The Horse and His Boy

The Horse and His Boy

Cover of first edition (hardcover)
Author	C.S. Lewis
Illustrator	Pauline Baynes
Country	England
Language	English
Series	The Chronicles of Narnia
Genre(s)	Fantasy
Publisher	Geoffrey Bles
Publication date	1954
Media type	Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages	199 pp
ISBN	0-06-023488-1
Preceded by	The Silver Chair
Followed by	The Magician's Nephew

Cover of a recent edition of 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 alternate ordering, The Horse and His Boy is the third book, being a midquel of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Although it was published after The Silver Chair, 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, does not appear in the book but is mentioned.

Plot summary

A young boy called Shasta is found as a baby and raised by Arsheesh, a Calormene fisherman. Some years later, he overhears Arsheesh agreeing to sell him to a powerful Calormene feudal noble. Shasta, who has never really loved the fisherman, is relieved to discover that he is not really his son, and awaits his new master in the donkey stable outside the fisherman's house. As he muses aloud, the noble's stallion, Bree, begins to talk to Shasta, who is astounded. Together the pair decide to escape a life of servitude in Calormen by riding north for Narnia. They meet another pair of escaping travellers, Aravis, a young Calormene aristocrat, and her talking horse, Hwin. Aravis is fleeing a forced marriage to the Tisroc's grand vizier, a hunchbacked and grovelling old man. The four must travel through Tashbaan, the bustling capital city of Calormen. There they encounter a procession of visiting Narnian royalty, who see Shasta and mistake him for Corin, a prince of Archenland, who was travelling with the Narnians but has disappeared. Shasta is too scared to protest, and goes with the Narnians. He discovers that they are planning to escape from Calormen for fear of being kept prisoner if Queen Susan refuses to marry the Calormene prince, Rabadash. When Shasta is alone, the real Prince Corin reappears; he takes his rightful place and Shasta escapes. Meanwhile, Aravis has been spotted by her noblewoman friend Lasaraleen, but warns the girl to tell no one, and asks her help in escaping this forced marriage. Lasaraleen agrees, although she cannot understand why Aravis would want to leave the life of a Calormene princess. She helps Aravis to escape through the palace, although en route the two narrowly avoid running into the Tisroc and take refuge in one of his private rooms. They briefly hide behind a sofa, and overhear the Tisroc speaking with Prince Rabadash, who is furious because Queen Susan and the Narnians have escaped. The Tisroc gives his son permission to attack Archenland in preparation for a future assault on Narnia. Outside the city, Aravis rejoins Shasta and the Horses. The four of them make an unpleasant journey across the desert to warn the people of Archenland that the Calormenes are coming. A pursuing lion (later revealed to be Aslan) forces the travellers into moving at great speed. Aravis is injured by the lion (in punishment for her mistreatment of her former servant) and the horses become exhausted. These three rest with an old hermit while Shasta continues alone. He meets and warns the Archenland army, who are able to hold off the Calormenes until a second army from Narnia can arrive. King Lune of Archenland sees that Shasta is really Cor, the long lost elder twin of Prince Corin and heir to the throne. Aravis and Cor live in Archenland thereafter and eventually marry years later. It is stated in tongue-in-cheek manner that the marriage enables them to argue more efficiently.

Commentary

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Shasta's journey across the desert (and into other wilderness areas) may be intended to be reminiscent of the Israelites' Exodus from Egypt. For example, at one point in the mountains Aslan produces water from his footprint in the turf, similar to Moses drawing water from the rock. 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. The relationship between Aravis and Lasaraleen is similar to the dynamic between the sisters Antigone and Ismene in Greek tragedy. Until Bree meets Aslan, he is a liberal theologian who believes that Aslan cannot possibly have a physical body and that the representation of him as a lion must be poetic symbolism and no more. Needless to say, by the end of the book he knows better. When the horses and Aravis prepare to leave the Hermit's house and resume their journey to Narnia, Hwin reminds them they need to say goodbye to Shasta. This represents a slight error in the logic of the book, since they do not know at this point Shasta's true identity and that he would be staying in Archenland. They assume that he must be in Anvard, but before they can leave to see him, their plan is interrupted by a 'visitor' none other than Aslan himself. Later, they are visited again, this time by Shasta, who to their amazement is actually Cor, the crown prince of Archenland. The effect of the two visits leaves each of them a better horse, or person, as the case may be. Michael Ward, in his book 'Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis', argues that Lewis constructed the story out of the imagery associated with Mercury, as it was understood within pre-Copernican cosmological thought.

Notes

Corin, Cor (or Shasta) and Aravis all appear in the great reunion in The Last Battle.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media currently retain the option to make The Chronicles of Narnia: The Horse and His Boy in the future.

External links

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

See also

Narnia Portal