Chapter 7- A Day With the Beavers

While the two boys were whispering behind, both girls suddenly cried “Oh!” and stopped.

“The robin!” cried Lucy. “The robin. It’s flown away.” And so it had- right out of sight.

“And now what will we do?” said Edmund, giving Peter a look as if to say “What did I tell you?”

“Sh! Look!” said Susan.

“What?” said Peter.

“There’s something moving among the trees over there to the left.”

They all stared as hard as they could, and no one felt very comfortable.

“There it goes again,” Susan said soon.

“I saw it that time too” said Peter. “It’s still there. It’s just gone behind that big tree.”

“What is it?” asked Lucy, trying very hard not to sound nervous.

“Whatever it is,” said Peter, “it’s avoiding us. It’s something that doesn’t want to be seen.”

“Let’s go home,” said Susan. And then, though nobody said it out loud, everyone suddenly realized the same fact that Edmund had whispered to Peter at the end of the last chapter. They were lost.

“What’s it like?” said Lucy.

“It’s a kind of animal,” said Susan, and then “Look! Look! Quick! There it is.”
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They all saw it this time, a whiskered furry face which had looked out at them from behind a tree. But this time it didn’t disappear immediately. Instead, the animal put it’s paw against its mouth just as humans put their finger on their lips when they want you to be quiet. Then it disappeared again. The children all stood holding their breath.

A moment later the stranger came out from behind the tree, looked all around as if it were afraid someone was watching, said “Hush,” made signs to them to follow it into the thicker bit of wood where it was standing, and then disappeared again.

“I know what it is,” said Peter, “it’s a beaver. I saw the tail.”

“It wants us to go to it,” said Susan, “and it is warning us not to make a noise.”

“I know,” said Peter. “The question is, are we going to go to it or not? What do you think, Lu?”

“I think it’s a nice beaver,” said Lucy.

“Yes, but how do we know?” said Edmund.

“Won’t we have to risk it?” said Susan. “I mean, it’s no good just standing here and I want some dinner.”

At this moment the Beaver again looked out from behind the tree and beckoned earnestly to them.

“Come on,” said Peter, “let’s give it a try. Keep close together. We should be a match for one beaver if it turns out to be an enemy.”

So the children all got close together and walked up to the tree and behind it. But the Beaver still drew back, whispering “Further in, come further in. Right in here. We’re not safe in the open!” Only when it had led them into a dark spot where four trees grew so close together that their boughs met and the brown earth could be seen because no snow had been able to fall there, did it begin to talk to them.

“Are you the Sons of Adam and the Daughters of Eve?” it said.

“We’re some of them,” said Peter.

“Ssshh!” said the Beaver, “not so loud, please. We’re not safe, even here.”

“Who are you afraid of?” said Peter. “There’s no one here but us.”

“There are the trees,” said the Beaver. “They’re always listening. Most of them are on our side, but there are trees that would betray us to her; you know who I mean,” and it nodded its head several times.

“If we’re speaking of sides,” said Edmund, “how do we know you’re a friend?”

“We don’t mean to be rude, Mr. Beaver,” added Peter, “but we’re strangers here.”

“Quite right, quite right,” said the Beaver. “Here is my token.” With these words he held up a little white object. Lucy said “It’s my handkerchief- the one I gave to poor Mr. Tumnus.”

“That’s right,” said the Beaver. “Poor fellow, he got wind of the arrest before it actually happened and handed this over to me. He said that if anything happened to him I must meet you here and take you on to-” the Beaver became silent and it gave one or two very mysterious nods. Then, signaling the children to stand as close as they possibly could, he added in a low whisper-

“They say Aslan is on the move- maybe he is already here.”

And now a very strange thing happened. None of the children knew who Aslan was, but the moment the Beaver had spoken these words everyone felt very different. It was like in a dream, when someone says something you don’t understand but in the dream it feels like it is very important. Either it is a terrible thing that turns the whole dream into a nightmare or else it is a beautiful one, that makes the dream so wonderful that you remember it all your life. It was like that now. At the name of Aslan, each of the children felt something jump inside them. Edmund felt a sense of mysterious horror. Peter felt suddenly brave and adventurous. Susan felt as if a delicious smell or a beautiful bit of music had just floated by her. And Lucy got the feeling you have when you wake up in the morning and realize that it is the beginning of the holidays or the beginning of summer.

“And what about Mr. Tumnus,” said Lucy, “where is he?”

“Ssshhh,” said the Beaver, “not here. I must bring you where we can have a real talk, and also dinner.”

No one except Edmund had any trouble trusting the Beaver now, and everyone, including Edmund, was very glad to hear the word ‘dinner.’ So they all hurried along behind their new friend who led them very quickly through the thickest parts of the forest for over an hour. Everyone was feeling very tired and hungry before they finally got out of the woods and found themselves looking down on a beautiful sight.

Below them was a valley, at the bottom of which was a fairly large river. Just below them a dam had been built across the river and at that moment everyone suddenly remembered that of course beavers are always making dams and felt quite sure that Mr. Beaver had made this one. So it was only common politeness when Susan said, “What a lovely dam!” And Mr. Beaver didn’t say “Hush,” this time but “Oh, it’s nothing, really! It isn’t even finished yet!”

Above the dam there was a level floor of dark green ice. And below the dam, much lower down, was more ice. But instead of being smooth this was all frozen into the wavy shapes the water had been in at the moment it was frozen. Where the water had been flowing over and coming through the dam, there was now a glittering wall of icicles, as if the wall of the dam had been covered with flowers and wreaths of pure sugar. Out in the middle was a funny little house shaped like an enormous beehive.

That was what the others mainly noticed, but Edmund noticed something else. A little lower down the river, Edmund could see two small hills, and he was almost sure they were the two hills the White Witch had showed him from the lamp-post that other day. And then between them, he thought, must be her palace, only a mile away or less. And he thought about Turkish Delight and about being a King (“And I wonder how Peter will like that?” he asked himself) and horrible ideas came into his head.

“Here we are,” said Mr. Beaver, “and it looks as if Mrs. Beaver is expecting us. I’ll lead the way. But be careful and don’t slip.”

The top of the dam was wide enough to walk on, though not (for humans) a very nice place to walk because it was covered with ice. And though the ice was level with it on one side, there was a nasty drop to the lower river on the other. Mr. Beaver led them right out to the middle, where they reached the door of the house.

“Here we are, Mrs. Beaver,” said Mr. Beaver, “I’ve found them. Here are the Sons and Daughters of Adam and Eve” – and they all went in.

The first thing Lucy saw was a kind-looking old she-beaver sitting in the corner working at a sewing machine. She stopped her work and got up as soon as the children came in.

“So you’ve come at last!” she said, holding out both her wrinkled old paws. “At last! To think that I should live to see this day! The potatoes are nearly ready and I’m sure Mr. Beaver will get us some fish.”

“That I will,” said Mr. Beaver, and he went out of the house (Peter went with him) and across the ice to a hole. He sat down at the edge of the hole and looked hard into the water. Suddenly he shot his paw into the water and in a moment he had pulled out a beautiful trout. Then he did it all over again until they had a nice catch of fish.

Meanwhile the girls were helping Mrs. Beaver fill the kettle, cut the bread, and put on the frying pan. Lucy thought the Beavers had a very nice little home, though it was nothing like Mr. Tumnus’s cave. There were no books or paintings, and it was rather more like a hunting lodge, with fishing nets, hatchets, and strings of onions and ham hanging from the roof. But everything was clean and pleasant.

Finally the food was ready and the children thought that it was the best meal they had ever eaten. And when they had finished the meal, Mrs. Beaver brought out a wonderfully sticky marmalade roll and moved the kettle onto the fire so that when they had finished there was tea ready to be poured. When they had all finally eaten all they could, each person pushed back his or her chair to lean against the wall and gave a long sigh of contentment.

“And now,” said Mr. Beaver, “we can get to business. It’s snowing again,” he added, looking at the window. “That’s all the better, because it means that we won’t have any visitors. And if anyone was trying to follow you, he won’t find any tracks.”