the horse and his boy

tim and i recently finished the horse and his boy by C.S. Lewis in our reading of the Narnia books together. often we read before bed and often i fall asleep within a few minutes. so it has taken us a while to get to this point. i wanted to share a bit of it with you.

"Who are you?" he said, scarcely above a whisper.

"One who has wanted long for you to speak," said the Thing. Its voice was not loud, but very large and deep.

"Are you - are you a giant?" asked Shasta.

"You might call me a giant," said the Large Voice. "But I am not like the creatures you call giants."

"I can't see you at all," said Shasta, after staring very hard. Then (for an even more terrible idea had come into his head) he said, almost in a scream, "You're not - not something dead, are you? Oh please - please go away. What harm have I ever done you? Oh, I am the unluckiest person in the whole world."

Once more he felt the warm breath of the Thing on his hand and face. "There," it said, "that is not the breath of a ghost. Tell me your sorrows."

Shasta was a little reassured by the breath: so he told how he had never known his real father or mother and had been brought up sternly by a fisherman. And then he told the story of his escape and how they were chased by lions and forced to swim for their lives; and of all their dangers in Tashbaan and about his night among the Tombs and how the beasts howled at him out of the desert. And he told about the heat and thirst of their desert journey and how they were almost at their goal when another lion chased them and wounded Aravis. And also, how very long it was since he had had anything to eat.

"I do not call you unfortunate," said the Large Voice.

"Don't you think it was bad luck to meet so many lions?" said Shasta.

"There was only one lion," said the Voice.

"What on earth do you mean? I've just told you there were at least two the first night and -"

"There was only one: but he was swift of foot."

"How do you know?"

"I was the lion." And Shasta gaped with open mouth and said nothing, the Voice continued. "I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the Horses 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 midnight, to receive you."

"Who are you?" asked Shasta.

"Myself," said the Voice, very deep and low so that the earth shook: and again "Myself," loud and clear and gay: and then the third time "Myself," whispered so softly you could hardly hear it, and yet it seemed to come from all round you as if the leaves rustled with it.

Shasta was no longer afraid... but a new and different sort of trembling came over him. Yet he felt glad too... while he had been talking to the Thing he had not been noticing anything else... he knew the night was over at last.

... he turned and saw, pacing beside him, taller than the horse, a Lion... it was from the lion that the light came. No-one ever saw anything more terrible or beautiful... he couldn't say anything but then he didn't want to say anything, and he knew he needn't say anything.

The High King above all kings stooped towards him. Its mane, and some strange and solemn perfume that hung about the mane, was all round him. It touched his forehead with its tongue. He lifted his face and their eyes met. Then instantly the pale brightness of the Lion rolled themselves together into a swirling glory and gathered themselves up and disappeared. He was alone with the horse on a grassy hillside under a blue sky. And there were birds singing.

May the One who is with us, even when we don't know it or feel it or even realize, reveal His nearness to us today. May we respond to His calling - May we tell Him our story, even though He already knows and was there. May we stop to listen to His voice, for He desires to speak to us. and May we know in a more intimate way who He is and the love He speaks over us.