Chapter Five

A/N: Words in italics that are spoken by the beaver are taken from the book.

Watching Peter make a clicking noise with his tongue and snapping his fingers at the beaver--treating the beaver as if he was a dumb animal was quite amusing.

But what exactly was the beaver’s reaction? For this beaver was no ordinary one and if you thought that this beaver was the same kind as the beavers in our world, you would have been shocked about what the beaver did.

He did the most unbelievable thing in the least expected moment. He stood upright, looked directly into Peter’s eyes, and whispered, hushed and throaty, “Hush. Come further in, come further in. We’re not safe out here in the open.”

He said looking at Peter’s outreached hand, “What? I’m not going to smell it if that's what you want!”

Peter’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped. He stepped back startled. “Did you hear that?” he eyes were as big as saucers. “That thing--that b-b-beaver talked! It’s a talking beaver!” He was taken aback.

I suppressed a laugh, coughing instead. Peter’s expression on his face was hilarious for he was extremely shocked. But I probably shouldn’t want to laugh because even I felt strange when I heard words come out of the Beaver’s mouth.

I said in a low voice, “Peter, I just want you to know that in this land, all creatures talk. From Reepi--I mean, from the tiniest mouse to the greatest lion, each and every one of these animals speak.

Peter just stared at me dumbfounded.

“Should we follow the beaver?” whispered Susan.

Lucy said, “Yes, lets!

“Yes, we should. It’s safe,” I assured them both.

Surprising, they trusted my opinion without hesitation.

“Peter, did you hear that?” Susan spoke to Peter, who was still deep in shock and staring blindly in space, “Anne says that it’s alright to follow the Beaver.”

Peter simply nodded duly.

“Oh really?” glared Edmund. “I don’t think it’s alright! How do you know which side the Beaver is on? He may be on the bad side! Why do you even consider trusting him? He’s a total stranger! How can you even trust her?” he pointed at me.

“Ed!” Peter scowled warningly.

Ed paid no heed and continued on angrily. “Listen, didn’t we just arrive here? I know, I know. Mr. Tumnus as you call him said that the Queen is a Witch and he said that he was on the good side, but how do you know? He may be on the bad side as well and the Queen on the good side! Which side is right? As for her,” he pointed at me, “How do you know that she,” he spat, “is telling the truth that she is not from here either? We only got here, and you trust strangers?  How can you, Susan? You’re always the one that tells us not to talk to strangers because that’s what Mom always says-”

It was here when Edmund was interrupted.

“ED!” Peter said with a sudden sharpness.

Edmund just folded his arms and stared icily at Peter and Peter stared just as icily back at him.

I cleared my throat interrupting the tense silence, hoping that if I changed the subject, the silent glares Ed and Peter were shooting each other wouldn’t become into a fight. I said, “Well, Ed does have a point.”

“Yes, but he has no right to talk like that!” said Peter.

I continued, “Yes, he should have more respect, but if you really think about it, what Edmund is saying IS true if you really think about it. But I know it will be wise if we take this risk and follow the Beaver.”

I knew that that following the beaver was not a risk, but I had to play along and try to put myself into their shoes.

“Alright,” Peter said. “Let’s follow him.”

“Maybe if this Beaver is on the good side, he can tell us what happened to Mr. Tumnus!” Lucy said eagerly and hopefully.

I smiled approvingly. Lucy was all in this for this adventure! I loved her attitude!

By now, the Beaver had guessed that the Pevensie siblings didn’t trust him. But before he said what he really wanted to say, he asked a very simple, yet important question. “Are you all the Sons and Daughters of Eve?

Everyone looked confused except me and Lucy. Lucy and I said eagerly, “Yes, we are!”

“I can see that the rest of you don’t trust me?” he said turning to look at Edmund, Peter, and Susan.

“Well, I think if you can give us some evidence to us it will place more confidence in us,” Susan replied slowly.

Peter quickly explained, “You see, we just arrived here a short while ago. We are confused on why we are here and how we got here. We are not from here, you know. Also, we are confused about who to believe.”

“Here’s my token,” said the Beaver holding up a white Handkerchief with the initials L.P. engraved on it.

They all stared at it for a minute, trying to figure out how it gave evidence that he was on the good side.

“Oh! Of course! My handkerchief that I gave to Mr. Tumnus!” Lucy said suddenly as she began to remember.

“You gave your handkerchief to Mr. Tumnus?” asked Susan.

“Yes, it’s a long story,” replied Lucy.

“Tumnus,” the beaver sighed. “He gave it to me just before they took him.”

“Is he alright?” asked Lucy.

“I feel sorry for that fellow. He figured that he would get arrested soon and gave this to me. He told me that if he did get arrested, then I must meet you here and take you on to-”

He instructed us to huddle closer until his whiskers tickled our faces. “They say Aslan is on the move-perhaps already landed.”

At that moment when he had finished saying his last sentence, something jumped inside me. It was such a great feeling--so great I don’t know how to describe it. It was just a wonderful, joyful, and thrilling sensation that just went through me.

 “So where is Mr. Tumnus now? Is he alright?” asked Lucy.

“Come on, let’s find a better place to talk,” the Beaver said quickly. “It’s not safe here in the open. These trees,” he shook his head, “they’re always listening-some of them for her.”

I shot a glance at Peter. Peter turned his head back to look at me. I prodded him to go on. He understood my message and focused ahead again.

The Beaver took us to a place where the trees grew very close to each other--almost like a forest but not as dense.

“Where is Mr. Tumnus?” asked Lucy for the third time.

“S-s-sh,” the beaver said. “Not here. Let’s go to a place where we can have a real talk and some dinner also.”

I was very glad for the invitation because I was starting to feel hungry. The look of the others’ faces told me that they were hungry as well.

We walked at an incredibly fast pace. While we were walking, I began to feel different. With each minute, I felt stronger and stronger and I felt lighter than usual. If I tried hard enough, I could have lifted off the ground. From the corner of my eye, I looked over to the Pevensies. To my surprise, I noticed that even they looked more mature and stately than a few hours ago. Strange, it seems like they grew up these few hours! It must be the air.

We walked at a brisk pace for about an hour in silence; thinking our own thoughts.

Suddenly, there seemed to be fewer trees around us. The path was getting steeper downhill. After a while, we found ourselves no longer surrounded by trees. I looked up and saw that the sun was still shining radiantly. A beautiful sight came upon our eyes. We were standing at the end of a valley with the steep trail lurking behind us. All around us, we saw a frozen river. A dam was built across the river reminding us that Beavers build dams and that this was probably Mr. Beaver’s home.

I remembered that in the Narnia book it had mentioned that the Beaver had a modest expression on his face. I glanced over quickly to see if the Beaver had a modest expression. He did! Oh, it was so comical!

“What a lovely dam!” Susan exclaimed.

“Yes, it’s so cute!” Lucy added.

The Beaver didn’t say, ‘hush’ and instead he said with the slightest hint of pride in his eyes, “Merely a trifle! Oh, I’m not even done building it yet!”

Remembering something, I quickly turned my head to take a look toward the lower part of the river. I noticed two small hills and a castle behind it. I slowly turned my head to see if Edmund was doing the thing I was expecting him to do.

He was. He was staring at the two hills and I could tell he was deep in thought.

I thought, Oh, that Edmund! Should I interfere and talk him out of his scheming?

Mr. Beaver’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “Home sweet home. This is it! Be careful you don’t slip--we have pretty slippery ice around here!”

We heard someone say, “Is that you Beaver? I find out you've been out with Badger again I'll...Oh, they're not Badgers. I never thought I would see this day!”

“Here, step inside,” instructed the he-beaver. He said to the she-beaver, “I’ve found them--the Sons and Daughters of Adam and Eve.”

The she-beaver’s face glowed. She greeted us cordially, “Well you must be cold and hungry. Let's get you inside for some food and civilized conversation. But before we eat, we must prepare the supper of course, hm? Will you help me prepare the supper?”

“Of course,” Susan said politely.

Lucy nodded eagerly.

I smiled and followed suit.

So we helped Mrs. Beaver prepare the supper.

From my observations, the dam was snug and cozy but small--just as the book described.

When we were finished with the cooking, we surveyed our doings. Sitting at the supper table was a jug of creamy white milk, a big lump of golden yellow butter, fried water fish, and baked potatoes.

Everything was extremely delicious. The milk tasted different than from our world. It was more rich, smooth, and creamy. The freshly caught water fish was luscious to its taste and I could have eaten the whole dish. Even the butter and the potatoes tasted different from the potatoes and butter from our world. The potatoes were cooked so that the skin was crispy and the insides melted in your mouth. For the final touch, we spread a tiny bit of the butter on the steaming hot potato. That was probably the best meal I had ever had yet!

After we satisfied our hunger, Mr. Beaver started a different topic of our conversation. “Now,” he began, “let’s get to business. It’s snowing outside again; if anyone tries to search for you, the tracks will be buried under the falling snow.”

Or will they?