A strike of lightning


"Tell me a story, Miss Pevensie!"

Lucy glanced up at the clock. It was getting late, and the sun had already gone down. "Your mum and dad will be getting home soon, Frankie," she chided. "We don't have much time for a story."

"It can be a short one," the boy begged. "Please? Of all my nannies, you tell the best stories!"

Lucy sighed. She couldn't help but be soft with children. "Alright, one story. But you have to be in bed first."

The boy darted off to his room, and by the time Lucy arrived there he was in his bedclothes and scrambling under the covers. He grinned up at her so triumphantly from his throne of pillows that Lucy had to laugh. "My, but that was fast," she remarked, as she gathered up the clothes he had cast anywhere but the hamper in his haste. "Why couldn't you have been as quick when I asked you to pick up your toys?"

Frankie shrugged, bouncing up and down expectantly. "Are you going to tell me more about Narnia?"

The word made Lucy somber somewhat, as her longing for that world welled up inside her. "Perhaps," she said, lowering herself onto the bed's far edge. "Did you know there was actually someone called Frank in Narnia?"

A Frank? The boy looked tickled that someone shared his name from there. "There was?"

"Yes; they say he used to be a cab-driver, but he became the first king of Narnia."

"Oh! Will you tell me a story about him?"

"Lie still," Lucy rebuked him gently. "Let's see, a story about King Frank…"

Once upon a time in Narnia, there lived a squirrel.

"King Frank was a squirrel?"

The image of that made Lucy smile. "No, of course not. But the squirrel comes before King Frank in the story."

"Oh."

The squirrel was named Noran, and he was a close relative of the first squirrel to be made a Talking Beast. Noran lived with his wife and children in a mighty oak tree, and every year the tree showered him with acorns. There were always plenty for the winter, and more besides. One year, there were more nuts than usual, and they were so huge and plump that they made Noran start thinking queer thoughts. He got so queer, he began to think that surely such an oak tree must be very mighty indeed; even mightier than Aslan. He began to tell his squirrel children that nothing was greater in the world than the tree, and that they owed their life to it and should love it instead of Aslan.

"But that's a lie! No one is mightier than Aslan!" Frankie objected. Lucy gave him a look that was both understanding and firm, and he quieted down again.

Now, word of Noran's false ideas spread over the land. And when Noran's very old First Squirrel relative heard about it, he was horrified. He was a member of King Frank's court, and so it wasn't long before he told the King. And King Frank was very sorry to hear that one of his subjects had grown so confused. He was so sorry that he decided to pay him a visit personally, so he set off for the great oak tree.

When he reached it, there was not a cloud in the sky. Noran and his family were gathered around the tree, talking to it as if it were Aslan and thanking it for feeding them and keeping them so safe and cozy. They hardly noticed Frank. And King Frank scolded them, saying: "What do you think you're doing? Have you forgotten Who sang that tree into existence? Have you forgotten Who gave you the gift of speech? Who else should you praise with that gift, if not Him?"

But the squirrels took no notice of him. So Frank bowed his head and said a prayer. He told Aslan, through his heart, what the squirrel was doing, and begged Him to help the squirrel remember.

Suddenly, the heavens split open, and lightning struck the tree. A large clap of thunder, which sounded much like the roar of a Lion, shook everyone there to the very bone. And then the tree caught fire, and it all burned up, right in front of a very surprised and shocked Noran. And King Frank looked very grave, and he said: "Now you have learned, that what Aslan gives, He can also take away." And Noran realized that he had been wrong, and he was very sorry. But Aslan forgave him. He always does. And Noran and his family went to live in another part of the forest, where they never forgot to thank Aslan for his plentiful bounty every harvest year.

Frankie was quiet for a moment more. "And what happened to King Frank?" he asked at last.

"He went back to his kingdom, where he reigned for many more blessed years. That was a long time ago, but his children's children had children, and his relatives still ruled the Kingdom of Archenland, last I heard tell of it."

"Does that mean Cor is related to him?"

Lucy smiled, pleased he remembered the time she had told him that story. "Yes, Cor came from his line."

"Ohhh," Frankie sighed happily. Then he yawned and blinked very hard, trying not to fall asleep. Downstairs, Lucy heard the front door being unlocked and the steps of Frankie's parents as they moved about the hall. It was nearly time for her to go home.

Frankie's eyelids were growing heavy, and he closed them to think better. "I wish I could go to Narnia," he muttered sleepily, before finally drifting off.

Lucy could only smile sadly to herself as she stood to leave the room. "So do I," she whispered.