Lucy first meets Mr. Tumnus after entering Narnia in C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He is a faun who lives near the lamppost in the snowy forest.
Mr. Tumnus initially approaches Lucy while carrying an umbrella and parcels. He invites her to tea in his cave, where he admits that he was supposed to report humans to the White Witch. His conscience changes, and he helps Lucy return safely to the lamppost.
The character is important because he gives Lucy her first personal connection with Narnia. His decision to resist the Witch also establishes one of the book’s recurring themes: courage can begin with an apparently small act of kindness. Tumnus later suffers punishment for helping Lucy, but Aslan’s forces rescue him.
Readers sometimes answer Aslan because Aslan is the central good figure in the series, or Mr. Beaver because the Beavers guide the children later. Chronologically, however, Mr. Tumnus is Lucy’s first Narnian acquaintance.