The Magician’s Nephew

by

C. S. Lewis

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Magician’s Nephew makes teaching easy.

The Cabby / King Frank Character Analysis

With his horse, Strawberry, the Cabby drives a hansom cab in London, which Queen Jadis commandeers when she is on the loose in the city. The Cabby is kind, brave, and down-to-earth, calmly confronting Jadis when she tries to steal Strawberry. When he’s accidentally transported to Narnia along with Strawberry, Jadis, and the children, the Cabby immediately responds joyfully to the beauty of Aslan’s song. Having grown up in the country, he expresses a desire to stay in Narnia forever, at which point Aslan summons the Cabby’s wife, Helen, to Narnia and crowns the two of them as Narnia’s first King and Queen. He rules Narnia as a just and wise King for many years.

The Cabby / King Frank Quotes in The Magician’s Nephew

The The Magician’s Nephew quotes below are all either spoken by The Cabby / King Frank or refer to The Cabby / King Frank. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Creative Magic vs. Destructive Magic Theme Icon
).
Chapter 7 Quotes

“Now, Missie, let me get at ’is ’ead, and just you get off. You’re a Lidy, and you don’t want all these roughs going for you, do you? You want to go ’ome and ’ave a nice cup of tea and a lay down quiet like; then you’ll feel ever so much better.” At the same time he stretched out his hand toward the horse’s head with the words, “Steady, Strawberry, old boy. Steady now.”

Then for the first time the Witch spoke.

“Dog!” came her cold, clear voice, ringing loud above all the other noises. “Dog, unhand our royal charger. We are the Empress Jadis.”

Related Characters: Queen Jadis / The Witch (speaker), The Cabby / King Frank (speaker), Strawberry / Fledge
Page Number: 99
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

We must now go back a bit and explain what the whole scene had looked like from Uncle Andrew’s point of view. It had not made at all the same impression on him as on the Cabby and the children. For what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing: it also depends on what sort of person you are. […] When the great moment came and the Beasts spoke, he missed the whole point; for a rather interesting reason. […] [The Lion’s song] made him think and feel things he did not want to think and feel. […] And the longer and more beautiful the Lion sang, the harder Uncle Andrew tried to make himself believe that he could hear nothing but roaring. Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed. Uncle Andrew did. He soon did hear nothing but roaring in Aslan’s song.

Related Characters: Digory Kirke, Polly Plummer, Uncle Andrew Ketterley, The Lion / Aslan, The Cabby / King Frank
Page Number: 137
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

Aslan threw up his shaggy head, opened his mouth, and uttered a long, single note; not very loud, but full of power. Polly’s heart jumped in her body when she heard it. She felt sure that it was a call, and that anyone who heard that call would want to obey it and (what’s more) would be able to obey it, however many worlds and ages lay between. And so, though she was filled with wonder, she was not really astonished or shocked when all of a sudden a young woman, with a kind, honest face stepped out of nowhere and stood beside her. Polly knew at once that it was the Cabby’s wife, fetched out of our world not by any tiresome magic rings, but quickly, simply and sweetly as a bird flies to its nest.

Related Characters: Polly Plummer, The Lion / Aslan, The Cabby / King Frank, The Cabby’s Wife / Queen Helen
Page Number: 149
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Magician’s Nephew LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Magician’s Nephew PDF

The Cabby / King Frank Quotes in The Magician’s Nephew

The The Magician’s Nephew quotes below are all either spoken by The Cabby / King Frank or refer to The Cabby / King Frank. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Creative Magic vs. Destructive Magic Theme Icon
).
Chapter 7 Quotes

“Now, Missie, let me get at ’is ’ead, and just you get off. You’re a Lidy, and you don’t want all these roughs going for you, do you? You want to go ’ome and ’ave a nice cup of tea and a lay down quiet like; then you’ll feel ever so much better.” At the same time he stretched out his hand toward the horse’s head with the words, “Steady, Strawberry, old boy. Steady now.”

Then for the first time the Witch spoke.

“Dog!” came her cold, clear voice, ringing loud above all the other noises. “Dog, unhand our royal charger. We are the Empress Jadis.”

Related Characters: Queen Jadis / The Witch (speaker), The Cabby / King Frank (speaker), Strawberry / Fledge
Page Number: 99
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

We must now go back a bit and explain what the whole scene had looked like from Uncle Andrew’s point of view. It had not made at all the same impression on him as on the Cabby and the children. For what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing: it also depends on what sort of person you are. […] When the great moment came and the Beasts spoke, he missed the whole point; for a rather interesting reason. […] [The Lion’s song] made him think and feel things he did not want to think and feel. […] And the longer and more beautiful the Lion sang, the harder Uncle Andrew tried to make himself believe that he could hear nothing but roaring. Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed. Uncle Andrew did. He soon did hear nothing but roaring in Aslan’s song.

Related Characters: Digory Kirke, Polly Plummer, Uncle Andrew Ketterley, The Lion / Aslan, The Cabby / King Frank
Page Number: 137
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

Aslan threw up his shaggy head, opened his mouth, and uttered a long, single note; not very loud, but full of power. Polly’s heart jumped in her body when she heard it. She felt sure that it was a call, and that anyone who heard that call would want to obey it and (what’s more) would be able to obey it, however many worlds and ages lay between. And so, though she was filled with wonder, she was not really astonished or shocked when all of a sudden a young woman, with a kind, honest face stepped out of nowhere and stood beside her. Polly knew at once that it was the Cabby’s wife, fetched out of our world not by any tiresome magic rings, but quickly, simply and sweetly as a bird flies to its nest.

Related Characters: Polly Plummer, The Lion / Aslan, The Cabby / King Frank, The Cabby’s Wife / Queen Helen
Page Number: 149
Explanation and Analysis: