<P> The dwarves and giants are found in Norse mythology; fauns, centaurs, minotaurs and dryads derive from Greek mythology . Father Christmas, of course, was part of popular English folklore . </P> <P> There are several parallels between the White Witch and the immortal white queen, Ayesha, of H. Rider Haggard's She, a novel greatly admired by C.S. Lewis . </P> <P> The Story of the Amulet written by Edith Nesbit also contains scenes that can be considered precursors to sequences presenting Jadis, particularly in The Magician's Nephew . Nesbit's short story The Aunt and Amabel includes the motif of a girl entering a wardrobe to gain access to a magical place . </P> <P> The freeing of Aslan's body from the stone table by field mice is reminiscent of Aesop's fable of "The Lion and the Mouse ." In the fable, a lion catches a mouse, but the mouse persuades the lion to release him, promising that the favor would be rewarded . Later in the story, he gnaws through the lion's bonds after he has been captured by hunters . It is also reminiscent of a scene from Edgar Allan Poe's story "The Pit and the Pendulum," in which a prisoner is freed when rats gnaw through his bonds . In a later book, "Prince Caspian," we learn that as reward for their actions, mice gained the same intelligence and speech as other Narnian animals . </P>

The lion the witch and the wardrobe by c s lewis book