Mr. Tumnus' Library was one our really cool ideas that never really hit off too well.I even had made a really cool picture for it's background. But, there were a couple things in there, including a fanfic by sandicomm and an essay by me. Now, I don't remember if Sandi had written this before or not, but my essay I had written for a school assignment, so I was telling the truth in the previous post when I said I hadn't written anything for town.

The Fanfic:

Just Communication

Authors Note: So as not to be accused of plagiarism, an act that is not at all endorsed by The Town School, I will point out that this story is a sort of adaptation (fanfic, if you will, though I cant stand fanfics) of C.S. Lewis's Out of the Silent Planet. And, like the book, this story will of course take place in 1938. Call it a Shakespearean plagiarism, except, unlike Shakespeare, I will acknowledge the authors whom I draw my sources from

            First and foremost, of course, is C.S. Lewis. I hope that you will enjoy this venture, and I hope that he, too, would have found the story interesting. I hope that you, the reader, do not find this story corny. Everything from this story is taken from Mr. Lewis's work, except for, alas, Esmeralda. I regret, though, that my writing is no where near as excellent as C.S. Lewis's, so I hope with all fervor that you can pardon me.

            Second is J.R.R. Tolkien. This is not at all of my influence, although J.R.R. Tolkien just happens to be my second favorite author. The two men were best friends, and therefore, elements of Tolkien's writing mysteriously appear in Lewis's work (and vice-versa, I am sure). The mallorn trees are not of my doing (though they are not specifically called mallorn trees in the original text, they are most definitely mallorn trees.) Esmeralda grew up on Middle Earth, and this is of my own doing. Also, elements of Tolkien's Elven languages are in Out of the Silent Planet, a decision that Mr. Tolkien was apparently not very amused about. The character Elwin Ransom is also based on Tolkien, only, as Tolkien said, Lewisified.

            Third of all, the title of this story is the title of an extremely good song by an extremely talented Japanese pop duo by the extremely cool name of Two-Mix. I couldn't find the Japanese word for kiss and the Latin translation of the same word, oscilium, is not very pretty. Would you want a story called Oscilum? Neither would I. Now, with that being said, on with the story.

            The wind blew through the mallorn trees, shaking golden petals everywhere. One landed on Esmeralda's hand, and she inspected it. It was so delicate, so fragile. Everything was linked with this small petal, even in the most abstract of ways. She had always wondered what gave the petals their golden hue, but no one could ever tell her. Maybe it was abundance of gold in the ground, but she highly doubted that.

            Night. Through the branches of the mallorn trees, one could see the two orbs of Phobos and Deimos, the twin moons of Mars. Except the inhabitants didn't call it Mars. They called it Malacandra.

            The mallorn trees They remind me of home, back in Lothlórien, Esmeralda sighed.

            What?

            She looked over to the man sitting next to her. He was from England, and his name was Elwin Ransom.

            Um, nothing. I was just remarking about how beautiful the trees were.

            Oh.

            Yeah.

            Could the gene pool have produced such opposites? Elwin's hair was almost like pure gold, his eyes the deepest blue. Esmeralda's hair was black as the night, and her eyes were almost orange. But, then, odd eye color was a common trait on the planet that she came from, back on Second Earth. It was something about the Atlantean blood that had settled in. Not, of course, that Esmeralda was an alien. She was by all definitions an alien, but she was still human. Her planet was a colony of wizards, created after repeated persecutions of wizards in the Renaissance. And on there, she was royalty. But Elwin didn't know that. He only suspected that she was from America and she had been seeking the advice of Oyarsa. He, on the other hand, had been plucked from Earth, by two very unagreeable people, and taken to Mars, Malacandra rather, as a form of human sacrifice. Presumably to Oyarsa. Oyarsa, the sovereign god of Mars, would not have stood for that. Who knew what he wanted Elwin for, except that what Elwin didn't know about Malacandra was that mythology was reality. Oyarsa was real, tangible, not a blood-stained idol. Nice friends one could make back on Earth.

            But once they landed on Mars, Elwin had escaped from his kidnappers. He had wandered the wilderness and was eventually picked up by the hrossa, one of the rational species of Mars. That was really all Esmeralda knew, and she did not care to inquire further. Elwin didn't ask questions, and neither did she. She had stumbled upon him by chance, just as he was leaving the hrossa. He had been ordered by an eldil to go to Oyarsa, and there they were. She was only a guide, and admittedly, she had been a very poor one.

            Can I ask you a personal question? Esmeralda asked.

            Well, if you want to, then yes.

            How old are you?

            Elwin blinked. He obviously had not been expecting that. I'm thirty-five. And you?

            Thirty-four. My birthday is December 31st.

            Oh. Elwin blinked again and looked at her curiously. It could not have been true, Elwin thought. Certainly it was a dream. Just a dream None of it could have been possible. Dreams are insubstantial, they are never true. They are just reflections on your thoughts, and before I had fallen asleep last night, I had been thinking about Esmeralda, wondering who she was. That's all.

            What?

            Nothing. Elwin shook himself with a start. Like a bloody idiot, he had been staring at Esmeralda! He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. He hadn't done that since he was in school. He looked up at Esmeralda, about to ask her something, but stopped. It was meaningless; everything was, once you looked upon her. She was radiant in the moonlight.

            Can I ask you a personal question? Elwin looked at her.

            Sure. What?

            Where do you come from?

            Oh, me? I hail from New York City, but I suppose you could tell. Everyone makes fun of my accent, but, you know, I've never noticed one. Its just everyone else who has an accent, not me. But what about you? I mean, I know you're from England, but can you tell me where? She didn't want to lie to him, but no sane person would have believed her if she had told the truth. Perfect fool I would be, she thought, if I said, Hello, my name is Esmeralda Reisei and I'm from a planet that you've never heard of called Second Earth, except over there we call it Neo Atlantis because we are a colony of wizards, just like Atlantis was. And, oh, by the way, I'm the Queen, but you wont hear that from just anybody. That's top secret, by the way. And did I mention that I'm a Demi-god? Because I am, you know. Yeah, great idea.

            Oh, nowhere that you would know of. Just a small town outside of London. So it was just a dream, then. The birth date was a coincidence. I bet she would laugh if I told her about the dream That she was a Queen of a wizard colony. She is more of a queen than any I know of, but she's just an ordinary person, like me. Esmeralda, I hate to be repetitive, since I have asked everyone I met the same question, but could you please tell me who exactly this Oyarsa creature is?

            A small pause and then a response. He is. He just is. That's the only way I can explain it. I'm sorry, Elwin, but that's really the only way I can say. You'll see when you meet him. I don't think he would harm you.

            Well, that's good to know. I thought I would be sacrificed or something. The way my captors were talking, you'd think that they had wanted a sacrifice. You know, the first time I saw a sorn, I just bolted, I was so frightened. I thought they would kill me. But they are such gentle creatures.

            They are scary the first time you see them. Esmeralda said softly.

            Well that was cryptic. Care to elaborate? Can I ask you another question? You always talk about your grandfather, but never about the rest of your family. Why is that?

            Oh. Esmeralda brushed some hair out of her face. When I was a few months old, my parents and sister died in an automobile accident. Those early cars weren't too terribly safe and I don't believe that my parents really knew how to drive one. In those early days people thought that they didn't really need driving lessons. When they felt they were ready, they just got on the road and drove. But surely you know that. I was given to my grandfather, who was my only living relative.

            I'm sorry Esmeralda. I I didn't mean to touch on a sensitive subject.

            Its all right. I know it sounds horrible, but I don't really feel much sadness. I didn't know them; my grandfather was the only parent I knew.

            Yes, of course. Her parents weren't assassinated like in my dream. Now that is just plain silly.

            What do you do for a living? Back on Earth, of course.

            I'm a philologist in Cambridge.

            Oh, how exciting! I'm a reporter for The New York Times. But that's just to get some money on the side. I have a research fellowship at Princeton, on Jewish history.

            Now that is interesting. But isn't Princeton a single-sex school? For men?

            Esmeralda threw her head back and laughed. You bet! Not that anyone there is too terribly interesting. Especially the undergraduates. They're all the Wall Street type. He sounds like he knows his universities. I hope this is an accurate description. I mean, Princeton is in New Jersey, right? And isn't New Jersey next to New York? God, I hope so

            Esmeralda I have something that I want to tell you.

            Really?

            Yes.

            Esmeralda nervously brushed some hair away from her face. I do, too, Elwin. I too have something to say.

            Then you go first.

            No way! You do.

            I guess Americans aren't so keen on this, but ladies first.

            Ugh, you Englishmen! All right Esmeralda hesitated. She didn't want her heart to be broken again, as it always was. She didn't want that to happen. But but she felt that Elwin would care. He was gentle and kind, and if he didn't, if he didn't No use in thinking of that now. Best to just spit it out. I love you.

            Silence.

            Do you do you mean that? Elwin asked. Well, this was quite unexpected. Over the many days of travel, he had dismissed his own affection for her as a foolish notion. Surely someone as regal as Esmeralda would not want, could not even be able to, to fall in love with a complete stranger such as himself. Not to mention that he was an enormous coward and Esmeralda so very brave.

            Yes. I truly do. With all my heart, Elwin, I truly do mean that.

            I love you, too.

            Another silence. The phrase, since it had been so overused by so many humans over so many centuries, had lost its original power, yet there was a certain strength in those three little words. It was, to be quite frank, like a flower blooming.

            Esmeralda moved closer to him. She had wanted this to happen for days. She had only figured it to be impossible. They had only known each other for several days, and she didn't think that Elwin was the kind of person who believed in love at first sight. That thought was so unbearable that she had felt her heart groaning. Now that what she had wanted for so long had finally happened, she felt quite numb. And yet Say it again.

            Elwin smiled. I love you.

            A kiss.

           The wind blew through the mallorn trees, golden petals falling everywhere. The petals were connected to everything, a new light, a new hope. And the twin moons Phobos and Deimos tried to look down on the lovers, but in vain. They were screened by the mallorn trees.

My essay:

Edmund: Little Stinker to Little King

Edmund probably experiences more growth spiritually than any of the other characters.   The perfect description of his life is in the Companion to Narnia, first a traitor and later King Edmund the Just in the Golden Age of Narnia who grows from the sensual, difficult, jealous nine- or ten-year-old in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to the handsome and brave twenty-four-year-old in The Horse and His Boy and the helpful and playful nineteen-year-old youth who is mortally hurt in the railway accident in The Last Battle.(1) Through this report will follow his life and his transformation.

Edmund's journey through this transformation starts out when his siblings and he go to stay at Professor Kirke's house. He shows us on the first few pages of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe how he is not a nice person by laughing at how the professor looks. When Lucy comes out of the Wardrobe claiming that there is a whole country inside, he taunts and teases her, proving to the reader that he is a nasty little kid. When he ventures into the Wardrobe, he shows that he is not very wise either, by shutting himself in. Once into Narnia he attempts his first good deed, he tries to apologize to Lucy for not believing her. But she is not to be found and he quickly goes back to his old self, whining that Lucy is ignoring him, showing the reader once again that in his mind it is never his fault and but always someone else. 

So now he is all alone in this icy world sulking when a sledge with a beautiful, yet cold and stern looking lady inside, pulls up to him. This lady, whom he soon learns to be the Queen and the Witch, starts questioning him about who and what he is and basically scaring him to death. When the Witch realizes that this line of questioning is no use, she, using a different method, she tempts Edmund with Turkish delight. Once his tongue was loosed with the Turkish delight he told the Witch everything she wanted to know, and unwillingly had already started the process that would lead to his betrayal of his siblings. Now that the Witch had learned everything she needed to, she went away telling Edmund that the only way he could get more Turkish delight would be if he brought his siblings into Narnia. She was now gone, and for the moment Edmund was alone until a very ecstatic Lucy found him. She was thrilled that he had found his way in and they both went back through the Wardrobe to tell their siblings that Edmund had been to Narnia also. Then Edmund does one of the meanest things yet. When questioned by Peter whether all this was true, he lies and says that he and Lucy had just been playing, pretending. 

A short period of time goes by until the children are forced to hide in the Wardrobe. It does not take them long to figure out that Lucy was right all along and that Edmund had been lying. The children end up following Mr. Beaver to his home and he explains all about Narnia, the Witch and Aslan. At the name of Aslan, Peter, Susan, and Lucy are filled with mysterious joy, but to Edmund it filled him with horror. For he had already eaten of the Witch's food, so he was contaminated, whereas the other three had not. As the Beavers are explaining the situation, Edmund quietly sneaks out. He had heard enough. He could not take any more talk of Aslan, and as the memory of the Turkish delight haunted his mind, he headed in the direction of the Witch's castle.

On this cold journey (for he had forgotten his coat), he is torn between wanting to go back and make up with his siblings, wanting to be a Prince (and later a King) and to pay back Peter for calling him a beast.(2). He might have repented and gone back if he had not started to think of all that he would do when he became king. This kept him trudging through the snow to the Witch's castle. 

Once he gets to the castle and delivers his message, his reception was not at all what he expected. Instead of the Witch speaking kindly to him and giving him Turkish delight, she sneers at him, has a dwarf tie his hands behind his back, and they head to the Stone Table, for that is where Mr. And Mrs. Beaver had said Aslan would be. The journey is not at all pleasant for Edmund. He witnesses the Witch turning some merry creatures into stone, and for the first time he starts to feel sorry for someone besides himself(3).

The next significant thing in his journey to be a better man is when some Narnian creatures that Aslan had sent rescue him right before the Witch attempts to kill him.  What happened next was the turning point for Edmund. Aslan has a private conversation with Edmund. No one truly knows what Aslan told him, but it was a conversation he never would forget.

Even though Aslan and his siblings have forgiven Edmund, the Witch has a claim to all traitors, and he was a traitor. Although Edmund never finds this out, Aslan sacrifices himself for Edmund, thus taking away the Witch's claim. Edmund has now been forgiven, and it does not take long for him to prove himself a changed man.  In the battle between the Witch and her evil followers and the good Narnians, he breaks the Witch's wand, thus breaking her power. Then Aslan destroys her. In the process of breaking the Witch's wand he is wounded, and Lucy heals him with her gift from Aslan. His healing was like the final straw of his redemption. He is mostly growing as a person throughout the rest of the books.

Edmund the Just along with his siblings rule over Narnia for many years until they accidentally stumble back into the world they had been born into. Of his time as King of Narnia only one event is recorded in The Horse and His Boy. In this book he shows time and time again how he has grown into a mature and wise adult. For example, his selfishness from his childhood is completely gone and he is very protective of his sister Susan. He is wise enough to know that Rabadash is a cruel man, but leaves Susan to make up her own mind. He has also become a forgiving man, for example, when Shasta comes to him and apologizes for overhearing the Narnians plans; Edmund forgives him saying, I know now that you were no traitor boy.(4) He never forgets how he was forgiven when he did not deserve it, and makes sure that others are given the same chance.

Throughout all of Prince Caspian Edmund shows the reader time and time again how much he has matured. But there are also times when it is obvious that he is still human. He still likes to tease, just not maliciously, and he calls Susan a wet blanket. But his improvement makes his little faults almost invisible. He has become very practical, to the point that he is obviously been raised up in his older brothers eyes. For example, when searching the ancient treasure house, while the others are going down memory lane, Edmund points out they should not waste the flashlights battery. Another thing he has improved on is his pride. He has learned how to swallow it. He volunteers to fight Trumpkin, for it would be less embarrassing if he was beat than if Peter was beat. But it also only fair to point out that when Edmund beat the dwarf it was more shocking than if Peter had beaten Trumpkin. He will also now admit when he is wrong--something he would have never even considered doing before his redemption.

After Lucy, Edmund has the most faith of the four. He also sticks up for Lucy and believes her no matter how unbelievable she sounds. When Lucy says she saw Aslan even though he did not see Him, Edmund is quick to point out that no one believed her before and she had been right. This seems to be his way of saying, I'm sorry to her. It takes the most faith for Edmund to believe Aslan is there, even though he cannot see Him, and for this faith he is the first to see Him, after Lucy. 

At the end of Prince Caspian the two elder children are told that they will not be able to come back to Narnia, and Edmund genuinely feels sorry for them.  But he and Lucy do return, and this time they have company--Eustace Scrubb, their annoying cousin, who seems to bring out the worst in Edmund. The only time he does any name-calling now is at Eustace. He continues being a very practical person by asking Caspian right away what year it is and what the time difference is. He also become patient, after Eustace has become undragonfied he patiently listens to his story, admits to Eustace that he was a much worse person. Although forgiven, the fact that he was a traitor never leaves him. He shows again how he is very protective and sensitive to Lucy on two occasions: one, when the Dufflepuds say that Lucy must go up the stairs he says that she cant, for it would be too dangerous; and two is when Eustace and he are discussing what the Dufflepuds might look like, he tells Eustace not to put the idea of insects into Lucy's head, for it would scare her.

At the end of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Edmund is told that he and his little sister will not be able to come back to Narnia. Although this is the end of him in Narnia it is definitely not the end of Edmund in the whole story, nor the end of his influence on other characters.  In the next book, though never mentioned, Edmunds good influence on Eustace is clear, as Eustace and his friend Jill have to rescue the prince without the help of any of the original four children.

He does not return to the story until the last book, in which he uses his combined ingenuity with his brother went to find the rings, which had been used long ago to get into Narnia. The rings were but found but were never used again after being unearthed. The train carrying Edmund along with the six others who had been to Narnia crashed, and they all died, leaving the shadow lands and going to the real world--the one, where everyone they had cared about, from Narnia and our world was, and most importantly where Aslan was.

Edmund shows that a man cannot only be forgiven, but be completely transformed into a new person. He starts out his adventures as a rude, mean, little boy, and ends up as King Edmund the Just. And most importantly, no matter what happened he never forgot what Aslan did for him.

Bibliography

Ford, Paul F. Companion to Narnia. New York; Harpers San Francisco, 1994

Lewis, C.S. The Chronicles of Narnia. Whole series. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994

Endnotes

Paul F. Ford, Companion to Narnia (New York: Harpers San Francisco, 1994) p. 160

C.S Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Book 2 (New York HarperCollins Publishers, 1994), p. 91

Ibid, p.117

C.S Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Horse and His Boy, Book 3 (New York HarperCollins Publishers, 1994) p. 178

C.S Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian, Book 4 (New York HarperCollins Publishers, 1994) p. 119