The Jackdaw who became Narnia's first joke
Narnia is only a few hours old when one over-eager bird sets off its very first fit of laughter.
In chapter 10 of The Magician's Nephew, the book Greta Gerwig is adapting for Netflix, the animals have just been given speech. Aslan solemnly hands them their land and warns them not to slip back into the ways of the dumb beasts. They all promise together. All except one perky Jackdaw, whose "No fear!" comes a beat too late and lands in total silence. Mortified, the bird tucks its head under its wing.
The animals snort and try to hold it in. Aslan tells them they need not: now that they can speak, they don't have to be solemn all the time, because jokes arrive with speech, just as justice does.
Cheered up, the Jackdaw perches between the cab-horse's ears and asks whether he has made the first joke. No, the Lion replies: he hasn't made it, he has been it. The laughter starts all over again, and the Jackdaw laughs along, until he topples off and remembers just in time that he has brand-new wings.
See also
Sources
- C. S. Lewis, The Magician's Nephew (1955), ch. 10 “The First Joke and Other Matters”.
- Further In — Chapter 10.