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Prince Caspian: The Classic Fantasy Adventure Series (Official Edition)
Prince Caspian: The Classic Fantasy Adventure Series (Official Edition)
Prince Caspian: The Classic Fantasy Adventure Series (Official Edition)
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Prince Caspian: The Classic Fantasy Adventure Series (Official Edition)

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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About this ebook

Give the gift of The Chronicles of Narnia books this Easter and experience all the adventure of C. S. Lewis’s epic fantasy series in this latest official edition from HarperCollins.

Illustrations in this ebook appear in vibrant full color on a full-color ebook device and in rich black and white on all other devices.

Narnia . . . where animals talk . . . where trees walk . . . where a battle is about to begin.

A prince denied his rightful throne gathers an army in a desperate attempt to rid his land of a false king. But in the end, it is a battle of honor between two men alone that will decide the fate of an entire world.

Prince Caspian is the fourth book in C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, a series that has become part of the canon of classic literature, drawing readers of all ages into a magical land with unforgettable characters for over sixty years. This is a stand-alone novel, but if you would like to see more of Lucy and Edmund’s adventures, read The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the fifth book in The Chronicles of Narnia.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperCollins
Release dateOct 6, 2009
ISBN9780061974229
Prince Caspian: The Classic Fantasy Adventure Series (Official Edition)
Author

C.S. Lewis

Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954, when he was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. He wrote more than thirty books, allowing him to reach a vast audience, and his works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year. His most distinguished and popular accomplishments include Out of the Silent Planet, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, and the universally acknowledged classics The Chronicles of Narnia. To date, the Narnia books have sold over 100 million copies and have been transformed into three major motion pictures. Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) fue uno de los intelectuales más importantes del siglo veinte y podría decirse que fue el escritor cristiano más influyente de su tiempo. Fue profesor particular de literatura inglesa y miembro de la junta de gobierno en la Universidad Oxford hasta 1954, cuando fue nombrado profesor de literatura medieval y renacentista en la Universidad Cambridge, cargo que desempeñó hasta que se jubiló. Sus contribuciones a la crítica literaria, literatura infantil, literatura fantástica y teología popular le trajeron fama y aclamación a nivel internacional. C. S. Lewis escribió más de treinta libros, lo cual le permitió alcanzar una enorme audiencia, y sus obras aún atraen a miles de nuevos lectores cada año. Sus más distinguidas y populares obras incluyen Las Crónicas de Narnia, Los Cuatro Amores, Cartas del Diablo a Su Sobrino y Mero Cristianismo.

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Reviews for Prince Caspian

Rating: 3.886388447017697 out of 5 stars
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4,577 ratings101 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Prince Caspian was a wonderful book, I had read The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe as a child and never realized that there were more adventures of Lucy, Susan, Peter, and Edmund until this book. It is defiantly one of my favorite in the series.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    If I recall, Prince Caspian might have been the driest of the chronicles. I sure hope I remember right, because this was a dull read. As a child I enjoyed it, but I devoured all the Narnia books in short order. My children enjoyed the book well enough and frankly, they managed to make the movie worse (we watched it after reading). I know Lewis wrote so much of his work as allegories and Caspian is no different, but I just didn't have the focus for that with answering my six-year-old's constant questions about words she wasn't familiar with. We're on to the Voyage of the Dawn Treader!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Good stuff.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Pretty good adventure. I like that Edmond is the 1st to put faith in Lucy when she claims to have seen Aslan. I found my self really disliking Susan.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is the third book in the Chronicles of Narnia. In this book the four children from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe find themselves tugged back into Narnia. A state of civil war has been declared, all the animals, trees and dwarfs have been banished, and Prince Caspian is desperately trying to regain his throne.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I like this one a lot, though I find it striking how easily Peter gives up his position as High King. I wish that Lewis would have shown us a little more of a struggle here. The movie makes it clear that there are some personality conflicts as well as a bit of a selfish interest in power. Peter just doesn't come off as terribly human in this book, and I think I would like him better if he did--if he had a struggle we could relate to. This is not to say that I object to Peter ultimately doing the right thing and stepping aside, I don't. I just wanted to see more of the process.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I'm still enchanted with this series, but I've only just finished Book #2, so we'll see how I feel once I'm done with #7. I had no knowledge of any book in the series other than "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," so this is proving to be quite fun. I love how Lewis gracefully weaved in the story of Prince Caspian and then brought the children into that story line. I keep expecting things to get a lot darker and the gruesome bits to be a lot more graphic, probably because I've read too many contemporary dystopian future/alternate universe YA and children's books, but I also feel like Lewis' writing style leaves more to the imagination.

    In case I haven't mentioned it before, I'm reading the books in the order that Lewis wrote and published them, not based on the chronology of Narnia.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I read this series years ago, twice, in two different orders. Saw the BBC production too. Beautiful stories. Now my 8 yr old daughter is reading the Chronicles. She is currently reading Prince Caspian.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    my personal fav of the book series
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Missed these when I was younger.
    Catching up on some 'classics' - started with this so I could watch the movie.
    Good reading.
    Read in 2006
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Incredibly imaginative and beautiful. If you are religious, you can enjoy the immense allegory in the series, if not, enjoy it for the marvel that it is.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Not as overtly Christian or misogynistic as it's predecessor. Though women are still portrayed as the weakest links...
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    We are returning back to Narnia. Go off for adventure, go out for discovery: myth of all cultures. It is a story of Kings and Queens who had left there homeland (England), and found themselves in an Island called “Narnia”. It seemed to these four people that they have wake up from a legendary dream, and found themselves, with their luggage, “standing in a woody place which might be anywhere.” As if they were suspended and lost in “there was no land in sight and no clouds in describe.” From this point they started to explore the wood like hermits and knight-errant. There adventure began when “they all got up and began to follow the stream.” And the stream lead then to the Island.The story began when four children – two kings and two queens- get together, and decided to go off for an ages, and found themselves in an empty, sleepy, country station.in fact “the four children, holding hands and banting, found themselves standing in woody place. Suddenly they found themselves in a shore which was nearer to the opposite shore. That’s how they found themselves on an Island. While they were in the Island, they have to explore it and they have a manage to find a food – despite the view sandwiches they had. That is how “they talked about there plans for the next meal.” The only way to do that is to look in the sea. At this point they didn’t have any stroke of lack to find shrimps because “they couldn’t remember having seen any eggs and wouldn’t be able to cook them; and the only choice for them is to transform themselves into Hermits and Knights-errant. They followed the stream until Lucy exclaimed: themselves in an orchard surrounding with “an old stone wall” in “an inhabited Island.” That’s how they found themselves in a castle. In chapter two, everything seems to remind them of, as Susan said in a dreamy and rather sing – song voice: “In our castle of Cair Paravel.” And here is their description of what has been Cair Paravel: “this hall must have been very like the grade hall we feasted in.” Until they remembered that it wasn’t Cair Paravel: “But I unfortunately without the feast.” And here more descriptions of what have been the ruins of Cair Paravel: “First point, this hall is exactly the same shape and size as the hall at Cair Paravel. Just picture a roof on this, and a coloured pavement instead of grass, and tapestries on the walls, and you get our royal banqueting hall.” “Second point, the castle well is exactly where our well was, a little to the south of the great hall; and it is exactly the same size and shape.” “Third point: Susan has just found one of our old chessmen – or something as like one of them as two peas.” “Fourth point. Don’t you remember – it was the very day before the ambassadors came from the King of Carlomen – don’t you remember planting the orchard outside the north gate of Cair Paravel? The greatest of all the wood-people, Pomona herself, came to put good spells on it. It was those very decent little chaps, the moles, who did the actual digging. Can you have forgotten that funny old Lilygloves, the chief mole, leaning on his spade and saying, ‘Believe me, your Majesty, you’ll be glad of these fruit trees one day.’ And by Jove he was right.” The dreamy hallucination: “But because a what do – you – call – it, a peninsula. There is nothing much to be said about the meeting with the Dwarf; but only the preparation – the continuation of the fairy tales – when the Dwarf begins telling his suppositious stories with Prince Caspian. It turns out that the role of the Dwarf was, in one hand, a tutor and, in the other hand, he is a magician. Dwarf taught Prince Caspian many mains sciences: History, Genealogy, Geography, Grammar, Cosmography, Rhetoric, Versification, Law, Physics, Alchemy, and Astronomy. Between Astronomy and Cosmography; between Physics and Alchemy, Astronomy and History, Magic has the Law above all. Narnia is an hymn of honour. Whatever is the adventure, whatever is the battle, it is always to save the honour of the Name: the royal genealogy. Even if it is nothing else but a fairy tale.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    We go back to Narnia, to rescue the Country from the evil neighbours. Our original family group has to make some changes, and we get some idea of aging, which isn't usually dealt with in this genre. Not my favourite, but a necessary part of the canon.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This story is about the return of the Pevensies and Aslan to Narnia after an extended absence by each and, well, that's pretty much what you get. While filled with the careful descriptions and lovely characters that all the Narnia books have, there isn't very much story to be found in Prince Caspian.Perhaps it would be improved if there were fewer scenes of people sitting around talking to each other. There is a lot of that going on. Yet when things do happen, there are fascinating glimpses into the Narnian world. I wish that Lewis had given more attention to the towns such as Beruna, where we briefly see a girls' school in session, and also to the origin of the Telmarines, who apparently are descended from pirates who came from Earth!Due to the long absence of our heroes (somewhere between "hundreds and a thousand years"), the people of Narnia - who are technically Telmarines - doubt that they were ever anything more than stories. There is no belief in Aslan, the Pevensies, or Talking Animals by the humans who now live in Narnia, and so things are Bad. Knowing that Aslan is meant to be a Christ-analog, it's only too easy to equate these dark times in Narnia with our own post-Christ world, which Lewis doesn't seem to be terribly optimistic about.There are, as in the other books, many moral lessons to be found here. I was struck by how it is Lucy, the youngest of the Pevensie children, who sees Aslan first and most easily. Isn't there a proverb about following children because they're the ones who know God best, or something like that? At another point, Lucy and Susan take part in a bacchanalia (quite literally - Bacchus and Silenus are both there), complete with what would probably be orgies if it weren't a children's book. We are told by Lucy that it's only because they are with Aslan that they make it through the party all right. I understood this to be a commentary on pagan rituals and the magical protection of Jesus against those evils.Overall, I'm rather apathetic towards this book. As a child, I felt that I had to read it because it was important to read each book before moving to the next, but I didn't like it overly much. I feel quite the same way now - it's not a particularly good or bad book, but simply one that must be read to get through the series.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The really fun bits, down to Edmund suddenly realizing he left his flashlight in Narnia, mix uneasily with the awkward and nauseating bits. It's suspicious how the girls are always segregated from the boys in some special Aslan interaction in which they don't actually do much. And, as usual, Aslan presents the same problem an omnipotent god presents: why doesn't he do something if he's so powerful? Also, the special importance given to human beings when there are plenty of perfectly good Badgers and Beavers around makes no sense.Although it is only a year after the children were evacuated to the country there is no mention of the war at all.The High King's challenge to Miraz is well-written.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Probably the first sequel I ever read. I remember the excitement of reading about characters of whom I thought I'd never hear again. The christian allegory is not present here (to my knowledge) and it was nice that so much changed after the first book. Good stuff.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I have some issues with Aslan. Sure, he's great when he's around, but you're never certain of his help till the last possible second. Too much majestic roaring, too little explanation of his plans.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Prince Caspian is good. It’s about this prince who has to flee form his castle because his uncle wants to kill him. The prince runs away and hides in the forest of Narnia, where he meets some Narnians and they give him food and shelter. Prince Caspian needs help so he calls Peter, Edmund, Lucy and Susan for help. I liked this book I thought it was good because I like these types of stories so I really liked it. What I didn’t like about it was it can get a little slow but overall it was really good.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    In Prince Caspian, the Pevensies return to Narnia to help fight a battle between the Old Narnians and the Telmarines, who have taken over and all but sapped the magic out of the land. The story is sweet and engaging, and CS Lewis, as usual, can pack a good punch with the deeper meanings that run underneath his storytelling.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Prince Caspian is the second book in the series Chronicles of Narnia. The four children are about to get on a subway train in England when suddenly they were taken back to Narnia. The children meet the Narnians which take them to Prince Caspian. Prince Caspian's uncle is trying to kill him so that he can be king. Prince Caspian, the children, and the Narnians battle against the Telmarines and overcome evil.This story was very interesting. I beleive that the pacing was great to keep interest in the story. The best part of the story is that my students can understand issues that occurred in royalty throughout history such as killing for power.I would have the children do a character web. There are many developed characters. I would then have them write about their favorite character and why it was their favorite. Another idea would be to create a mural of the story.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Prince Caspian (the character) isn't very interesting—since he is pretty sympathetic in the beginning he never takes the Lewis-ish journey from jerk to king. But there are battles, Old Narnians, bacchanalias, and Aslan turning kids into pigs, and that makes up for Caspian somewhat.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A pretty disappointing follow up to "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" (Which I didn't find to be that great a book to begin with.) There's plenty of Biblical imagery for the Bible Scholars, but the final battle lacks any drama, and Lewis seems to wrap the story up too quickly. It's O.K., but not great.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Not quite as good as the Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, but it was interesting to see what they're working the new movie from.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really liked this one, It was exciting and really fun to read. Can't wait for the movie!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Another great book by C.S. Lewis alot of action in this one for those who are looking for it but a great behind it as always, a wonderful book, and one I recommend to everyone.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis is more a story about belief and how that can draw barriers than it is an adventure. For the adult in me, that's a more interesting read, though I have to admit, it makes a more difficult movie (and therefore I can understand a lot of the changes the producers made).The portrayal of the youngest child being the strongest believer is another theme within this, the second published book of the Narnia series. Lucy, a child whose faith is so pure, is the one who can lead the others. But Lewis is also clear that the child can be pushed away from faith easily enough, too.I am not sure how I want to read into the idea that Peter and Susan are too old to return to Narnia (yes, I know Peter returns in The Last Battle). Is faith something that diminishes in adolesence and adulthood, only to return in a person's golden age? Or is it that as a child, faith can be magical? As an adult, faith has to be grounded in order to be lasting?I'll be re-reading the entire series, for probably about the tenth time in my life. Then I'll make my final analysis.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    More great kids' adventure and fantasy by Clive Staples Lewis, who provided a generation of us with the staple Christian apologetics.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Prince Caspian is a very heroic book, which would lend itself perfectly for a movie adaptation. It is all about a battle and you can't imagine that the good side will win, but of course, as in all of the books, the good side will win.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I liked that Peter, Lucy, etc. are back in the story and found it interesting that so much time had passed since they were the kings and queens of Narnia although only one year had passed in the real world.

Book preview

Prince Caspian - C.S. Lewis

ONE

THE ISLAND

ONCE THERE WERE FOUR CHILDREN whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, and it has been told in another book called The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe how they had a remarkable adventure. They had opened the door of a magic wardrobe and found themselves in a quite different world from ours, and in that different world they had become Kings and Queens in a country called Narnia. While they were in Narnia they seemed to reign for years and years; but when they came back through the door and found themselves in England again, it all seemed to have taken no time at all. At any rate, no one noticed that they had ever been away, and they never told anyone except one very wise grown-up.

That had all happened a year ago, and now all four of them were sitting on a seat at a railway station with trunks and play boxes piled up round them. They were, in fact, on their way back to school. They had traveled together as far as this station, which was a junction; and here, in a few minutes, one train would arrive and take the girls away to one school, and in about half an hour another train would arrive and the boys would go off to another school. The first part of the journey, when they were all together, always seemed to be part of the holidays; but now when they would be saying good-bye and going different ways so soon, everyone felt that the holidays were really over and everyone felt their term-time feelings beginning again, and they were all rather gloomy and no one could think of anything to say. Lucy was going to boarding school for the first time.

It was an empty, sleepy, country station and there was hardly anyone on the platform except themselves. Suddenly Lucy gave a sharp little cry, like someone who has been stung by a wasp.

What’s up, Lu? said Edmund—and then suddenly broke off and made a noise like Ow!

What on earth— began Peter, and then he too suddenly changed what he had been going to say. Instead, he said, Susan, let go! What are you doing? Where are you dragging me to?

I’m not touching you, said Susan. "Someone is pulling me. Oh—oh—oh—stop it!"

Everyone noticed that all the others’ faces had gone very white.

I felt just the same, said Edmund in a breathless voice. As if I were being dragged along. A most frightful pulling—ugh! it’s beginning again.

Me too, said Lucy. Oh, I can’t bear it.

Look sharp! shouted Edmund. All catch hands and keep together. This is magic—I can tell by the feeling. Quick!

Yes, said Susan. Hold hands. Oh, I do wish it would stop—oh!

Next moment the luggage, the seat, the platform, and the station had completely vanished. The four children, holding hands and panting, found themselves standing in a woody place—such a woody place that branches were sticking into them and there was hardly room to move. They all rubbed their eyes and took a deep breath.

Oh, Peter! exclaimed Lucy. Do you think we can possibly have got back to Narnia?

It might be anywhere, said Peter. I can’t see a yard in all these trees. Let’s try to get into the open—if there is any open.

With some difficulty, and with some stings from nettles and pricks from thorns, they struggled out of the thicket. Then they had another surprise. Everything became much brighter, and after a few steps they found themselves at the edge of the wood, looking down on a sandy beach. A few yards away a very calm sea was falling on the sand with such tiny ripples that it made hardly any sound. There was no land in sight and no clouds in the sky. The sun was about where it ought to be at ten o’clock in the morning, and the sea was a dazzling blue. They stood sniffing in the sea-smell.

By Jove! said Peter. This is good enough.

Five minutes later everyone was barefooted and wading in the cool clear water.

This is better than being in a stuffy train on the way back to Latin and French and Algebra! said Edmund. And then for quite a long time there was no more talking, only splashing and looking for shrimps and crabs.

All the same, said Susan presently, I suppose we’ll have to make some plans. We shall want something to eat before long.

We’ve got the sandwiches Mother gave us for the journey, said Edmund. At least I’ve got mine.

Not me, said Lucy. Mine were in my little bag.

So were mine, said Susan.

Mine are in my coat-pocket, there on the beach, said Peter. That’ll be two lunches among four. This isn’t going to be such fun.

At present, said Lucy, I want something to drink more than something to eat.

Everyone else now felt thirsty, as one usually is after wading in salt water under a hot sun.

It’s like being shipwrecked, remarked Edmund. In the books they always find springs of clear, fresh water on the island. We’d better go and look for them.

Does that mean we have to go back into all that thick wood? said Susan.

Not a bit of it, said Peter. If there are streams they’re bound to come down to the sea, and if we walk along the beach we’re bound to come to them.

They all now waded back and went first across the smooth, wet sand and then up to the dry, crumbly sand that sticks to one’s toes, and began putting on their shoes and socks. Edmund and Lucy wanted to leave them behind and do their exploring with bare feet, but Susan said this would be a mad thing to do. We might never find them again, she pointed out, and we shall want them if we’re still here when night comes and it begins to be cold.

When they were dressed again they set out along the shore with the sea on their left hand and the wood on their right. Except for an occasional seagull it was a very quiet place. The wood was so thick and tangled that they could hardly see into it at all; and nothing in it moved—not a bird, not even an insect.

Shells and seaweed and anemones, or tiny crabs in rock-pools, are all very well, but you soon get tired of them if you are thirsty. The children’s feet, after the change from the cool water, felt hot and heavy. Susan and Lucy had raincoats to carry. Edmund had put down his coat on the station seat just before the magic overtook them, and he and Peter took it in turns to carry Peter’s greatcoat.

Presently the shore began to curve round to the right. About quarter of an hour later, after they had crossed a rocky ridge which ran out into a point, it made quite a sharp turn. Their backs were now to the part of the sea which had met them when they first came out of the wood, and now, looking ahead, they could see across the water another shore, thickly wooded like the one they were exploring.

I wonder, is that an island or do we join on to it presently? said Lucy.

Don’t know, said Peter, and they all plodded on in silence.

The shore that they were walking on drew nearer and nearer to the opposite shore, and as they came round each promontory the children expected to find the place where the two joined. But in this they were disappointed. They came to some rocks which they had to climb and from the top they could see a fair way ahead and—Oh, bother! said Edmund, it’s no good. We shan’t be able to get to those other woods at all. We’re on an island!

It was true. At this point the channel between them and the opposite coast was only about thirty or forty yards wide; but they could now see that this was its narrowest place. After that, their own coast bent round to the right again and they could see open sea between it and the mainland. It was obvious that they had already come much more than half-way round the island.

Look! said Lucy suddenly. What’s that? She pointed to a long, silvery, snake-like thing that lay across the beach.

A stream! A stream! shouted the others, and, tired as they were, they lost no time in clattering down the rocks and racing to the fresh water. They knew that the stream would be better to drink farther up, away from the beach, so they went at once to the spot where it came out of the wood. The trees were as thick as ever, but the stream had made itself a deep course between high mossy banks so that by stooping you could follow it up in a sort of tunnel of leaves. They dropped on their knees by the first brown, dimply pool and drank and drank, and dipped their faces in the water, and then dipped their arms in up to the elbow.

Now, said Edmund, what about those sandwiches?

Oh, hadn’t we better save them? said Susan. We may need them far worse later on.

I do wish, said Lucy, "now that we’re not thirsty, we could go on feeling as not-hungry as we did when we were thirsty."

But what about those sandwiches? repeated Edmund. There’s no good saving them till they go bad. You’ve got to remember it’s a good deal hotter here than in England and we’ve been carrying them about in pockets for hours. So they got out the two packets and divided them into four portions, and nobody had quite enough, but it was a great deal better than nothing. Then they talked about their plans for the next meal. Lucy wanted to go back to the sea and catch shrimps, until someone pointed out that they had no nets. Edmund said they must gather gulls’ eggs from the rocks, but when they came to think of it they couldn’t remember having seen any gulls’ eggs and wouldn’t be able to cook them if they found any. Peter thought to himself that unless they had some stroke of luck they would soon be glad to eat eggs raw, but he didn’t see any point in saying this out loud. Susan said it was a pity they had eaten the sandwiches so soon. One or two tempers very nearly got lost at this stage. Finally Edmund said:

Look here. There’s only one thing to be done. We must explore the wood. Hermits and knights-errant and people like that always manage to live somehow if they’re in a forest. They find roots and berries and things.

What sort of roots? asked Susan.

I always thought it meant roots of trees, said Lucy.

Come on, said Peter, Ed is right. And we must try to do something. And it’ll be better than going out into the glare and the sun again.

So they all got up and began to follow the stream. It was very hard work. They had to stoop under branches and climb over branches, and they blundered through great masses of stuff like rhododendrons and tore their clothes and got their feet wet in the stream; and still there was no noise at all except the noise of the stream and the noises they were making themselves. They were beginning to get very tired of it when they noticed a delicious smell, and then a flash of bright color high above them at the top of the right bank.

I say! exclaimed Lucy. I do believe that’s an apple tree.

It was. They panted up the steep bank, forced their way through some brambles, and found themselves standing round an old tree that was heavy with large yellowish-golden apples as firm and juicy as you could wish to see.

And this is not the only tree, said Edmund with his mouth full of apple. Look there—and there.

Why, there are dozens of them, said Susan, throwing away the core of her first apple and picking her second. This must have been an orchard—long, long ago, before the place went wild and the wood grew up.

Then this was once an inhabited island, said Peter.

And what’s that? said Lucy, pointing ahead.

By Jove, it’s a wall, said Peter. An old stone wall.

Pressing their way between the laden branches they reached the wall. It was very old, and broken down in places, with moss and wallflowers growing on it, but it was higher than all but the tallest trees. And when they came quite close to it they found a great arch which must once have had a gate in it but was now almost filled up with the largest of all the apple trees. They had to break some of the branches to get past, and when they had done so they all blinked because the daylight became suddenly much brighter. They found themselves in a wide open place with walls all round it. In here there were no trees, only level grass and daisies, and ivy, and gray walls. It was a bright, secret, quiet place, and rather sad; and all four stepped out into the middle of it, glad to be able to straighten their backs and move their limbs freely.

TWO

THE ANCIENT TREASURE HOUSE

THIS WASN’T A GARDEN, SAID SUSAN presently. It was a castle and this must have been the courtyard.

"I

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