She would have screamed, Lucy thinks, were it not for his jolly red scarf and jaunty little hat, so fearsome is Mr Tumnus’s appearance otherwise, with his massive stature, the green skin of his bare chest and arms, and gleaming fangs - but the hat helps, as does his apparent fear of her, starting and dropping all his carefully wrapped parcels in the snow (she wants to help gather them, truly, but as they are orc-sized and she is just a little girl, even the smallest is quite beyond her).

Later, in his homey cave over tea (well, tea for her, a lovely blended honey mead for him), he tell her about Narnia, and about the horrible Witch who rules the land, saying, “All the orcs are against her, of course, and most of the trolls and gnomes as well, but the fae folk are all with her - those tribes she didn’t push near into extinction, at least.”

In her seat, Lucy shivers despite the fire, watching its light shine off his sharp fangs, wondering at the horrible power of a Witch who could cause even creatures such as he to live in fear.