Prince Caspian

About Prince Caspian

Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia is a novel for children by C. S. Lewis, written in late 1949 and first published in 1951. It is the second book in the Chronicles of Narnia series, although in the overall chronological sequence it comes fourth.

While standing on a railway station in 1941, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are magically whisked away to a beach near an old and ruined castle. Peter soon realizes that they are in Cair Paravel, where they once ruled as the Kings and Queens of Narnia, when Susan finds the knight belonging to a chess set they used while ruling Narnia. They explore the ruin, and discover the treasure vault where Peter's sword and shield, Susan’s bow and arrows and Lucy’s bottle of magical cordial and dagger are stored. The horn that can call Aslan is not there, however, for Susan left it in the woods the day they returned to England after their first visit to Narnia. Although only a year has passed in their world, 1300 years have passed in Narnia. Edmund figures out the time problem, suggesting that Narnian time operates differently from earth time and that hundreds of years of Narnian could well have passed since the one year of England time had elapsed.

That night, a boat rowed by two soldiers and carrying a squirming wrapped dwarf comes to the river mouth by Cair Paravel. Susan drives the soldiers off with an arrow, and Peter and Susan plunge into the water to rescue the boat and its bundle. It is a Dwarf called Trumpkin. Trumpkin tells the legend of ghosts in the ruins of Cair Paravel, to explain why the soldiers fled, and gives the children a brief history of Narnia and current events: During the Pevensies' absence, a race of men called Telmarines have invaded Narnia, driving the Talking Beasts into the wilderness and pushing even their memory underground. Narnia now is ruled by the despotic usurper, King Miraz and his wife Queen Prunaprismia, and Trumpkin is working for the rightful ruler, a child named Caspian.