Here are seven of the most entertaining, most exciting. and most uplifting stories ever told. Originally written for children, they are about the land of Narnia, where giants and talking beasts and tree spirits live, and where Asian the lion is the Great Ruler. The Narnia tales are as popular with adults as with the young because they are great literature and great moral and spiritual teaching at the same time they are gripping adventure stories. Book one tells how two children from our world first find their way into Narnia by magic, and see Asian bring that new world into being. In book two, four more English children find their way into Narnia, this time through a magic wardrobe. Book three tells how a treacherous sneak attack by the evil empire of Calormen is foiled by two talking horses and their young riders. In book four, the four Pevensie children are summoned from our world by Queen Susan’s magic horn to help defeat the murderous usurper, Miraz. In book five, Lucy and Edmund Pevensie get back into Narnia for a sea voyage to the world’s end. Book six introduces Puddleglum the Marshwiggle, who leads a search for Rilian, the lost prince. In book seven, Tirian, the last king of Narnia, calls all the friends of Narnia from our world, and there is a joyful meeting in Aslan’s Country beyond the world’s end.
C.S. Lewis. The Magician’s Nephew
Book one in the Chronicles of Narnia. The story of two children named Digory and Polly who meet and become friends one cold, wet summer in London. Digory’s eccentric uncle tricks them into touching two magic rings that send them hurtling right out of London into another world – thus beginning the adventures of Narnia. After some tumultuous stopovers, the children find themselves in Narnia in the very beginning of that world. They watch as Asian the Great Lion sings his new creation into being and gives the gift of speech to its animals. A wonderful tale, and – like all the Narnia stories – a great moral and spiritual teaching, as well.
C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Book two in the Chronicles of Narnia tells how Lucy Pevensie jumped into a wardrobe to hide and found herself in the land of Narnia. How she finally convinced her brothers Peter and Edmund and her sister Susan that the world she had discovered was real. How Edmund ate the White Witch’s food and fell under her power. And how the four children were reunited and helped Asian to free Narnia from the spell of the Witch.
This was the first Narnia story that C.S. Lewis wrote. When it came out in 1950, it was an immediate great success – and it has gone on to become one of the best-loved, most-read children’s books of all time.
C.S. Lewis. The Horse and his Boy
Book three in the Chronicles of Narnia. Two talking horses try to escape from Calormen and return to their home in Narnia. Their riders are a Calormene girl of noble birth named Aravis and a poor fisherman’s boy named Shasta.
They cross. the border into the friendly country of Archenland just ahead of an army of Calormenes, and give the warning in time for the Archenlanders to defend themselves against the surprise attack. Shasta loses his way on the mountain pass between Archenland and Narnia but is guided to safety by Asian. The Calormenes are defeated, and Shasta discovers who he really is – and even finds his real father.
C.S. Lewis. Prince Caspian
Book four in the Chronicles of Narnia. Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are returning to boarding school after the summer holidays. Suddenly they are summoned from a dreary English train station (by Susan’s own magic horn) to return to the land of Narnia – the land where they had ruled as kings and queens and where their help is desperately needed.
Narnian time runs different from time in our world, and several hundred years have elapsed since they were last there. As Peter notes, it is“just as if we were Crusaders coming back to modern England.” Meanwhile, Narnia has fallen on evil times. A foreign race, the Telmarines, have seized power and driven the talking beasts into hiding. Trumpkin the dwarf leads the four children to Prince Caspian, the rightful heir to the throne, who is fighting a desperate battle against his Uncle Miraz, the usurper. At the last moment Asian arrives, the tree spirits arise – and the Telmarines are given a remarkable choice.
CS. Lewis. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Book five in the Chronicles of Narnia. Lucy and Edmund get back into Narnia with an unwilling companion, Eustace Clarence Scrubb. They find themselves with King Caspian onboard a Narnian ship bound for the eastern edge of the world. The Dawn Treader is the first ship Narnia has seen in centuries. Caspian has built it for his voyage to find the seven lords, good men whom his evil uncle Miraz banished when he usurped the throne.
Eustace complains endlessly and behaves like a record stinker until he is transformed in a series of encounters on a remote island first with a most unusual dragon, then with Asian himself. On Dark Island they meet their greatest terror, and rescue the Lord Rhoop, whose mind has been unhinged by his years in the place “where dreams come true.” As they near the world’s end, they enter an enchanted region which is so beautiful that the king has to be persuaded to do his duty and return to his people.
C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair
Book six in the Chronicles of Narnia. This is Eustace Scrubb’s second trip to Narnia. Through an ordinary doorway Eustace and Jill Pole, fellow students at a miserable school, stumble into the place they wish most to be – Narnia. But it is not their own wishes that bring them to that magical land; it is the will of Asian the lion, the Lord of Narnia and “son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-Sea.” Asian sends the children on a mission to find the lost Prince Rilian, King Caspian’s son, who was lured away by a beautiful and mysterious woman ten years before and has been missing ever since. Together with their remarkable guide, Puddle glum the Marsh-wiggle, Eustace and Jill brave harsh terrain, menacing giants, and other grave dangers while finding their way into Underland, where the Prince is held in captivity. And here, at the end of their quest, they face their hardest task of all, overcoming the Emerald Witch.
C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle
Book seven in the Chronicles of Narnia. A sly ape named Shift creates a false Asian by dressing up Puzzle the Ass in a lion’s skin. The talking beasts of Narnia are thrown into a terrible confusion, the dwarves play both ends against the middle, and the evil Calormene god Tash enters Namia. The Narnian capital of Cair Paravel falls.
When all seems lost, Tirian, the last King of Narnia, calls on the friends of Narnia from our world. First to respond are Eustace and Jill, who join with Tirian and the loyal Narnians in a final great battle on Stable Hill, where Shift and his Calormene masters have kept the false Asian. Before the fight is over, everyone in it passes through the stable door – where very different fates await those who have served Asian and those who have served Tash.
For the friends of Narnia, there is a joyful reunion in Asian’s Country, where they all see Asian in his full glory for the first time. The magnificent, moving finale to the Chronicles of Narnia.
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