The Magician's Nephew

Polly and Digory are still shaken when the very last figure in the row of statues suddenly stands and walks toward them. She is even more beautiful than when she was sitting and taller than any human they’ve ever seen. They can tell from her clothing, crown, and her bearing that she is a great queen. When she reaches them, she asks who broke the spell and woke her. Digory says that he must have done so, but the queen finds it hard to believe. She harshly examines his face and claims that he is not a magician, as he does not have “the mark”; she concludes he must be the servant of the magician who freed her. Jealous that the queen has not noticed her, Polly says that they traveled magically to this land from another world. The queen ignores her.

The ground begins to shake again, and the queen says that the palace is collapsing. She roughly grabs Digory’s and Polly’s hands, and Polly notes that she could easily snap their arms. Polly thinks the queen must be a terrible woman and hopes Digory has enough sense to hide the rings from her. As they quickly walk through the collapsing palace, the queen mentions things like doors to the dungeons and torture chambers, where her great-grandfather once killed 700 nobles for “rebellious thoughts.” They come to a grand entryway with massive, barred doors made of solid black metal. The queen speaks something in a language the children don’t understand and motions as if she were throwing something at the doors. The doors crumble.

Outside the palace, the queen says her name is Jadis and that she is the last queen of Charn. She tells the children that she remembers when the city was full of people, but she destroyed everyone by using the “deplorable word” because her sister would not surrender the throne. Jadis claims that she waited until all of her soldiers were dead and her sister was in hearing distance to say the forbidden word, which kills everyone but the one who speaks it. Digory and Polly are aghast, wondering how she could kill innocent people. Jadis says that she doesn’t expect commoners to understand, but rulers are above ordinary rules. Digory remembers Uncle Andrew saying similar things.

Jadis wants to go with Polly and Digory to their home world, where she will rule. Despite what Digory tells her, Jadis believes that Uncle Andrew must be a great king and magician who saw a shadow of Jadis’s beauty and used his magic to find her and bring her to him. Polly tells the queen that that is “bosh,” and the queen angrily pulls Polly’s hair from the roots. This frees the children’s hands, and they reach for their yellow rings. 

Polly and Digory arrive back in the Wood between the Worlds, but the queen comes with them by hanging onto Polly’s hair.

Once they climb out of the pool, the queen—now called the Witch—is pale and has trouble breathing. Polly and Digory overpower her and free Polly’s hair. Polly is eager to jump into their home pool and leave the Witch, but Digory hesitates, feeling sorry for her. He jumps anyway, but as he does, he feels the Witch pinch his earlobe. The further they get from the Wood between the Worlds, the stronger her grip gets.

When they arrive in Uncle Andrew’s study, the Witch has regained her strength. Among ordinary things, she looks less human and more stunningly beautiful and terrifying. Uncle Andrew sees the Witch and begins to bow and stutter, trying to find something to say. When he says that he was the magician who summoned her, she grabs his hair and studies his face like she studied Digory’s. She sees the “Mark” on him but dismisses him as a “peddling” magician with no royal blood in him. She “allows” him to be her servant and sends him to fetch whatever royalty uses for transportation on Earth. She says she will begin her conquest of the planet tomorrow. As Uncle Andrew turns to go, the Witch warns him that if he betrays her, she will cast a spell that will make Uncle Andrew feel hot coals every time he sits down and ice at his feet when he lies down to sleep. 

Once Uncle Andrew leaves, the Witch completely ignores Polly and Digory. Soon, she stalks after Uncle Andrew, muttering about needing a whip.

Polly announces that she is going home through the tunnel. Digory begs her to return, and Polly says she will only if Digory apologizes for twisting her arm in the Hall of Images and for ringing the bell and hesitating in the wood, which allowed the Witch to follow them. Digory sincerely apologizes, begging Polly to return and fearing what will happen to his mother if the Witch finds her room.

Uncle Andrew locks himself in his bedroom on the floor below the study. He takes a hidden drink from his closet and swallows two full glasses. He then changes into his best clothes. He puts a few drops of scent on a handkerchief and a flower in his buttonhole, and he dons his nicest eyeglass. He has forgotten how terrifying the Witch is and only remembers her beauty. He looks at himself in the mirror and talks to his reflection, noting how good he looks for his age. He begins to believe the Witch will fall in love with him. He finds his sister, Digory’s Aunt Letty, on the bottom floor of the house mending a mattress. He asks her for money, which she refuses. He pressures her further, telling her that he is entertaining a very distinguished guest. Aunt Letty does not believe him, but at that moment, the Witch enters the room.

Aunt Letty demands to know who the Witch is. The Witch is not used to being spoken to so harshly and attempts the same spell on Aunt Letty that she used on the black doors in Charn. The spell fails, and Aunt Letty believes that the Witch is drunk. The Witch casually picks up Aunt Letty and throws her across the room, urging Uncle Andrew out of the house with her.

Aunt Letty lands on the mattress she was mending and takes charge of the situation, telling the housemaid to inform the police that a “lunatic” is on the loose. She then makes lunch for herself, Digory, and Digory’s sick mother. After lunch, Digory glues himself to the front window, planning on taking the Witch back to the Wood between the Worlds as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Polly returns home late for dinner and gets questioned by her mother, who interprets Polly’s vague answers to mean that Digory took Polly to some unknown park where Polly ruined her stockings by jumping into puddles. Polly is sent to bed for two hours.

While Digory waits for the Witch to return, he overhears Aunt Letty talking to a visitor about his mother, Mabel. Aunt Letty is bringing Mabel some fresh grapes but remarks that she “would need fruit from the land of youth to help her now” (95). Digory realizes that there might indeed be a land of youth in one of the pools in the wood and begins to hope he can save his mother.

Suddenly, he hears galloping and sees the Witch standing on the top of a hansom cab as she whips the horse to run faster. The horse narrowly misses the lamppost in front of the house, but the cab crashes into it. The Witch leaps from the top of the cab and onto the horse’s back. A second hansom cab follows, and a few policemen and a fat man climb out. A crowd follows close behind as a man climbs out of the ruined cab. Digory realizes that the man is Uncle Andrew, with a top hat shoved over his face.

The fat man tells the policemen that the Witch stole thousands of pounds worth of jewelry from his store and gave him a black eye. Someone in the crowd claims that Uncle Andrew put her up to it. Two policemen pull the hat off of Uncle Andrew’s head; another tries to question him but must dodge the horse, which tries to kick him. A cabby (afterward “the Cabby”) from the crowd claims that the horse and shattered hansom cab are his and that he needs to calm the horse down. As he reaches toward the horse, the Witch speaks, telling the Cabby to release her “royal charger,” for she is “Empress Jadis.”