The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to the Stone Table, shadowed by Susan and Lucy. Aslan welcomes their company but warns them not to interfere with what is about to happen. He has traded his own life to the Witch for Edmund's, and the girls watch from the bushes as the Witch orders Aslan tied to the Stone Table, shaved, and muzzled. She administers the killing blow herself. Confident now of victory, the Witch leads her army away to battle. Susan and Lucy remain and keep vigil all night, weeping over Aslan's abandoned body. They un-muzzle him, and mice gnaw away his bonds. As the sun
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Witch and the Wardrobe" was complete by the end of March 1949. Lucy Barfield received it by the end of May. When on 16 October 1950 Geoffrey Bles in London published the first edition, three new "chronicles", "Prince Caspian", "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" and "The Horse and His Boy", had also been completed. Lewis's publisher, Geoffrey Bles, allowed him to choose the illustrator for the novel and the "Narnia" series. Lewis chose Pauline Baynes, possibly based on J. R. R. Tolkien's recommendation. Baynes had greatly impressed Tolkien with her illustrations for his "Farmer Giles of Ham" (1949). However,