FOURTEEN: THE PLANTING OF THE TREE

Aslan welcomes Digory back, commends his obedience, and instructs him to throw the apple toward the soft riverbank so only Digory sows Narnia’s protecting Tree. As the company grows silent, Aslan announces the coronation of King Frank and Queen Helen, whose transformed bearing reflects the new world and their charge.

Aslan orders the animals’ makeshift cage opened, revealing two saplings of real gold and silver and the cowering Uncle Andrew. A flashback recounts how the Beasts, mistaking him for a curious creature, planted, watered, and fed him disastrously. At Polly’s plea, Aslan refuses to speak sense to Uncle Andrew—who has made himself unable to hear—and instead breathes sleep on him, granting the only gift he can receive.

Aslan summons the Dwarfs to smith two light, beautiful crowns from the golden tree grown from Uncle Andrew’s fallen coins, with gems unearthed by Moles. After cooling them, Aslan crowns Frank and Helen as just, merciful, and brave rulers. While the crowd rejoices, a radiant Tree suddenly rises where Digory cast the apple, its silver fruit perfuming the air. Aslan declares it Narnia’s Shield, whose scent repels the Witch for a hundred miles, forcing her to the far North.

When Digory and Polly confess that Jadis already ate such an apple, Aslan explains that fruit taken in the wrong way becomes hateful to the taker; though it grants unwearied strength and endless days, it brings misery with an evil heart. He tells Digory that stolen use of the fruit—whether to defend Narnia or heal his mother—would have worked but twisted the results into cruelty and regret.

Aslan then reverses Digory’s despair by offering a rightful gift: he instructs Digory to pluck an apple from the Tree to heal his mother, promising joy rather than curse. Amid cheering from the King, Queen, and Narnians, Digory picks the apple, pockets it, and asks to go home, which Aslan understands.