Further Up & Further In

Legends

~NOVEMBER 29, 1898: A LEGEND WAS BORN~

Narnia had many legends. Stories which everyone knew. History that had become almost myth. Lore, tales, and fables, from the dawn of time.

Historically, everyone knew King Frank and Queen Helen to be the first rulers of Narnia, but how much of their story was true was often debated. The first king and queen were said to, like all Narnia's most famous rulers, have been from another world. It couldn't be proven, of course, but it couldn't be disproved either. So Narnians repeated the story on faith. That was all they had: Faith, and stories. King Frank, who fell into their world like rain, and Queen Helen who was pulled in after him. A good king, all said, and a good queen. No one could deny that. How they had got there, and what the country had been before may have been debated as myth, but what could be dubbed history was accepted by everyone. The world was built by their efforts; populated by their descendants. It was their country.

With them rose the myth of the winged horse. Fledge, as he was called, was a marvel never seen again in Narnia. No one could say for sure that winged horses even existed, but legend had it that Aslan had given him his wings on the First Day. The Great Lion, (who was sometimes the greatest story of all,) had given him a new name to match.

On top of those three were the stories of the ancient Lord Digory and Lady Polly. Everyone said that they had been there on the First Day, as well. After all, too much of Narnia's history relied on their presence in Narnia that no one could dismiss it. They were children, it was said, and it was with them that the First Evil entered Narnia. This evil, the White Witch had been there from the beginning, but she was kept at bay for many years by the task Aslan assigned to the two children. This small Lord, and this young Lady rode the winged horse into the Western Wilds, and brought back with them a silver apple. Then Digory planted this apple in the earth, and in moments it had become the Tree of Protection. This was the story: It was a young earth, and it was protected by the young. But though these children lived on in the stories of Narnia, they were never seen again in that world. (Neither was the character of "Brandy," who was said to have been there with them in the first days of Narnia, though he was blind and deaf to it.)

Legends grew around all edges of Narnia. There was Swanwhite: the queen who was unbelievably beautiful. There were tales about rabbits and bears and other lands. In those days there were adventures that ended nowhere, and stories came from everywhere.

The most famous of all the rulers and legends of Narnia came afterwards; long after the creation, and long after Digory and Polly. They came at the end of the Long Winter, and again at the end of the Telmarine Conquest. These great kings and queens were, of course, the four Pevensies. There was the High King Peter, and Queen Susan of the Horn. Their oldest stories, sometimes it seemed; their oldest artifacts and treasures seemed to come from this Golden Age. These children saved Narnia from the evil that had come in with those first children. As it was in the beginning, though Narnia was older, it was protected by the young. Peter, who lead the Great Battle with his brother. Susan, who had ridden Aslan with her sister. All of this, before their reign truly began, and yet the stories about them only grew. They called Peter "Magnificent." He was their King above kings, their protector, their sword and shield. Susan was called "Gentle." She was a protector, but not through her bow. Like her brother, and yet unlike him, the Queen Susan was a nurturer. She was a diplomat, the beautiful queen, and her horn called everyone homeward.

Then the younger, but by no means the lesser. King Edmund and Queen Lucy, who reigned, not in the shadows, but by the sides of their older siblings. Edmund was credited with bringing down the Witch, though he gave it all to Aslan. He was clever in battle, a child though he was. It was Edmund that Aslan had died to save: Edmund the traitor, Edmund the Just. And it was Lucy that was there when Aslan died for her brother, and Lucy that followed him, even into battle. She was the youngest, and she was the First. It was said that she always had a child's heart. She was the image of joy. But unlike her sister, she fought for her people whenever she could, then she would heal them in the next breath. Lucy, the lioness. Lucy, the Valiant. Edmund and Lucy, like the night and the day, everyone said, but more like dawn and dusk. The two of them returned once more, and sailed with King Caspian to the very end of the world. There, they left for good.

Caspian, the Tenth of that name, but the First king of the new Narnia. He was the nephew of a usurper, and the son of a long line of kings who did not belong. Destined, always, to be king; but by no rights the True King. Telmarine. Outsider. Noble contradiction. Caspian, the son of pirates and kings alike, led an army into battle as a runaway prince, and led a crew to the end of the ocean as an established king. Narnia reached a new age under his rule, and he was adored.

So was the great mouse, Reepicheep. He was honourable, and valiant, and chivalrous, and wild. No one forgot the name of that Chief Mouse who went to sea in the hopes of never returning. No one forgot that he succeeded.

There was no special title awarded to the cousin of the Pevensies. He was no Prince, no Lord, no Duke. He was just Eustace. Some called him the Dragon, though they argued whether it was true. How could a boy, after all, turn into an actual dragon? Eustace, who shed his skin, and shed his sins with it, was never remembered the way his cousins were, but people remembered him all the same. Perhaps it was the hope that if their High King couldn't return, some piece of his family could. Or perhaps it was because so much of his first journey was so laughable. This child, Eustace, who reportedly swung the great Reepicheep around by his tail, and who wildly attacked a sea serpent with the King Caspian's sword. No, Eustace was never like the Kings and Queens of the past, but he was a legend by his own rights. He may have been a joke in many conversations, but he proved himself a hero, too. Eustace could never be forgotten.

It was the Time of Legends. The death of Caspian's bride, said to be the daughter of a star. Rumours of the sickly green serpent that killed her. And the disappearance of Caspian's son, the prince who had been missing for years now. This was when people worried, and dissension grew. The King was leaving, he was likely to die, and there was no heir to take his place. Stories ran wild, but so did fears. What would become of Narnia?

And so Jill was dropped in, a child with no connection to this magical land beyond a boy she had talked to once at school. So her story grew more quietly. Jill was not the girl with the dagger, nor the queen with the horn. She didn't sail the ocean, or establish a country. She was just the girl who didn't belong, who shouldn't have been there, who made mistakes... she was the girl who rose victorious over it all. They called her a girl of courage: the child who stood firm in the face of the serpent, and who conversed with giants. Not a queen, not a lady, not a dragon, but all the same, a story people liked to tell. The rider of owls and wind, the girl of the woods. Jill was the last thing she ever thought she'd be. She was a Legend of Narnia, as much as anyone. And she was one of the last.