The_Complete_Chronicles_of_Narnia_(volumes_1-7,_in_order_of_publication)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE PLANTING OF THE TREE
"WELL done," said Aslan in a voice that made the earth shake. Then Digory knew that
all the Narnians had heard those words and that the story of them would be handed down
from father to son in that new world for hundreds of years and perhaps forever. But he
was in no danger of feeling conceited for he didn't think about it at all now that he was
face to face with Aslan. This time he found he could look straight into the Lion's eyes. He
had forgotten his troubles and felt absolutely content.
"Well done, son of Adam," said the Lion again. "For this fruit you have hungered and
thirsted and wept. No hand but yours shall sow the seed of the Tree that is to be the
protection of Narnia. Throw the apple towards the river bank where the ground is soft."
Digory did as he was told. Everyone had grown so quiet that you could hear the soft
thump where it fell into the mud.
"It is well thrown," said Aslan. "Let us now proceed to the Coronation of King Frank of
Narnia and Helen his Queen."
The children now noticed these two for the first time. They were dressed in strange and
beautiful clothes, and from their shoulders rich robes flowed out behind them to where
four dwarfs held up the King's train and four rivernymphs the Queen's. Their heads were
bare; but Helen had let her hair down and it made a great improvement in her appearance.
But it was neither hair nor clothes that made them look so different from their old selves.
Their faces had a new expression, especially the King's. All the sharpness and cunning
and quarrelsomeness which he had picked up as a London cabby seemed to have been
washed away, and the courage and kindness which he had always had were easier to see.
Perhaps it was the air of the young world that had done it, or talking with Aslan, or both.
"Upon my word," whispered Fledge to Polly. "My old master's been changed nearly as
much as I have! Why, he's a real master now."
"Yes, but don't buzz in my ear like that," said Polly. "It tickles so."
"Now," said Aslan, "some of you undo that tangle you have made with those trees and let
us see what we shall find there."
Digory now saw that where four trees grew close together their branches had all been
laced together or tied together with switches so as to make a sort of cage. The two
Elephants with their trunks and a few dwarfs with their little axes soon got it all undone.
There were three things inside. One was a young tree that seemed to be made of gold; the