“Son of Adam,” said Aslan, “you have sown well.
And you, Narnians, let it be your first care /to guard this Tree, for it is your Shield.
[The Witch of whom I told you] has fled /far away into the North of the world;
she will live on /there, growing stronger in dark Magic.
But while that tree flourishes she will never come down into Narnia.
She dare not come /within a hundred miles of the Tree,
for [its smell], which is joy and life and health to you, is death and horror and despair to her.”
. . . Aslan suddenly swung round his head . . . and fixed his large eyes /on the children.
“What is it, children?” he said, for he caught them /in the very act of whispering and nudging one another.
“Oh—Aslan, sir,” said Digory, turning red, “I forgot [to tell you].
The Witch has already eaten [one of those apples], one of the same kind that Tree grew from.”
He hadn’t really said [all () he was thinking], but Polly at once said () it for him.
(Digory was always much more afraid /than she of looking a fool.)
* she (was afraid of) of looking a fool.
“So we thought, Aslan,” she said, “that there must be some mistake,
and she can’t really mind [the smell of those apples].”
“Why do you think that, Daughter of Eve?” asked the Lion.
“Well, she ate one.”
“Child,” he replied, “that is why all the rest are now a horror to her.
That is what happens /to those //who pluck and eat fruits /at the wrong time and in the wrong way.
The fruit is good, but they loathe it /ever after.”
“Oh, I see,” said Polly.
“And I suppose because she took it in the wrong way it won’t work for her.
I mean () it won’t make [her] [always young and all that]?”
“Alas,” said Aslan, shaking his head. “It will.
Things always work according to their nature.
She has won her heart’s desire;
she has [unwearying strength and endless days like a goddess].
But [length of days with an evil heart] is only length of misery
and already she begins to know it.
All get [what they want]; they do not always like it.”
From The Magician's Nephew
Compiled in A Year with Aslan