The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis

Is it okay for me to admit that I wasn’t exactly excited about reading  The Horse and His Boy aloud to my children?  (Yes, I know this is breaking one of the cardinal rules of reading aloud–that the reader must be excited about what he or she is sharing.  A-hem.)  I picked it up anyway for the Chronicles of Narnia Reading Challenge at Reading to Know, feeling positively compelled to pick back up with where we left off a couple of years ago since we didn’t read a single Narnian tale last year.   Part of my hesitance also had to do with the fact that I have a child who’s particularly sensitive to spiritual issues right now, and sometimes reading about false gods, even fantastical ones, can bother her.  I soldiered on, though, because I really want to make one pass through Narnia sooner rather than later and then start over again for my boys.  It turns out that the girl in question handled the situation well and even declared this Narnian tale her favorite, once again reminding me that I never really arrive as a parent.  😉

Despite all my angst over reading this book (and the fact that I didn’t recall it as a childhood favorite myself), we all enjoyed this story immensely.  My adult perception of this story is probably a bit keener than my girls’ perceptions–first in that I really, really get all the spiritual implications more now than I ever could’ve as a child, and second in that this story just seems so very short and limited in scope to me.  I remember The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as this great, sweeping adventure, and most of the other books have always seemed that way to me, too.   The Horse and His Boy, however, seemed almost short-storyish to me this time around.  This makes me wonder if I were to go back and start at the beginning yet again if I’d feel similarly about all the Narnian stories.  Hmmm.

My favorite thing about this story, which probably goes without saying, is Aslan’s appearance in it.  It really spoke to me this time around because we’ve had a pretty trying summer (because of things I’ve shared here on the blog and thing I haven’t shared).  It has been hard for me to rebuild any spiritual resilience or vitality.  To put it bluntly, I just feel defeated.  It was comforting to me to remember that Jesus is “between me and the edge all the time” whether I feel like it or not, and to realize that everything that looks like a detour in our lives can be used for His glory and our good.  (It also makes me thing I need to find a hermitage of my own to retire to gain strength for the journey ahead.  😉 )

My girls loved the adventure of the tale.  Louise said that Aravis reminds her a lot of Eilonwy of the Prydain Chronicles, which I thought was a pretty perceptive observation.  She even said she pictures Aravis with red hair like Eilonwy.  🙂  They were absolutely captivated by the resolution of Shasta’s story, and I must confess, so was I.  (Forgetting how stories end, and indeed forgetting most of the details, is perhaps the only advantage of having a poor memory.)

Here are a few excerpts that I particularly love:

King Lune’s description of what makes a king:

“For this is what it means to be a king:  to be first in every desperate attack and last in every desperate retreat, and when there’s hunger in the land (as must be now and then in bad years) to wear finer clothes and laugh louder over a scantier meal than any man in your land.”

The Hermit’s admonition to Aravis:

“Daughter,” said the Hermit, “I have now lived a hundred and nine winters in this world and have never yet met any such thing as Luck.  There is something about all this that I do not understand:  but if ever we need to know it, you may be sure that we shall.”

The effect of being with Aslan:

There was a short silence and then they all stirred and looked at one another as if they were waking from sleep.  Aslan was gone.  But there was a brightness in the air and on the grass, and a joy in their hearts, which assured them that he had been no dream. . . “

Aslan, on only being concerned with what falls within our area of responsibility:

“Child,” said the Lion, “I am telling you your story, not hers.  No-one is told any story but their own.”

What a great reminder in this day of social media through which we have more knowledge of others’ stories (or certain perspectives on their stories) than ever before.  I’m working to keep my eyes on my own work.

Now we’re two books away from reading all the Chronicles of Narnia together as read-alouds.  I like taking our slow way through them, so I think I’ll wait until next summer to move on.  Here are my previous Chronicles of Narnia Reading Challenge posts:

• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (read aloud–one of my favorites ever)
• Prince Caspian (read aloud)
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (read aloud)
• The Silver Chair (read aloud)
• The Magician’s Nephew (read alone)
• The Narnian by Alan Jacobs (excellent biography of Lewis read alone)
• Roar! by Heather Kopp and David Kopp (supplemental book read alone)