Written by C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a fantasy book for children. This is the second and the best known book of the series, The Chronicles of Narnia and was published in 1950. Although it is the second book in the chronological order of the series, the book was the first to be published. It has also been included in the 100 Best English language Novels from 1923 to 2005. This work of fantasy fiction has been published in 47 distinct languages.
The plot begins at the start of Second World War and Peter, Edmund, Lucy and Susan are taken out of London in order to escape Nazi attack on Britain, the Blitz. The four children are taken to stay with a professor living in the countryside of English, named Digory Kirke. While playing hide-and-seek, once Lucy peeped in a wardrobe to find a mysterious portal leading to another world, Narnia, where she met Tumnus, a faun. Tumnus takes Lucy with him to the cave where he stays for tea. Lucy returns back to the real world and tells about Narnia to her siblings who were not ready to keep belief in it. However, Edmund, her younger brother enters the portal and finds Narnia by himself. Edmund meets the White Witch and becomes friends with her. She offers him a magical Turkish delight which binds him under a spell cast by her. The witch tells Edmund to inform her about the whereabouts of his siblings whenever they come to Narnia. Edmund and Lucy meet in Narnia and go back to England but keeps the world Narnia away from Peter and Susan. Eventually, while they are hiding in the wardrobe, all of them enter Narnia and meet some beavers. The beavers invite the four of them for dinner and tell them about a very old prophecy which says that the power of the White Witch will be overcome when Adam’s two sons and two Daughters of Eve occupy the four royal chairs present at Cair Paravel. They also talk about the Aslan, a great lion, who is the original king of that world and hasn’t been seen in several years but has been on the move recently. Edmund silently goes during this time to the witch and reports her about the happenings. The beavers come to know about this and move out of their house. They along with the children go in search of Aslan to join him. And they eventually find Aslan and his followers. The witch goes to Aslan to have a talk with him and says that she will be carrying out the execution of Edmund as she has a right to it as per the decree, “deep magic from the dawn of time”. Aslan negotiates with her to spare Edmund’s life in return for his. In the evening, he walks away alone by abandoning the camp and is followed by Susan and Lucy. Aslan submits himself to the witch and in a ritual, and he was tied to a stone table and killed with a knife. The witch is not completely familiar with the magic which states that of someone offers his life for somebody else, then death is reversed. Aslan comes back to life the next morning and they go to the white castle. Aslan sheds his breathe on those statues and they return back to what they were before the they were put under an enchantment. At Cair Paravel, these four children rule Narnia as kings and queens. Many years later, they find the wardrobe door and return back to the real world as younger children again.
Beautifully written and imaginatively plotted, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, is an amusing book for children as well adults equally. The story, events and the characters have added their persona to the book and it rightly one among the all time best selling novels.
