The Fight At The Lamp-post
Frank's last fare almost proved the end of his life, for it was none other than Jadis, Empress of Charn, accompanied by her bumbling squire, Andrew Ketterley. Jadis seems to have "hired" his cab after robbing a jewellery store. Exactly what transpired in the cab is unclear, but Jadis hijacked the cab and drove the horse so hard that the cab was utterly destroyed. When Frank finally caught up with the cab, it was a total shambles, and Jadis was astride the horse and was whipping the horse into a dangerous frenzy. Frank prevailed upon the police constables at the scene to allow him to try to calm the horse, but Jadis demanded that he keep his hands off her "royal charger." Frank apparently paid her little heed, even when she wrenched off a bar from a lamp-post and started to attack three constables with it. Frank's first and only concern was for his horse--and thus he still had contact with the horse when Digory Kirke grabbed hold of Jadis and then used his yellow ring to take Jadis to the Wood between the Worlds. In this way, Digory, Polly Plummer, Jadis, Uncle Andrew, the horse, and Frank himself came into that Wood.
They did not stay in the Wood long. Jadis, severely weakened by being in the Wood, could not direct the horse any longer. Strawberry is immediately calmed, and he goes into another pool to drink. The others follow and, with everyone in contact with one another, Digory used a green ring to bring them to the world that this pool represented--which was Narnia, but Narnia when it is formless and empty.
Helen heard a deep, pure note, which is described as being a call one hearing it would not only wish to obey, but would be able to obey instantly. In the next instant, she found herself standing in a calm, peaceful woodland, with her husband and two strange children (Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer) standing nearby, and a large Lion (Aslan) dominating the scene.
At first she believed that she was dreaming, but only for a moment. Then when she became fully aware of Aslan, she realized soon enough that this was not a Lion who would violently attack her, but one who was indeed a King, and she was in his dominion. She curtsied to him, perhaps as she would have curtsied to Queen Victoria back in England. Then she stood by her husband's side, understandably shy.
Read more about this topic: Frank And Helen
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“One who never turned his back but marched breast forward,
Never doubted clouds would break,
Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph.
Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better,
Sleep to wake.”
—Robert Browning (1812–1889)
“Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamp-post what it feels about dogs.”
—Christopher Hampton (b. 1946)