The_Complete_Chronicles_of_Narnia_(volumes_1-7,_in_order_of_publication)

e asleep. And, as a result, at night they're so blind and stupid that you can't get a word
out of them. So we owls have got into the habit of meeting at sensible hours, on our own,
when we want to talk about things."
"I see," said Scrubb. "Well now, let's get on. Tell us all about the lost Prince." Then an
old owl, not Glimfeather, related the story.
About ten years ago, it appeared, when Rilian, the son of Caspian, was a very young
knight, he rode with the Queen his mother on a May morning in the north parts of Narnia.
They had many squires and ladies with them and all wore garlands of fresh leaves on
their heads, and horns at their sides; but they had no hounds with them, for they were
maying, not hunting. In the warm part of the day they came to a pleasant glade where a
fountain flowed freshly out of the earth, and there they dismounted and ate and drank and
were merry. After a time the Queen felt sleepy, and they spread cloaks for her on the
grassy bank, and Prince Rilian with the rest of the party went a little way from her, that
their tales and laughter might not wake her. And so, presently, a great serpent came out of
the thick wood and stung the Queen in her hand. All heard her cry out and rushed towards
her, and Rilian was first at her side. He saw the worm gliding away from her and made
after it with his sword drawn. It was great, shining, and as green as poison, so that he
could see it well: but it glided away into thick bushes and he could not come at it. So he
returned to his mother, and found them all busy about her.
But they were busy in vain, for at the first glance of her face Rilian knew that no physic
in the world would do her good. As long as the life was in her she seemed to be trying
hard to tell him something. But she could not speak clearly and, whatever her message
was, she died without delivering it. It was then hardly ten minutes since they had first
heard her cry.
They carried the dead Queen back to Cair Paravel, and she was bitterly mourned by
Rilian and by the King, and by all Narnia. She had been a great lady, wise and gracious
and happy, King Caspian's bride whom he had brought home from the eastern end of the
world. And men said that the blood of the stars flowed in her veins. The Prince took his
mother's death very hardly, as well he might. After that, he was always riding on the
northern marches of Narnia, hunting for that venomous worm, to kill it and be avenged.
No one remarked much on this, though the Prince came home from these wanderings
looking tired and distraught. But about a month after the Queen's death, some said they
could see a change in him. There was a look in his eyes as of a man who has seen visions,
and though he would be out all day, his horse did not bear the signs of hard riding. His
chief friend among the older courtiers was the Lord Driman, he who had been his father's
captain on that great voyage to the east parts of the earth.
One evening Drinian said to the Prince, "Your Highness must soon give over seeking the
worm. There is no true vengeance on a witless brute as there might be on a man. You
weary yourself in vain." The Prince answered him, "My Lord, I have almost forgotten the
worm this seven days." Drinian asked him why, if that were so, he rode so continually in
the northern woods. "My lord," said the Prince, "I have seen there the most beautiful