My First Love was a Fawn (Amy K. Nichols)

Lucy and Mr. Tumnus,
illustration by Pauline Baynes 

My first book love was a fawn.

Weird. I know. I feel a bit uncomfortable, slightly vulnerable, sharing this with you.

But the truth is, the first time I read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, Mr. Tumnus curled up and settled into the corner of my heart. I was so taken with the magic of stepping through the wardrobe to a world of winter, of finding a lamppost and meeting a creature from another world. I wanted to be Lucy. I wanted to drink tea by the fire and listen to Mr. Tumnus play his flute.

Okay, now I realize how creepy it is that he was actually going to kidnap Lucy and take her to the castle of the White Witch, but I knew deep down he was really a good fawn who wouldn’t harm a daughter of Eve. 

When he was turned to stone, I cried.

I recently took my family to see a stage production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. While I love all the characters in the book for various reasons and was interested to see how they’d be recreated for the stage, I was most curious about Mr. Tumnus. I mean, how do you make a living, breathing fawn from Narnia?

I wasn’t disappointed. His costume included strange shoes without heels, like you’d see Lady Gaga wear, which gave the actor fawn legs. Seriously. Fawn legs! He had little fawn horns and this Tumnus wore a very smart coat and long scarf. 

There he was. Mr. Tumnus. For real. He was the best part of the production, if you ask me. As I watched I was transported again to that mysterious land, and once again, I wanted to be Lucy, sitting by the fire, drinking tea.