Squirrel

The Squirrel appears in a single, vivid scene that crystallizes the White Witch's tyranny and the irreversible change sweeping Narnia. As the Witch's sledge races through the melting snow, Edmund spots a merry party at the foot of a tree: a squirrel and his wife with their children, two satyrs, a dwarf, and an old dog-fox, all seated on stools around a table decorated with holly. The Squirrel and his family are enjoying what appears to be a celebratory meal, with the father squirrel pausing mid-bite, his fork halfway to his mouth, when the sledge stops. The baby squirrels squeal with terror at the sight of the Witch. When the Fox explains that Father Christmas gave them the food, the Witch's rage erupts. One of the young squirrels, losing its head completely, squeaks, "He has—he has—he has!" beating its little spoon on the table. In an instant, the Witch waves her wand, and the entire party—the Squirrel, his wife, their children, and all the others—are turned to stone, frozen forever with a stone fork fixed halfway to a stone mouth around a stone table bearing a stone plum pudding. This petrification is the Witch's final, desperate act before the thaw defeats her sledge, and it marks the moment Edmund, for the first time in the story, feels pity for someone besides himself, thinking of the little stone figures sitting silent through all the days and nights until moss grows on them and their faces crumble away. The Squirrel's brief appearance thus serves as a poignant emblem of innocent joy crushed by evil, and of the cost of the Witch's reign even as it crumbles.