"The result was the next morning they decided that they really would go and tell the whole thing to the Professor. 'He'll write to Father if he thinks there is really something wrong with Lu,' said Peter; 'it's getting beyond us.' So they went and knocked at the study door, and the Professor said 'Come in,' and got up and found chairs for them and said he was quite at their disposal. Then he sat listening to them with the tips of his fingers pressed together and never interrupting, till they had finished the whole story. After that he said nothing for quite a long time. Then he cleared his throat and said the last thing either of them expected:
"'How do you know,' he asked, 'that your sister's story is not true?'
"'Oh, but--' began Susan, and then stopped. Anyone could see from the old man's face that he was perfectly serious. Then Susan pulled herself together and said, 'But Edmund said they had only been pretending.'
"'That is a point,' said the Professor, 'which certainly deserves consideration; very careful consideration. For instance--if you will excuse me for asking the question--does your experience lead you to regard your brother or your sister as the more reliable? I mean, which is the most truthful?'
"'That's just the funny thing about it, sir,' said Peter. "Up till now, I'd have said Lucy every time.'
"'And what do you think, my dear?' said the Professor, turning to Susan.
"'Well,' said Susan, 'in general, I'd say the same as Peter, but this couldn't be true--all this about the wood and the Faun.'
"'That is more than I know,' said the Professor, 'and a charge of lying against someone whom you have always found truthful is a very serious thing; a very serious thing indeed.'
"'We were afraid it mightn't even by lying,' said Susan; 'we thought there might be something wrong with Lucy.'
"'Madness, you mean?' said the Professor quite coolly. 'Oh, you can make your minds easy about that. One has only to look at her and talk to her to see that she is not mad.'
"'But then,' said Susan, and stopped. She had never dreamed that a grown-up would talk like the Professor and didn't know what to think.
"'Logic! said the Professor half to himself. 'Why don't they teach logic at these schools? There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth. You know she doesn't tell lies and it is obvious that she is not mad. For the moment then and unless any further evidence turns up, we must assume that she is telling the truth.'"
C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Harper Trophy Paperback, pages 50-52
Dallan here:
This passage came into my mind this morning, and I felt strongly that I must post it. I began to search for it in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but quickly became discouraged, thinking it could be in one of the other books of the Chronicles of Narnia series, and that I might have very much trouble finding it. I said a prayer for help, and immediately opened The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to the very page on which the passage begins.
10 years ago
