The Silver Chair
Written by C. S. Lewis
Illustrated by Pauline Baynes
Dedicated to Nicholas Hardie
1953
Eustace Scrubb is called back to Narnia, and along with schoolmate Jill Pole, meet Aslan. Aslan tells Jill they are to find King Caspian's son, Rillian, who has been missing for several years. He gives to Jill four signs that will lead them on their way to find the Prince. When they arrive in Narnia, they find that Caspian, a close friend of Eustace, is now an old man and has left Narnia on a ship to find Aslan. Jill and Eustace are told the story of how Rillian's mother was killed during an outing by a green serpant. Rillian vowed revenge upon the serpant and soon vanished while searching for the snake. Poll and Scrubb start on their search for Rillian with Puddleglum, a Narnian Marshwiggle. The three soon find themselves in trouble when they stop at Harfang, a castle of giants. They are invited to stay for the Autumn Feast. While in the giant's kitchen, Jill dicovers a cookbook with listings for cooking humans and Marswiggles. They all realize they are not just invited to the feast, but are to be the feast. Jill, Eustace and Puddleglum make their escape from the castle with the giants close behind. The three escape into a cave which leads them farther and farther under the earth. Soon, when they are a mile under ground, they are met by a large group of earthmen who take them still further toward the center of the earth. The arrive at a large city where they meet a knight who says the Queen of the city is away. The knight tells them that the Queen has rescued him from a powereful spell, but he must be tied to a silver chair one hour every night for the evil spell still consumes him at that time. The knight is tied to the chair and begins to fall to the spell. The three discover that the knight is really Prince Rillian, and that the spell consumes him for all but one hour of the day. The evil Queen of the Underland has kidnapped him in order to use him in an attack against Narnia. The children and Marshwiggle free Rilian from his chair just as the Queen returns to the city. When she sees what has
happened, she turns herself into a green serpant, the same which killed Rilian's mother. Rilian battles the snake and kills it, his mother avenged. The four return to Narnia and find that Caspian has returned to Narnia. Aslan told him to return and when he did, his son would be waiting. Rillian stands by his father as King Caspian dies. Their job done, the children are returned to their own world by Aslan.
