the chronicles of narnia - Where did Mr Tumnus get the packages from?

When Lucy first meets Mr Tumnus he is carrying shopping packages. I don't recall any mention of Narnian cities near the Lamp-post though so where has he got the packages from?

Answer

1) The White Witch only had control of Narnia, not Archenland or Calormen. Goods may have been imported/smuggled in from those countries. These probably are also the Narnians' main food suppliers since the Witch's magical winter is limited to the Narnian borders.

2) In Prince Caspian, we're told that the Dwarves had a much easier time under the Witch's rule than most of the beasts. Dwarves are master crasftsmen, so they could be supplying goods to the Narnian economy.

3) Narnia doesn't seem to have any major towns outside the castles until the founding of Beruna during the Telmarines' time. And we know there aren't any humans in Narnia. But in the Silver Chair, we learn that Marshwiggles live in a village; to me, this suggests there might be villages with other creatures, or possibly regular open-air markets.

4) We can probably rule out any trade with the various islands. Hags, ogres, wolves, and the like just don't strike me as sea-farers.

Really, though, it's never actually addressed.

Comments

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