The Silver Chair Chapter 1 Summary

Behind the Gym

  • We meet Jill Pole, a young girl at an odd school (called Experiment House) who is crying behind the school gym because she is being bullied by a group of her classmates.
  • Eustace Scrubb runs into her and tries to help her feel better. Fun fact: Eustace is not only her classmate, he's one of the heroes of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (the third book of The Chronicles of Narnia).
  • Jill feels irritated, but she talks to Scrubb (Eustace's last name) about how much he's changed from the previous school term; she asks him what's caused the change in his personality.
  • Scrubb decides that he can trust Jill, so he tells her about Narnia—sort of. They try to ask Aslan to return them to Narnia right then, to get away from school, but they are interrupted by the bullies calling out for Pole (that's Jill).
  • Scrubb and Jill decide they should get out of there stat, so they make a run for a door in the stonewall that surrounds the school.
  • The door is unlocked (phew) and when they open it, they can see into a whole new world. The children hesitate, but the voices of the bullies get nearer, so Scrubb takes Jill's hand and pulls her into "that other world."
  • They are now on a very high mountain with lots of birds and trees, and before long, Jill and Scrubb find themselves on the edge of a ridiculously high cliff.
  • Scrubb begs Jill to move off the edge (he doesn't like heights), but Jill gets stubborn and insists on doing as she pleases.
  • In his struggle to get Jill to move, Scrubb winds up going right over the edge. Eek.
  • At this moment, Jill notices a huge, bright animal step up to the edge of the cliff and begin blowing Scrubb across the ocean below them.
  • Jill turns to see that the animal is a gigantic Lion.