Aslan charges Jill and Eustace with finding Prince Rilian

Aslan charges Jill and Eustace with finding the lost Prince Rilian and gives Jill four signs to guide the search. The commission turns a missing heir into a defined quest: its success depends not only on reaching the prince, but on remembering Aslan’s instructions when events in Narnia make them difficult to recognize.

The Missing Heir and the Quest

Aslan explains that an aged king in Narnia is grieving because he has no prince of his blood to succeed him. His only son was stolen many years earlier; no one knows where the prince went or whether he is alive. Aslan reveals that the prince is alive and commands Jill to seek him, with the goal of finding him and bringing him to his father’s house. The task ends only if Jill succeeds, dies in the attempt, or returns to her own world.

The order gives the search clear stakes and a limited set of possible outcomes. It is at once a rescue mission and a response to a succession crisis: the prince’s return would restore the king’s lost son to him and provide an heir. Aslan addresses the command to Jill, while the first sign makes Eustace’s participation essential from the moment he reaches Narnia.

The Four Signs

The signs lay out a sequence of instructions. First, when Eustace sets foot in Narnia, he will meet an old and dear friend; he must greet that friend immediately, so that both children receive good help. Second, Jill and Eustace must travel north out of Narnia to the ruined city of the ancient giants. Third, they must find an inscription on a stone there and do what it says. Fourth, the lost prince will be the first person they meet on their travels who asks them to do something in Aslan’s name.

These directions combine recognizable stages of a journey with a test of discernment. The first three signs guide the children by a meeting, a destination, and a written instruction; the fourth identifies the prince through what he asks of them. The signs are therefore not merely a route. They are also a way to recognize the person whom the quest seeks.

Memorization and Warning

When Jill responds as though she understands, Aslan gently warns that she may not see as clearly as she thinks. He asks her to repeat the signs in order. Jill gets them wrong at first, so he corrects her and has her repeat them until she can recite them perfectly. His patience makes the lesson practical: receiving the instructions is not enough; she must retain their sequence.

Before sending Jill on, Aslan tells her to rehearse the signs on waking, at bedtime, and even in the middle of the night. He warns that strange events must not turn her mind away from them. Although he has spoken clearly on the mountain, he says he will not often speak so plainly in Narnia. The air and Jill’s mind will grow less clear as she descends, and the signs will not look as she expects when she encounters them. She must therefore trust what she has learned rather than judge by appearances.

Sending Jill to Narnia

Aslan says there is no time to spare and directs Jill to walk ahead of him toward the cliff. Jill recalls that the delay is her own fault: if she had not made a mistake, she and Eustace would have been travelling together, and he would have heard the instructions too. Aslan stops her before she reaches the edge, repeats the need to remember the signs, and bids her farewell.

Jill then discovers that the cliff is already more than a hundred yards behind her and sees Aslan as a small golden figure at its edge. His breath has sent her away so gently that she has not noticed the moment she left the ground. The scene closes the instruction with an immediate transition into the journey: Jill must carry the signs with her, while Eustace will encounter the first of them on entering Narnia.