The Horse and His Boy

The Horse and His Boy is a novel by C. S. Lewis. It was published in 1954, making it the fifth of seven books published in Lewis' series The Chronicles of Narnia. The books in this series are sometimes ordered chronologically in relation to the events in the books as opposed to the dates of their original publication. In this alternative ordering, The Horse and His Boy is the third book, taking place during the events of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Although it was published after The Silver Chair (due to Lewis not wanting to break up the Caspian triad), it was written before it, so in written order it is fourth. The story is also referred to as a story-within-a-story in the fourth published book, The Silver Chair. The Horse and His Boy is the only Narnia book which does not feature children from our world as the story's main characters, although the adult Queen Lucy, Queen Susan, and King Edmund (all of whom first appear in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) do appear in the book, and the dynamics of the story develop from Susan's interactions. Peter, the High King, appears in the book unrecognized by Cor but is also mentioned frequently by the Narnians.

Plot summary

A boy by the name of Shasta is found as a baby and raised by Arsheesh, a Calormene fisherman. As the story begins, Shasta overhears Arsheesh agreeing to sell him to a powerful Calormene feudal nobleman. Shasta is relieved to discover that he is not really Arsheesh's son, since there was little love between them. While Shasta awaits his new master in the stable, Bree, the nobleman's stallion, astounds Shasta by speaking to him. The horse suggests that they escape a life of servitude by riding north together to Narnia. They meet another pair of escaping travellers, Aravis, a young Calormene aristocrat, and her talking horse, Hwin. Aravis is fleeing to avoid a forced marriage with the Tisroc's grand vizier.

The four must travel through Tashbaan, the bustling capital of Calormen. There they encounter a procession of visiting Narnian royalty, who mistake Shasta for Corin, a prince of Archenland, who was separated from their group earlier that day. Unsure what to do, Shasta goes with the Narnians and overhears their plans to escape from Calormen to prevent a forced marriage of Queen Susan with the Tisroc's son, Rabadash. Shasta escapes when the real Prince Corin returns.

Meanwhile, Aravis has been spotted by her friend Lasaraleen. She asks Lasaraleen not to betray her, and to help her escape from Tashbaan. Lasaraleen cannot understand why Aravis would want to abandon the life of a Calormene princess, but she helps Aravis escape through the palace. On the way, they hide when the Tisroc, Rabadash and the Grand Vizier approach. Unfortunately, they've hidden in the very room where the men are about to meet. Aravis overhears the Tisroc and Rabadash as they discuss the Narnians' escape. The Tisroc gives Rabadash permission to invade Archenland and Narnia while High King Peter is preoccupied battling giants to the north.

Outside Tashbaan, Aravis rejoins Shasta and the horses. The four set out across the desert, and a lion (later revealed to be Aslan) frightens the travellers into fleeing swiftly enough to outrun Rabadash's army. Shasta arrives in Archenland in time to warn King Lune of the approaching Calormenes, and the army of Archenland prepares to defend their kingdom. When Rabadash and his army arrive at King Lune's castle, they are disappointed to find their prey on guard and waiting for them. A battle ensues, with no clear outcome until an army from Narnia, led by Edmund and Lucy, reinforces the defenders. The Northern alliance of Archenland and Narnia wins a complete victory over the Calormenes, and Rabadash is captured.

Rabadash rebuffs King Lune's merciful offer of conditional release. Aslan appears and warns Rabadash to accept King Lune's mercy before his doom strikes. Rabadash rebuffs Aslan as well, so his doom strikes: he is turned into a donkey. His true form will be restored if he stands before the altar of Tash at the Autumn Feast. However, he will become a donkey again if he strays more than ten miles from the Temple of Tash, and there will be no return. For this reason Rabadash pursues peaceful policies when he becomes Tisroc as he dare not risk the ten mile limit by going to war. People call him "Rabadash the Peacemaker" but in reality they consider him "Rabadash the Ridiculous" as they never forget his donkey transformation. His name becomes a synonym for a stupid person over future generations in Calormen.

The victorious King Lune recognizes Shasta as Cor, the long-lost identical twin of Prince Corin and, as barely the elder of the two, the heir to the throne. Aravis and Cor live in Archenland thereafter and eventually marry years later, and their son becomes the most famous king of Archenland.

List of chapters

1. How Shasta Set Out on His Travels

2. A Wayside Adventure

3. At the Gates of Tashbaan

4. Shasta Falls in with the Narnians

5. Prince Corin

6. Shasta Among the Tombs

7. Aravis in Tashbaan

8. In the House of the Tisroc

9. Across the Desert

10. The Hermit of the Southern March

11. The Unwelcome Fellow Traveler

12. Shasta in Narnia

13. The Fight at Anvard

14. How Bree Became a Wiser Horse

15. Rabadash the Ridiculous

Series continuity

The adventures are mentioned twice in The Silver Chair. Corin, Cor (or Shasta), Aravis, Bree and Hwin all appear in the great reunion in The Last Battle. Lucy and Edmund still retain their memories of their time on Earth, as evidenced by Lucy's retelling of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Themes and motifs

"Narnia and the North!"

Bree and Shasta use the phrase "Narnia and the North" as their "rallying cry" as they make their escape from their life in Calormen. They are both motivated by a deep longing to find their way to the place that is ultimately their true homeland. In the setting of The Horse and His Boy, the reader finds a departure from the landscapes, culture, and people of the Narnian realms which have become familiar in the other books. The placement of the action in the more alien realm of Calormen helps to convey a sense of "unbelonging" on the part of the characters and the reader, which reinforces the motif of longing for a true home. (Gresham 2000)

In other works, Lewis uses the German word Sehnsucht to encapsulate the idea of an "inconsolable longing" in the human heart for "we know not what." C. S. Lewis identifies the objects of Sehnsucht-longing as God and Heaven. (Bruner 2005, pp. 135–140)

Character transformation

Aravis

Through a series of "lessons" and encounters, Aravis's character is transformed. Always a strong character, confident and brave, her arrogance and self-centeredness are revealed to her, and she acquires humility and empathy.

Bree

Living as the only talking beast among "dumb and witless" horses, Bree has come to be both proud and vain. His belief in his own superiority leads him to speak as an authority regarding subjects of which he knows little. Until Bree meets Aslan, he believes that Aslan cannot possibly have a physical body and that the representation of him as a lion must be an abstraction or poetic symbolism, and no more. His experience of the physical reality of Aslan as an actual lion with real paws, tail, and whiskers, convinces Bree that he has been foolish. (Rogers 2005, pp. xiv-xv) When Bree learns to face up to, and surrender, his pride and vanity, he can truly enter into a free life in Narnia.

Hwin

Hwin is the horse who speaks to Aravis as she is about to commit suicide and persuades her to escape to Narnia. She is a dignified and mild mannered horse. She has not become quite so spoiled and pompous as Bree during her time in captivity. She is therefore the most constant and stoical character, with no real personal epiphanies.

Cor/Shasta

Shasta is an uneducated young boy, adopted and raised by a Calormene fisherman. He is described not as having bad manners, but as never having learned any good manners. When his adoptive father decides to sell him into slavery, he decides to run away. His escape with Bree is a fresh start for him and during his journey he is gradually revealed as a brave and enduring character. He has the hardest part in the mission to warn Archenland of the attack, it being his sole responsibility to run on foot from the Archenland border to find King Lune. This occurs immediately after he has thrown himself off the back of a large horse and faced a lion. Once there, King Lune recognises him as his son and the rightful heir. He is then told of his true name, Cor. His fortitude throughout the story makes him a believable future king.

Rabadash

Prince Rabadash is the first son of the ruler of Calorman, the Tisroc. His passion for Queen Susan makes him desperate to possess her, to the point of wishing to enslave her if she will not marry him willingly. He is an arrogant and aggressive young man and after learning of the Narnians escape from Calormen, hatches a plan to almost singlehandedly take down two countries using only the element of surprise. His father is quite happy to send him off to probable death, having reasoned that this worst case scenario will keep Rabadash from usurping his own throne. In the end, Prince Rabadash receives a humiliating punishment from Aslan which forces him to change his impetuous and cruel behaviour.

Divine providence revealed

After meeting up with King Lune of Archenland and his hunting party, and warning them of the impending Calormene invasion, Shasta becomes lost in the fog and separated from the King's procession. After continuing blindly for some way, he senses that he has been joined in the darkness by a mysterious presence. Engaging in conversation with the unknown being, Shasta confides what he sees as his many misfortunes, including being chased by lions on two separate occasions, and concluding with "If nothing else, it was bad luck to meet so many lions." His companion then proclaims himself as the single lion that Shasta has encountered in his travels:

"I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the tombs. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at night, to receive you."

Thus it is revealed to Shasta, that, in the incidents which he perceived as misfortunes, Aslan, in his Divine Providence, has been orchestrating events for his greater purposes. (Bruner 2005, pp. 141–146) (Rogers 2005, p. 122)

Created proverbs

In two conversations, both between adults and not involving children, Lewis has speakers use a number of proverbs that he created, one way to convey the flavor of Calormene culture (Unseth 2011). The proverbs are found at the very beginning (as Shasta's father and a Calormene nobleman haggle on a price for Shasta) and later in a scene where the Tisroc, the Vizier, and Prince Rabadash have a secret counsel. Proverbs in Calormene culture (as in so many real cultures) are the domain of adults, especially older, wiser adults. As a result, Prince Rabadash is the recipient of many proverbs, but is only able to use one, the only proverb in this exchange which is originally drawn from English, "Women are as changeable as weathercocks."

The Vizier delights in the use of proverbs, boasting that Calormene culture is "full of choice apophthegms and useful maxims." Rabadash, on the other hand, has no such appreciation and complains, "I have had maxims and verses flung at me all day." When the Vizier begins yet another proverb, "Gifted was the poet who said...", Rabadash stifles him with a threatened kick.

Lewis also uses the proverbs to subtly make fun of the Calormenes. For example, the fisherman cites a proverb, "Natural affection is stronger than soup and offspring more precious than carbuncles" (p. 4). Myers wryly notes “Soup, of course, varies greatly in its strength; 'carbuncle' means 'a red jewel' in medieval romances, but its modern meaning is 'a red sore'” (1998:162). Later, as the Vizier addresses the Tisroc, he refers to part of the same proverb, saying “sons are in the eyes of their fathers more precious than carbuncles” (p. 112), (but he rephrases it into a longer, wordier form -- being verbose being one of the hallmarks of Calormene speech (Myers 1998:162)). The relationship between the Tisroc and Prince Rabadash is nicely paralleled by the "red sore" meaning of "carbuncle".

Future adaptations

Walden Media, having already made movie adaptions of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, also retains the option to make The Chronicles of Narnia: The Horse and His Boy in the future.^[1]

Allusions and references

The association of Cor with horses, and his twin brother Corin with boxing, recalls the traditional associations of the Spartan twins Castor and Pollux of Greek mythology.(Ward 2008, pp. 153–154)

References

External links

• The Horse and His Boy publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database