This is an
extract from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis:
But at last he came to a part where it
was more level and the valley opened out. And there, on the other side of the
river, quite close to him, in the middle of a little plain between two hills,
he saw what must be the White Witch's House. And the moon was shining brighter
than ever. The House was really a small castle. It seemed to be all towers;
little towers with long pointed spires on them, sharp as needles. They looked like huge dunce's caps or sorcerer's caps.
And they shone in the moonlight and their long shadows looked strange on the
snow. Edmund began to be afraid of the House.
But
it was too late to think of turning back now.
He crossed the river on the ice and
walked up to the House. There was nothing stirring; not the slightest sound
anywhere. Even his own feet made no noise on the deep newly fallen snow. He
walked on and on,
past corner after corner
of the House, and past turret
after turret to find the door. He had to go right round to the far side
before he found it. It was a huge arch but the great iron gates
stood wide open.
Edmund crept up to the arch and looked
inside into the courtyard, and there he saw a sight that nearly made his heart
stop beating. Just inside the gate, with the moonlight shining on it, stood an
enormous lion crouched as if it was ready to spring. And Edmund stood in the
shadow of the arch, afraid to go on and afraid to go back, with his knees
knocking together. He stood there so long that
his teeth would have been chattering
with cold even if they had not been chattering with fear. How long this really
lasted I don't know, but it seemed to Edmund to last for hours.
Then at last he began to wonder why the
lion was standing so still - for it hadn't moved one inch since he first set
eyes on it. Edmund now ventured a little nearer, still keeping in the shadow of
the arch as much as he could. He now saw from the way the lion was standing
that it couldn't have been looking at him at all. ("But supposing it turns
its head?" thought Edmund.) In fact it was staring at something else
namely a little: dwarf who stood with his back to it about four feet away.
"Aha!" thought Edmund. "When it springs at the dwarf then will
be my chance to escape." But still the lion never moved, nor did the
dwarf. And now at last Edmund remembered what the others had said about the
White Witch turning people into stone. Perhaps this was only a stone lion. And
as soon as he had thought of that he noticed that the lion's back and the top
of its head were covered with snow. Of course it must be only a statue! No
living animal would have let itself get covered with snow. Then very slowly and
with his heart beating as if it would burst, Edmund ventured to go up to the
lion. Even now he hardly dared to touch it, but at last he put out his hand,
very quickly, and did. It was cold stone. He had been frightened of a mere
statue!
He turned away and began to cross the
courtyard. As he got into the middle of it he saw that there were dozens of
statues all about - standing here and there rather as the pieces stand on a chess-board when
it is half-way through the game. There were stone satyrs, and stone wolves, and
bears and foxes and cat-amountains of stone. There were lovely stone shapes
that looked like women but who were really the spirits of trees. There was the
great shape of a centaur and a winged horse and a long lithe creature that
Edmund took to be a dragon. They all looked so strange standing there perfectly
life-like and also perfectly still, in the bright cold moonlight, that it was
eerie work crossing the courtyard. Right in the very middle stood a huge shape
like a man, but as tall as a tree, with a fierce face and a shaggy beard and a
great club in its right hand. Even though he knew that it was only a stone
giant and not a live one, Edmund did not like going past it.
He now saw that there was a dim light showing
from a doorway on the far side of the courtyard. He went to it; there was a
flight of stone steps going up to an open door. Edmund went up them. Across the
threshold lay a great wolf.
"It's all right, it's all right," he
kept saying to himself; "it's only a stone wolf. It can't hurt me",
and he raised his leg to step over it. Instantly the huge creature rose, with
all the hair bristling along its back, opened a great, red mouth and said in a
growling voice:
"Who's there? Who's there?
Stand still, stranger, and tell me who you are."
"If you please, sir," said Edmund,
trembling so that he could hardly speak, "my name is Edmund, and I'm the
Son of Adam that Her Majesty met in the wood the other day and I've come to
bring her the news that my brother and sisters are now in Narnia - quite close,
in the Beavers' house. She - she wanted to see them."
"I will tell Her Majesty," said the
Wolf. "Meanwhile, stand still on the threshold, as you value your
life." Then it vanished into the house.
Edmund stood and waited, his fingers
aching with cold and his heart pounding in his chest, and presently the grey
wolf, Maugrim, the Chief of the Witch's Secret Police, came bounding back and
said, "Come in! Come in!
Fortunate favourite of the Queen - or else not so fortunate."
And Edmund went in, taking great care
not to tread on the Wolf's paws.
He found himself in a long gloomy hall with
many pillars, full, as the courtyard had been, of statues. The one nearest the
door was a little faun with a very sad expression on its face, and Edmund
couldn't help wondering if this might be Lucy's friend. The only light came
from a single lamp and close beside this sat the White Witch.
Points for discussion
See if you can find the following techniques in the extract:
-
Similes
-
Use of a one line paragraph for a particular effect – what
is the effect of this?
-
Use of repetition to create a sense of walking a great distance
How is dialogue (direct speech) used to create tension?
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