Mr. and Mrs. Beaver

Mr. and Mrs. Beaver are fictional characters in C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe they are instrumental in conveying the Pevensie children to Aslan, and they appear briefly in the final novel The Last Battle.

Description

In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Mr. Beaver encounters the Pevensies in the snow-covered Narnian woods, when they have left the ransacked cave of Tumnus the faun, after they discover that Tumnus has been arrested by the White Witch's police. Mr. Beaver introduces himself and takes him back to his house where he and Mrs. Beaver shelter them at their home. They tell the children of Aslan and his return, and of the prophecy that the children's coming heralds the end of the Witch's reign.

During their conversation, Edmund creeps away to seek the Witch. When Edmund's absence is discovered, Mr. Beaver is sure that he has gone to betray them to the Witch, so they leave hurriedly to head for Aslan's camp. Edmund reaches the Witch's palace and tells her that his siblings are with the Beavers. She orders Maugrim and her secret police to track them down, and follows in her sleigh with Edmund as her prisoner. Maugrim reaches the Beaver's house but finds it empty, and as instructed to by the Witch he heads to the Stone Table with another wolf, as the harshness of the Witch's winter makes it impossible for them to track down the children or the beavers.

On their way to Aslan, the other children and the Beavers take shelter in a small cave, where they are awakened by the arrival of Father Christmas, who gives presents to all. The Beavers then lead the children on, and they soon arrive safely at Aslan's camp at the Stone Table, as the Witch's magic weakens further and the snow gradually melts. They reach the Stone Table before the Witch, having previously believed this to be impossible before the snow melted.

Mr. Beaver is involved in the ensuing battle against the Witch and her army, helping to defeat the enemy.^[1]

In Prince Caspian', the black dwarf Nikabrik claims that the White Witch had eliminated beavers from Narnia. He was clearly mistaken.

Portrayals

• They appeared in the 1988 BBC miniseries of The Chronicles of Narnia - portrayed by Kerry Shale (Mr. Beaver) and Lesley Nicol (Mrs. Beaver).
• They appear in the 2005 film in CGI The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe voiced by Ray Winstone and Dawn French.
• In the 1979 cartoon version, Mr. Beaver is voiced by Arthur Lowe (of Dad's Army fame) and Mrs. Beaver by June Whitfield.^[2]

Spoof

Mr. Beaver is spoofed in the 2007 feature film Epic Movie.

References

External links