shasta and i escaped from calormen today. “the horse and his boy” has always been one of my favorite of the chronicles (i admit my favorite is always the one i’m currently reading--or listening to in this case). every time i feast on these treasure-books i taste something fresh. you must know that between my reading and hearing of the books i’ve been thru them nearly 100 times. really, i’m not exaggerating--it may seem that way, but i started reading them when i was but six, have no tv (not for any noble reason except that i get no reception in the woods and have unusual purchasing priorities--i LOVE television--really, i’m not exaggerating), and consider these books a favorite snack. sometimes i’ll pick one up to start right in the middle--the finest way to read them. so trust me when i say i get it. this time though, i got something new: you know how shasta encounters the “accursed narnians” in tashbaan? how he is mistaken for prince corin? and how he never tells them of his quest before escaping? (stick with me here will you) why didn’t aslan send shasta and his traveling companions off with the narnians from tashbaan? why does he tease shasta with a taste of narnian-nectar before he lets him go? he whets his appetite for the reward, then forces him to endure the nite of terror amongst the tombs, the sole-burning sands of the desert, the frightful thirst, the (wink, wink) lion attack, and the “run, run, always run” of the arrival. as we walked with the witless horse over the mountain pass, shasta and i made the same complaint (yes, i chose shasta’s side this time): “i have been most unfortunate!” i’ve always loved aslan’s response here--i stop breathing. he doesn’t explain his work to shasta, he just says “i was the cat.” and when asked which cat: “myself.” then he’s gone. the point is not the shasta-story, but the aslan-story: how his swift of foot love touched each moment, how that love wrote the shasta-story, and how that story was meant only for him.
may he live forever.
4 comments:
When i reached the end of the "Last Battle" i was so upset the story was over (or had reached a new beginning, whatever).
Still trying to get to Narinia somehow. i thought about finding a Cairn and doing sunwise cricles at twilight.
Call it a lack-of-faith but i don't think it'd work.
I have been declared INFP. Crazy how close the results described me. Frightened I am. Abandon!
very much "till we have faces" ya think C.S. got his point across?
barba--glad to see you found our happy little clatch here....i'm glad you are an infp. welcome.
and blossermensch, you are marvelous! i hadn't remembered that line....right you are about wonderous love.
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