He was shorter than Penny, herself. From the waist upwards he was like a man, but his legs were shaped like a goat's, and instead of feet were hoofs. His skin and fur were a red color, and he was half-bald with two goat-like horns on its head. He wore a blue woolen-scarf around his neck. He had a rather strange, yet caring little face with a beard and round nose. In one of his hands, he was carrying an umbrella over his head to shield himself from the snow. In the other, he was carrying several brown-paper parcels.
He was a little satyr.
The mere sight of the creature caused Penny to scream, and hide behind the lamppost.
The satyr screamed in surprise, as well. He dropped all his parcels, and hid behind one of the trees.
Then, Penny curiously peeked back out.
The satyr peeked out from behind the tree, as well. But then, quickly hid again. Obviously, he seemed to be more frightened than she was.
Penny came out from behind the lamppost. She slowly began to walk towards the satyr, who continued to peek and hide. He looked to see Penny pick up one of the packages he dropped.
Slowly coming out from behind the tree, the satyr stammered, "Uh... ch... ch..."
The two calmly approached each other. Penny briefly stared down at his goat-like legs, before looking the satyr the in eye. "Were you hiding from me?" She asked, as she gave the package back to him.
"No," said the satyr. "Uh, well..." he continued to stammer as he carefully went around the girl, picking up more of the parcels he had dropped. "I just... I... No. No. I-I-I just... I was just, um... I didn't want to scare you." He ended, rather shyly.
Penny let out a small chuckle at the satyr's bashfulness. "If you don't mind my asking..." she started to say, trying not to sound rude, "...what are you?"
"Well, I'm a..." he answered with a puzzled sigh, "Well, I'm a satyr. And what about you?" He studied her from head-to-toe. "You must be some kind of... beardless dwarf?"
"I'm not a dwarf!" Penny responded, now amused. "I'm a girl! And actually, I'm tallest in my class," Penny braggingly added, as she picked up another parcel and handed it to the satyr.
The satyr stared at her in sudden disbelief. "Do you mean to say that you're a Daughter of Eve?"
"Well," Penny started to say, not quite understanding, "my mum's name is Eli-"
"Y-Yes," the satyr cut her off. "But, you are... in fact... human?"
"Yes, of course," Penny responded, still a little puzzled.
The satyr blinked, as if he were seeing a ghost. He briefly rolled his eyes side to side before asking her, "What are you doing here?"
"Well, I was hiding in the wardrobe in the spare room," explained Penny. "And-"
"Spare Oom?" The satyr repeated, also confused. "Is that in Narnia?"
"Narnia? What's that?" asked Penny.
"Well, dear girl, you're- you're in it!" The satyr smiled. He pointed out into a far-off distance of the forest. "Everything from the lamppost, all the way to Castle Cair Paravel on the Eastern Ocean. Every stick and stone you see, every icicle... is Narnia."
Penny stared into the distance, amazed by the sight. "This is an awfully big wardrobe," she muttered.
"War Drobe?" the satyr scoffed. Then, he realized he hadn't even properly introduced himself. "I-I'm sorry, please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Philoctetes. But you can call me 'Phil'."
Penny smiled. "Pleased to meet you, Mr. Phil. I'm Penny Pevensie." She extended her hand out to Phil.
But he just looked at it, curiously.
"Oh, you shake it," Penny explained.
"Why?" Phil wondered, looking puzzled.
"I..." Penny wasn't sure why people shake hands, either. "I don't know. People do it when they meet each other," she simply said.
Although confused by this, Phil accepted Penny's hand, and shook it. But from side to side, still not quite understanding. Phil couldn't help but snicker a little.
Penny also laughed in amusement by this. Yet, she didn't want to embarrass the satyr, and let him shake her hand his way.
"Well, then," Phil said, smiling. "Penny Pevensie from the shining city of War Drobe in the wondrous land of Spare Oom," he stopped shaking Penny's hand, and held up his umbrella. "How'd it be if you came and had tea with me?"
"Well, thank you very much," Penny replied. But, she knew she couldn't just wander off without informing her siblings. "But, I... I probably should be getting back."
"Yes, but it's only just around the corner!" stated Phil. "And there'll be a glorious fire with-with... toast and-and tea, cakes! And-and, perhaps, we'll even break into the sardines."
Penny bit her lip, feeling unsure. "I don't know..."
"Come on," Phil begged. "It's not every day that I get to make a new friend."
Penny thought for a moment. Perhaps I could go just for a little while. As long as I'm home before dark. "Well, I suppose I could come for a little while," she finally accepted. She picked up another parcel, and joined Phil under his umbrella. "If you have sardines."
"By the bucket-load," grinned Phil.
Penny let Phil lead her down the path deeper into the woods, arm-in-arm. It was as if they had known each other all their lives.
A short while had gone by, and they had not gone very far.
"Not much further..." Phil assured. "Wait until you see it. You all right?"
"Mm-hm," Penny nodded.
Penny continued to gaze around Narnia in awe, before they finally came to a place where the ground became rough. There were rocks all about, and little hills that went up and down. At the top of one small valley, Penny stopped walking upon the sight of a stone door a large rock wall.
"Well, here we are. Come along," said Phil.
Penny smiled in awe at the entire scenery of Narnia, before following Phil to his cave.
Phil opened the door for her. "After you."
"May I help you with that?" Penny offered to take the parcels the satyr carried, and he gladly gave them to her.
"Thank you very much."
As Penny went inside, Phil looked back for a brief moment, before following the little girl.
Inside, Penny found herself blinking in the light of a wood fire. It seemed small, but was still a nice little place she had been in since evacuating home. It was a little, dry, clean cave of reddish stone
with a carpet on the floor, two little chairs, a table, a dresser, and a mantelpiece over the fireplace. Penny placed the parcels down on a nearby chair, and decided to take a look around the little house. She came upon one of the tables, where a picture of an old satyr with a grey beard caught her eye. She carefully picked it up to take a closer look.
Phil closed the front door, and turned around to notice Penny looking at one of his pictures. "Now that... that is my father," he told her.
"He has a nice face," said Penny, examining the satyr in the picture. "He looks a lot like you."
But Phil shook his head. "No," he disagreed. "No, I'm not very much like him at all, really."
"My father's fighting in the war," Penny mumbled sympathetically, as she placed the picture back on the table.
Phil glanced at her, looking a bit surprised. "My father went away to war, too."
Penny returned his surprised look.
"But that was a long, long time ago," Phil quickly added. He came upon one of the tables with a tea-set on it, and started to prepare the tea. "Before this dreadful winter."
"Winter's not all bad," Penny reassured, as she examined a wall that had a shelf full of books. "There's ice skating and snow ball fights. Oh! And Christmas!" She added, cheerfully.
Phil came over carrying the tea tray, and shook his head. "Not here. No. No, we haven't had a Christmas in a hundred years."
"What?" Penny asked, surprised. "No presents for a hundred years?"
"Always winter, never Christmas," said Phil. "It's been a long winter." He and Penny sat down across from each other in two different chairs. Phil handed a teacup filled with tea to Penny, and she took it. "But you would have loved Narnia in summer," he said with a chuckle. "We satyrs danced with the dryads all night. And, you know, we never go tired." He poured a small pitcher of milk into Penny's tea as he explained. Penny smiled, and gently put her hand up to assure him that was enough milk. "And music! Oh, such music!"
Penny smiled, and took a sip of her tea.
"Would..." a thought came to Phil, "would you like to hear some now?"
"Oh! Yes please," grinned Penny, before taking another sip.
Phil reached for a little box from a shelf over the fireplace, and took out a strange-looking flute. "Now, are you familiar with any Narnian lullabies?"
Penny shook her head, sheepishly. "Sorry, no."
"Well, that's good," Phil said, as he placed the box back on the shelf. "Because this... probably won't sound anything like one."
Clearing his throat, he began to play the flute.
The music from the flute was a marvelous tune, which made Penny smile. Phil proved himself to be quite an accomplished flute player. Taking another sip of her tea, she looked over at the fireplace, enjoying the warmth from it.
Just then, a figure of a horse appeared in the flames, which startled her a bit. Now curious, she looked to see the horse figures chase a stage. appear within the flames. Penny continued to watch the fireplace, now under an enchantment from the music. As figures of satyrs appeared in the flames, Penny felt herself beginning to doze off as Phil continued to play his flute. Finally, the little girl drooped her head forward, and nodded off sleep, dropping her teacup.
With Penny fast asleep, Phil looked at the fireplace, noticing the satyr dancing figures within the flames. Suddenly, an image of a lion appeared with a loud roar. Startled, Phil stopped playing his flute as he watched the fireplace blow out on its own. Along with the lit candles from a candlestick in the room, leaving him and Penny alone in the darkness.
It was now dark. Hearing the wind blow from outside, Penny began to stir in her chair. She looked around to see she was still in Phil's dark house. She must have been asleep for hours.
"Oh, I should go," she whispered, realizing that Peter, Eilonwy, and Mowgli must be worried sick about her by now.
"It's too late for that, now," she heard Phil say.
Penny looked over to see Phil resting on a stairwell. The satyr eyes were filled with tears, that trickled down his face.
"I'm such a terrible satyr," he weeped.
Getting up from her chair, Penny approached the satyr, showing sympathy for him. "Oh no," she said, "you're the nicest satyr I've ever met."
"Then, I'm afraid you've had a very poor sampling," said Phil.
"No," Penny disagreed. She pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket, and gave it to Phil. He took the handkerchief, and wiped his eyes with it. "You can't have done anything that bad. Eh?"
"It's not something I have done, Penny Pevensie," Phil began to say, "It's something I am doing."
"What are you doing?"
"I'm kidnapping you..."
Penny gasped, and stepped back.
"It was the Wicked Queen." Phil tearfully began to confess. "She's the one who makes it always winter, always cold. She gave orders. If any of us ever find a human wandering in the woods, w-w-w-we're supposed to turn it over to her!"
"But, Mr. Phil, you wouldn't," Penny said, now feeling betrayed and disappointed. "I thought you were my friend."
Phil looked up at Penny upon her words. At first, he was afraid to disobey the laws of the Queen, even though he believed them to be awful. But now, having gotten to know this innocent little human girl, he realized how heinous it would be to betray her. He just couldn't go through with his immoral plan to take her to the Wicked Queen. He couldn't. Not now. Not after his honest talk with Penny.
So, making up his mind, Phil took Penny by the hand, and they raced out of his house, into the snowy night. "Now. She may already know you're here." He warned Penny. "The woods are full of her spies. Even some of the trees are on her side!"
Their journey back was not very much the same as their way to the satyr's house. As quick as they could, they continued down the snowy path, not speaking another word, and made sure to remain hidden in the darkest areas.
Penny and Phil finally found themselves back at the lamppost, and stepped into its light.
"Can you find your way back from here?"
Penny looked hard between the trees, and could see just in the distance a patch of light that looked like daylight. It was the entrance to the still-opened wardrobe. "I think so," she nodded.
"All right."
Penny looked at him, worriedly. "Will you be alright?"
Phil only gave a nervous chuckle, before continuing to dry his eyes with Penny's handkerchief.
"Hey..." Penny whispered, trying to comfort him "Hey... hey."
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Phil tearfully apologize to Penny for his previous actions. "Here." He tried to return Lucy's handkerchief to her.
But Penny slipped her hands out of his, kindly refusing it. "Keep it. You need it more than I do."
Phil smiled, feeling a little better to have something to calm him down. "No matter what happens, Penny Pevensie, I am glad to have met you," he told her. "You've made me feel warmer than I've felt in a hundred years."
Penny smiled warmly at the satyr's words, and selfless choice to spare her from the hands of the Wicked Queen.
"Now go," Phil ordered, gently touching her nose. "Go!"
Penny did as he told her, and ran towards the far-off patch of daylight as quickly as her legs would carry her.
Phil watched as Penny disappeared into the bushes, and finally, left.
Penny did as he told her, and ran towards the far-off patch of daylight as quickly as her legs would carry her.
Phil watched as Penny disappeared through the trees, and finally, left.
