day you get to have tea with the Faun... or me with the human."
The faun raised his left arm towards Lucy for her to take. "If you take my arm, Daughter of Eve, I shall be able to hold the umbrella over both of us."
Looking at Mr. Tumnus's offered arm and thinking it over for a moment, and having no heart to say no to this sweet Faun and his invitation to tea, Lucy decided to give it a shot.
"Well, I suppose I could come," Lucy said, accepting Mr. Tumnus' offer and took his arm. "But I shan't be able to stay long."
"Wonderful!" Mr. Tumnus exclaimed happily. "Now then... off we go. This way."
And so, Lucy and Mr. Tumnus walked away from the lamppost and through the woods arm in arm as if they had known one another all their lives. On their way, Lucy marveled the beautiful wintery background all around of them, while the Faun himself looked warily around, which Lucy didn't see, but smiled down to the girl when she looked up at him.
###
It didn't take long before they came to a place where there was an unusually large rock standing in the middle of the forest. Lucy and Mr. Tumnus went around it on its right side until they came to a side rock and went around it too. There, at the bottom of the rock, Lucy saw into the solid rock carved vertical wall, in middle of which was the entrance of a cave concealed with the wooden door.
"Here we are." Mr. Tumnus said, before he took the key from his coat's pocket, put it into the key hole and unlocked the door.
Mr. Tumnus then opened the door and moved away from it, before gesturing Lucy to enter.
"After you." Mr. Tumnus said.
"Why, thank you." Lucy thanked and entered inside the cave with Mr. Tumnus' parcels.
The Faun first shook the snow off from the umbrella and the hair on his legs before getting in himself, but not before taking one last look around just in case.
As soon as they were inside, Lucy found the cave rather dim, although, as she noticed, there was a firewood burning brightly in the fireplace far end of the cave, enlighting the cave a little. Besides, the cave was so warm that she dropped the parcels from her hands on a nearby table and took off her coat, putting it on the nearby standing coat rack.
Behind her, Mr. Tumnus closed the door after him... and put the door secretly into lock and hid the key to somewhere it couldn't be found by anyone except him.
Then Mr. Tumnus took off his scarf and coat and put them along with his umbrella on the coat rack as well.
"A moment please." the Faun excused before he went to the fireplace where Mr. Tumnus stooped and took a flaming piece of wood out of the fire with a pair of tongs, and lit a few lamps in the walls, enlightening most of the cave.
Then Mr. Tumnus immediately made himself busy and put the kettle on near the fireplace.
"Now it shan't be long before tea is ready." Mr. Tumnus told Lucy. "You can make yourself at home in the meantime."
Lucy took her time looking around while Mr. Tumnus was setting out the tea things., and admitted to herself that she had never been in a nicer place than this before. Mr. Tumnus' cave wasn't big, but it was still dry, clean and cozy place with the reddish walls of stone. There was a carpet on the floor, two little comfortable red and yellow armchair next to the fireplace, a round table covered with beautiful white tablecloth, a dresser, cupboard filled with dishes, and a mantelpiece over the fire. Lucy saw that there were several pictures hanging on the walls, including a big one right above of the fireplace, which depicted an old Faun with a gray beard, but he bore a close resemblance of Mr. Tumnus. There was a door in the right side of the living room, which Lucy thought must lead to Mr. Tumnus's bedroom, and in the other wall on the left, there was a a shelf full of books.
Lucy curiously looked at these books, seeing their titles and read them loud.
"The Life and Letters of Silenus."
"Nymphs and Their Ways."
"Men, Monks, and Gamekeepers."
"Study in Popular Legend"
And the last one, which explained a lot of Mr. Tumnus' previous reaction when he met her on the lamppost and upon realizing that she was a human.
"Is Man a Myth?"
"Tea is now ready, Daughter of Eve!" the faun called.
Lucy turned away from the books and went to Mr. Tumnus, who had already brought a steaming tea on the table. There was also a two nice brown lightly boiled eggs for each of them, three types of toasts: one with sardines, second with butter and third wuth honey, and lastly a sugar-topped cake.
"It such of cozy house." Lucy commented. "And that tea really smells wonderful."
"Why thank you." Mr. Tumnus thanked as he poured the tea into two pretty cups. "Do seat. Do seat." the Faun pleaded, gesturing to the yellow seat in the right side of the fireplace.
Lucy did as asked and sat down on the chair, making herself comfortable, before Mr. Tumnus came with the small tray with two cups of tea (one for Mr. Tumnus and one for Lucy), the boiled eggs, and two plates with toast (honey toast for Mr. Tumnus and sardine toast for Lucy) and the pieces of cake. He put the tray onto the small table between the chairs and picked Lucy's tea from the tray.
"Here. One for me... and one for a special friend." Mr. Tumnus said and handed Lucy her tea.
"Thank you." Lucy thanked the Faun and took a sip from the tea.
It was really wonderful tea that no one was able to make on a moment's notice than Mr. Tumnus. The moment the steaming sweet liquid touched Lucy's lips and tongue, it made her feel pleasant and warm. After drinking her tea, Lucy took the first sardine toast from her plate and ate it in the minutes.
Mr. Tumnus had sat down on the red chair opposite to Lucy's on the left of the fireplace and was sipping his own tea. But while he was drinking his tea, the Faun kept his eyes keenly on Lucy, though he looked like something was clearly troubling him. Lucy, however, focused on her tea and sardine toasts, didn't see it.
When Lucy had half-finished her second sardine toast, she looked up to the picture above the fireplace, studying the faun in it curiously.
"Who is that, Mr. Tumnus?" Lucy asked, nodding upwards towards the picture of the Faun.
"Oh, him?" Mr. Tumnus said, who quickly masked his troubled face and glancing up to the picture. "Why, that is my father, Daughter of Eve."
"He has nice face." Lucy commented, admiring the perfectly captured details of the picture. "He even looks lot like you.
Hearing those words, Mr. Tumnus looked down, as if in hardly hidden shame that visited on his face.
"Oh no. I think I'm not very much like him at all. He was him, and I am me." Mr. Tumnus said sadly.
Seeing Mr. Tumnus' father made Lucy remember her own father, and the sad memory that he was away from home - and why - made Lucy turn away from the picture.
"My father's gone. He's fighting in the war." Lucy said with melancholy voice.
Mr. Tumnus looked up at her in slight surprise. "You have my condolences, Daughter of Eve. My father went away to war too." the Faun said sympathetically.
Lucy looked back to the Faun and smiled in gratitude. Mr. Tumnus smiled back briefly, but was quick to dismiss the said subject.
"But that was long, long time ago. So let's not wail in the past and continue enjoy of our tea and treats, shall we?" Mr. Tumnus said and returned to his tea.
Lucy agreed to that and returned to her sardine toast. But after she had finished it, she turned back to Mr. Tumnus.
"So, what's it like living in Narnia, Mr. Tumnus?" Lucy asked nicely.
Mr. Tumnus seemed to be delighted about Lucy's question, as it was a perfect one that could distract him from his troubling feelings, though he didn't show it.
"Well..." Mr. Tumnus said as he put his tea cup away. "Life was beautiful here once. We Fauns had a midnight dances in the forest. The Nymphs, who lived in the wells, and the Dryads, who lived in the trees, came out ti dance with us the Fauns and Satyrs. Hunting parties of high kings, queens, lords and noble-men set out from Cair Paravel Castle on their noble steeds to chase the White Stag who can grant a wish to whoever caught him. It was all about merry laughing and feasting, and a treasure-hunting with the Red Dwarfs in the mines and caverns beneath the forest. and then there was summers... long, long summer when the woods were green, and with an old Silenus riding there on his fat donkey. And sometimes Bacchus himself made the streams run with wine instead of water, and the whole forest would give itself up to jollification for weeks on end."
Lucy listened eagerly, smiling at Mr. Tumnus' happy and rather longing descriptions of what a wonderful place Narnia is... or was.
"But why isn't it like now?" Lucy asked.
The question made the Faun immediately look gloom. "Now it's winter. Endless, and dreadful winter."
"But the winter cannot be that bad, Mr. Tumnus." Lucy lightly argued. "Where I come from, we like winter when it comes. Then we can go ice skating, go down the sledding hill, build snowmen, play snowball fights... Oh! and Christmas!"
Mr. Tumnus shot a sad, longing smile to Lucy upon hearing the word "Christmas", before he shook his head.
"No. No, we haven't had a Christmas in a one hundred years." Mr. Tumnus gloomily said.
Lucy was appalled to hear this. "What? No Christmas in one hundred years?"
Mr. Tumnus confirmed this with the sad nod. "Always winter, never Christmas. It's been a long winter. And always will be unless..."
However, Mr. Tumnus quickly cut himself off when he realized that he was getting too emotional and that he was about to say too much. This time, however, he couldn't hide his troubled feelings properly from Lucy, who became confused and a bit suspicious as to why the Faun had all of the sudden interrupted himself.
"Unless what, Mr. Tumnus?" Lucy asked gently.
However, instead of answering, Mr. Tumnus began to think quickly to come up with something alternative to change the subject into something else. Then he came up with something when he looked over his left shoulder and saw something that caught his eye.
"Never mind of that." Mr. Tumnus said quickly, before he reached over and pulled out something that looked like a strange little two-pronged flute.
"Say, Daughter of Eve, Would you like to hear some music? We fauns love to play instruments during of the merry celebrations and dancing."
"Oh, yes please." Lucy agreed, letting go of the previous matter.
Mr. Tumnus smiled before nodding. "Are you familiar with any Narnian lullabies?" he asked.
"No." Lucy admitted. "Only the ones my mom sung to me."
"Then let me play one my mother used to play to me when I was a little faun. It won't sound anything like ones you've heard." Mr. Tumnus said as he raised the flute to his lips.
And then, Mr. Tumnus began to play his flute, and his cave was soon filled with such of sweet and pleasant tune that could make you feel peaceful and relaxed.
Lucy listened intently to the music the Faun was playing, which was the most beautiful music she had ever heard, and it made her quickly to sink into her chair curl up to it much more comfortably.
Before long, the strong relaxing music began to lull Lucy to rest her head on her hand, and she turned her gaze into the fire of the fireplace, looking tiredly the enchanting flames that danced on the firewood.
As Mr. Tumnus kept playing, he kept his eyes on the little girl all of time while playing his tunes... though there appeared to be a clear mixed feelings in his eyes, as if uncertainty of what he was doing, but also a worry and determination.
As Lucy kept looking deeper into the fire, she imagined she saw something amongst the flames.
First, she saw the forest full of summer's light, warmth and greenery. The trees were full of green leaves and the ground was covered with the pleasantly smelling grass and many beautiful flowers.
In the middle of the forest, she saw a wooden table with vine flower decorations hanging around the edges. The table was set with a delicious-looking feast, such as fresh apples in the basket and grapes in the bowl, toast with butter and honey, jugs full of good-smelling wine and beer, and the whole meal was topped off with a delicious-looking cake.
Around the table sat a merry party of joyful and laughing people, but they weren't humans who were celebrating.
Instead, the party consisted of two Dwarfs with reddish beards, red caps and faces full of joy and merriment. Another two celebrants were beautiful and graceful women, one of whom had a long curly reddish hair and purple gown, while other woman had a long curly light brown hair and light amber gown, and they both wore on their heads a wreaths made of leaves and berries or flowers of different kind of plants. They were the wood spirits, Dryads. And the last two celebrants were Satyrs, whose skin, curly hairs and beards and the hair on their goat-like legs were darker compared to Mr. Tumnus, and their horns longer than those of Mr. Tumnus.
The party laughed among themselves and raised their glasses of wine and mugs of beer to toast to their feast.
Next thing Lucy saw was the river flowing quietly through the forest. There were people at the riverbank who looked like Dryads, except that they were wearing a knee-length silver-greenish gowns, which swayed in the wind like a current of the river and shine in the sunlight like the reflecting surface of water. Their skin was pale green, their hairs were long and greenish brunette and they wore the wreaths made of aquatic plants. They were water, spirits, Naiads, and they were playing golden harps in their graceful hands.
Naiads were soon joined by the magnificent and majestic-looking creature, a reddish-brown horse with the great eagle-like wings in its back. The Winged Horse flew over the tree tops and landed to the river bank with the Naiads, where it lowered its head down into the water and began drink of it.
Next thing Lucy saw was something that resembled a medieval hunt in the woods. A hunting party of mounted humans and hounds, led by a noble, fine and handsome nobleman riding a large horse, wearing in the wind fluttering hunting cloak and a feathered hunting hat on his head, chased a majestic milk-white Stag that galloped across the forest, trying to shake the party off its heels.
The next thing Lucy saw was a mine-like tunnel dug underground and supported by girders and rafters. The walls and ceiling of the mine tunnel shone like stars from numerous glittering precious stones, which the bunch of hard-working Red Dwarfs were digging for, as well as the precious metals. Several other Dwarfs was pushing a mine carts loaded with the mined treasures of the Earth.
Then Lucy saw a huge dance party in the open Lawn in middle of the wood, where both Fauns and Satyrs were dancing, twirling and waltzing with the Nymphs and Dryads.
The dance movements of the Fauns and Satyrs were part gentlemanly and part goat-like leaping movements, while those of the Nymphs' and Dryads' were more smooth and graceful that the hems of their gowns and their long hairs fluttering in the air as they twirled.
Among them were dancing unpaired Fauns who carried flutes, pan pipes, strange lutes, trumpets and drums in their hands, with which they created a rythmic music to the dance along with the unpaired Nymphs and Dryads Harps.
And in the forest next to the Dancing lawn, some Fauns and Satyrs laughed while watching the dance from sidelines and at the same time enjoyed a good food and drink that was served on various wooden tables (One Faun nibbled grapes one by one and one Satyr drank wine almost without satiety).
Farther in the forest, other Fauns and Satyrs had taken some Nymphs and Dryads to the private spots, where they were happily flirting with each other.
Then Lucy saw next a bearded and enormously fat old man riding in the forest on a donkey with a bridle made of grape vines, whom Lucy assumed was Silenius Mr. Tumnus was talking about, and he was surrounded by the bunch of wildly dancing and leaping, rushing, and somersaulting Nymph-like madcap young girls in purple, lila, green, blue and crimson gowns, and one young but extremely wild pretty-faced and curly-haired boy wearing a fawn-skin and wreath made of vine-leaves. These were called Maenads, other kind of Nymphs than Naiads and Dryads.
And finally, Lucy saw a tall humanoid figure standing barefoot in the shallow waters of the river bank. The man's long hair and beard were made of algae and he wore the cape made of aquatic plants and a crown of reeds on his head. A River God Bacchus as Mr. Tumnus called him. He carried the staff resembling cattail plant, and when he gently put the other end of his staff into the stream, the water in the river turned into a sweet-tasting crimson wine.
###
Meanwhile in reality, Lucy had completely fallen into a deep sleep in her chair without her noticing.
On the other chair, Mr. Tumnus had already stopped playing her flute some time ago and was looking at the innocent face of Lucy, who was peacefully sleeping.
However, as long as the Faun kept looking at Lucy, his so pleasant-looking face looked very distressed, and he even appeared to be on the verge of tears of misery and shame.
But he also looked torn in between choices, and acted like he was trying to force himself into doing something what he wouldn't be proud of, despite not really even wanting to.
In the end, however, Mr. Tumnus pushed back his tears and made himself to get up from the chair and rather hurriedly moved away from the fireplace and the sleeping Lucy.
He returned quickly, but this time holding in his hands something else.
A burlap sack. Big enough that he could put in there...
His eyes keenly on the still sleeping Lucy, Mr. Tumnus took a slow step forward one after another towards her chair as he opened the mouth of the sack wide open.
It looked like Mr. Tumnus was about to put a sleeping Lucy into the sack!
His hands were shaking, his breathing was quiet but anxious and rapid, and all his instincts were screaming at him to stop what he was doing, but he pushed those instincts aside with reluctant determination.
But as soon as Mr. Tumnus stood right in front of the chair and Lucy and was about to put the sack's mouth over Lucy's head and then put her completely inside of it, he was once again overwhelmed by the heavy feeling that held his hand back for a moment, and which brought him again to the verge of sobbing.
However, with great effort, he somewhat choked back his tears and just barely managed to force himself to proceed and push the sack's mouth forward towards Lucy.
But just as he was about to put the mouth of the sack over Lucy's head, the flames in his fireplace suddenly and unexpectedly flared up into bigger flames.
This caught Mr. Tumnus' attention and, startled by this, quickly pulled the sack's mouth away from Lucy's head and stepped a couple steps back, while he looked at the grown flames of his fireplace.
Then, Mr. Tumnus saw a head of a Lion that manifested in amidst of the flames!
The Lion looked through the flames as if straight through a window directly at the Faun with its large golden eyes, before the Lion's face turned fierce and formidable as it opened its huge maw and bared its huge teeth.
Then the Lion roared.
Haa-a-arrh! Haa-a-arrh! Haa-a-arrh! Haa-a-arrh!
Terrified down to the core by the mighty beast's roar, a whimpering Faun dropped the sack to the floor and hastily stepped away from the fireplace, and collapsed onto his own chair that he accidentally nudged the table where his tea cup stood, which flung off the table to the floor and smashed into the pieces upon impact.
Lucy was suddenly awakened from her sleep by the shattering of the cup... and at the same time, the flames in the fireplace died out and the Lion vanished.
Lucy yawned and rubbed her eyes with her hands, until she suddenly snapped full awake when she realized that she'd fallen asleep in the chair... most likely for hours, and she hadn't even intended to stay that long.
"Oh! How long I've been asleep?" Lucy asked frantically, turning to Mr. Tumnus.
The faun, however, did not respond. Instead, he looked silently at the extinguished fireplace, almost frozen in place from dread... and misery.
"Oh, Mr. Tumnus... I'm so sorry but I must go home." Lucy said apologetically as she jumped up from her chair.
"It's no good now." the Faun murmured loud, shaking his head at her very sorrowfully.
"What do you mean?" Lucy said, confused. "But I've got to go. The others will be wondering what has happened to me."
However, when Lucy looked closely at Mr. Tumnus, she noticed that the Faun looked downright miserable. His brown eyes were watery with tears that started to trickle down his cheeks, his breathing was shaky and he looked like he was about to sob.
"Mr. Tumnus! What is the matter?" Lucy asked in great distress, walking up to the poor Faun.
"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" Mr. Tumnus wailed, before he at last burst into tears and covered his face with his hands as he howled.
"Mr. Tumnus. Please. What is it?" Lucy asked as she kneed in front of the sobbing Faun, before she pulled out her handkerchief which she held to him. "Do tell me, dear Mr. Tumnus. What's wrong."
Mr. Tumnus did not stop sobbing nor did he answer. He merely took the handkerchief from her and continually wiped the tears from his eyes with it, wringing it out with both hands whenever it got too wet to be any more use.
"Mr. Tumnus! Do stop it at once!" Lucy said, raising her voice, demanding the Faun to stop crying and tell her what he was even crying about. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself, a great big Faun like you!"
Listening to Lucy's demand like a little boy who had cried in shame of some bad deed, Mr. Tumnus wiped his eyes again with Lucy's handkerchief before pulling himself together a little to respond to her.
"You are right. I am ashamed of myself. And so would he if he sees me now." Mr. Tumnus said with shaky voice, looking up to his father's picture. "My old father would've never done a thing like this."
"A thing like what?" Lucy asked.
Mr. Tumnus then turned back to Lucy, though he didn't dare to look at her in the eyes.
"I am... you see... I'm a very bad Faun." Mr. Tumnus said
"I don't think you're a bad Faun at all," Lucy said in denial to this claim. "I think you are a very good Faun. You are the nicest Faun I've ever met."
Now Mr. Tumnus was shaking his head in denial. "Oh, no. You wouldn't say that if you knew." he said between his sobs. "I've done a very bad thing."
"But what have you done?" Lucy asked.
Mr. Tumnus sobbed again before he responded. "I've taken service under the White Witch. That's how bad I am. I'm in the pay of the White Witch."
Lucy frowned in confusion at the said name. "The White Witch? Who is she?"
Now Mr. Tumnus turned his head to look up at Lucy, but with such of wide-eyed look that implied of dumbfounded surprise that Lucy didn't know of whom he was talking about.
"Who... who's the White Witch?" Mr. Tumnus repeated. "Why, she's the self-proclaimed Queen of Narnia! It's she that has got all Narnia under her thumb. It's she who put these woods and this land under her spell! It's she that makes it always winter. Always winter and never Christmas; think of that!"
Lucy's eyes widened slightly upon learning that it was this White Witch responsible of Narnia being wintery, cold and happeless land without Christmas for one hundred years.
"How awful!" Lucy said. "But what does she pay you for?"
"That's the worst part of it." Mr. Tumnus said with deep regret in his voice. "I'm a kidnapper!"
Lucy couldn't help but to burst into tiny giggling at such of answer, not really buying it that such of sweet and hospitable Faun like Mr. Tumnus would've invited her into his nice and cozy warm cave for tea just in order to kidnap her... though she quickly suppressed her laughter.
Mr. Tumnus looked at her in appallement of her so light-hearted reaction.
"Please, do not laugh! That is no a matter of laughing because that's what I am." Mr. Tumnus demanded, before he looked down in shame.
"Look at me. Would you believe that I'm that kind of Faun to meet a poor innocent human child in the wood, pretend to be friendly with it, and invite it home to my cave, all for the sake of lulling it asleep, putting it into a sack, and then handing it over to the White Witch?"
"No." Lucy said, shaking her head in disbelief. "I'm sure you wouldn't do anything of that."
But Mr. Tumnus, however, shook his head grimly. "No. No, Daughter of Eve, you don't understand. I'm doing it now, this very moment. Because I am that Faun, and you are that human child."
Lucy stared at the Faun, starting to turn into pale from growing fear.
"I have orders from the White Witch that if ever I saw a Son of Adam or a Daughter of Eve in the wood, I was to catch them and spell them with my flute to make them sleep and hand them over to her." Mr. Tumnus confessed. "That's why I've been only pretending to be your friend and asked you to tea, when all the time I've been only meaning to kidnap you for her!"
"But you haven't. You told me." Lucy cried. Even after learning the truth, she wanted not be too hard on him. "Oh, Mr. Tumnus... you wouldn't do that, would you?"
"But if I don't..." Mr. Tumnus started, beginning to cry again but not just from misery and shame, but also from outright terror. "S-she's sure to find out. And she'll have my tail cut off, and my horns sawn off, and my beard plucked out, And if she is extra and specially angry, she'll use her wand to turn me into stone...!"
Lucy gasped in wide-eyed horror of what kind of fate awaited for this poor sweet Faun in the hands of this horrible White Witch.
"... and I shall be forever another statue in her horrible castle until the four thrones at Cair Paravel are filled... which might not ever happen at all." Mr. Tumnus finished, trembling with fear at the whole thought of spending forever as a lifeless statue.
"I'm sorry. I'm very sorry, Mr. Tumnus." Lucy cried as she jumped up to her feet, finally understanding everything. "But please let me go home. I don't want something so terrible to happen to you because of me, but I'm begging you. Please, let me go."
The thought of the White Witch's terrible wrath and him potentially remaining as a stone statue forever, and the cold shivers of terror it sent down his spine, made Mr. Tumnus to hesitate to set Lucy free, which in turn made Lucy feel absolutely desperate upon seeing that the Faun wasn't doing anything.
"Please, Mr. Tumnus." Lucy pleaded softly, tears starting to trickle down her own cheeks. "I...I really thought you were my friend."
Upon hearing her calling him her "friend", Mr. Tumnus looked up at Lucy's innocent but trembling face and those desperate and pleading eyes of hers, which tore their way deep down to Mr. Tumnus' heart and soul.
Suddenly, a determination filled the Faun's eyes upon deciding that he cannot bring himself to carry out his plan.
"Of course I will. I must." Mr. Tumnus said as he jumped up from his chair. "I see that now. I hadn't known what Humans were like before I met you. Of course I can't give you up to the Witch!"
Lucy was very relieved by this to the point of tears of happiness and extremely grateful that Mr. Tumnus did not betray her trust.
"Oh, thank you, Mr. Tumnus." Lucy cried and went over and put her arms round him, giving him a hug, caring nothing if the Faun's hair lightly tickled her all over.
Mr. Tumnus was at first caught by surprise and stared down at Lucy, completely baffled that she was hugging him in such of manner even after he had revealed to her having lied to and tried to trick her, taken her as his prisoner unbeknownst to her and tried to kidnap her for the White Witch. However, the Faun's surprise doon melted into a smile and he returned to the hug in kind... but only for a moment as he quickly but gently pulled Lucy off him.
"Come. We must be off at once. I'll see you back to the lamppost. I suppose you can find your own way from there back to... Spare Oom and... what was it again... War Drobe?" Mr. Tumnus questioned.
"I'm think I can," Lucy replied.
"Good! Let's go then." Mr. Tumnus said.
They left the tea things on the table and went to fetch their coats, as well as Mr. Tumnus' scarf and umbrella, from the coat rack and put them on. When they were ready, Mr. Tumnus took the key from where he had hidden it and opened the lock of his door. He opened the door slightly ajar and peeked out to see if anyone else was there.
When there was no one in sight, Mr. Tumnus gave Lucy his arm, which she took, and led her out into the snow, closing and locking the door after him.
"We must go as quietly as we can. " Mr. Tumnus warned with the hussed tone. "The whole wood is full of her spies. Even some of the Trees are on her side."
Hearing this, Lucy craned her neck up at the trees around them. Her imagination went wild when she imagined the snow forming to their trunks an malicious faces looking down at them.
"At worst case, she may already know you're here. Then her Secret Police would be on us in no time." Mr. Tumnus added, looking warily around them as well.
Wasting no time, Mr. Tumnus and Lucy set on for the lamppost.
The journey back was not at all like initially to Mr. Tumnus' cave, because they strode along as quickly as they could, looking warily around of them and without speaking a word.
Mr. Tumnus also avoided the same route and kept to the darkest places to avoid being seen by anyone. It took them quicklier to reach the lamppost and Lucy was relieved to see it again.
"Daughter of Eve?" Mr. Tumnus said as he turned to Lucy under the lamppost's light. "Are you sure you know your way from here?"
Lucy turned around to from where she had first come here in the first place and looked very hard between the fir trees, and was able to see in the distance a patch of daylight.
"I think I can see the wardrobe door." Lucy said, turning back to Mr. Tumnus.
"Then be off home as quick as you can." Mr. Tumnus urged.
"What about you? Will you be alright?" Lucy asked worriedly. "Will she be aware of that you helped me?"
"There's no guarantee she won't eventually, but with luck, maybe not for a while." Mr. Tumnus replied.
"And..." Mr. Tumnus said, before he hesitated to continue, still looking remorseful for what he was about to do. "C-can you ever forgive me for what I was going to do?" he asked, hopeful that Lucy wouldn't hold a grudge against him for nearly trying to take her to the Witch.
"Yes, I can." Lucy said, forgiving the Faun for everything. "I hope you won't get into dreadful trouble on my account."
"No, no. Certainly not." Mr. Tumnus said, smiling warmly down to Lucy. "Farewell, Daughter of Eve. And no matter what happens, I am glad to have met you. You made me to feel warmer than I have felt in a hundred years."
Lucy smiled, moved by the Faun's touching words.
Mr. Tumnus then took out Lucy's handkerchief. "May I keep your handkerchief... as a reminder about you... unless you may be wanting it back?"
"Of course, you can. You need it more than I do." Lucy said, letting the Faun to keep her handkerchief. "Goodbye, Mr. Tumnus." she wished.
"Goodbye, Lucy Pevensie." Mr. Tumnus wished back.
With that, Lucy turned around and ran toward the far-off patch of daylight as quickly as her legs would carry her.
But when she reached to the treeline, Lucy turned around and saw that Mr. Tumnus was still standing at the lamppost, watching as she go. Lucy waved her hand as goodbye to the Faun, who waved his own hand - the one he was still holding her handkerchief - in return, before Lucy disappeared into the snow-covered branches of the fir trees.
Lucy brushed her way through of the rough tree branches until she felt the soft fur coats and the crunching snow under her feet shifted into the croaking wooden boards of the wardrobe's floor. She kept going until she literally jumped out of the open door of the wardrobe and found herself in the same empty room from which the whole adventure had started.
It was still raining outside, just like before she had entered into the wardrobe, and she could hear the voices in the passage behind the room's door.
Despite panting for breath after all that running, Lucy couldn't wait to tell to the others what she had seen, heard and experience. So she quickly took off her coat, put it back to hang in the wardrobe and shut the wardrobe door tightly behind her.
TO BE CONTINUED...