Revisiting Narnia: The Horse and His Boy

 The Horse and His Boy is a unique entry in The Chronicles of Narnia, and every time I think of it or hear it mentioned I think of my mom sharing the story of one of her friends who - unknowingly and unfortunately - picked up this particular book first, and, having read and loved it, only then discovered that the characters who are at the foreground and center of this story are characters who scarcely make an appearance in the rest of the series. Edmund and Susan appear in crucial scenes in the middle, Edmund returns at the end, Lucy shows up and makes her presence felt at the end, and the High King Peter is only mentioned by name. The book instead focuses on Shasta, the Talking Horse Bree, the Tarkheena named Aravis, another Talking Horse Hwin, and the Southern Kingdoms of Archenland and Calormen and Tashbaan and their kings and princes.  So, my mom's friend became attached to all of these characters and then only then discovered that the rest of the Narnia series was quite different.

Still, I think that this entry in the series is justified, and I only partially agree with a coworker who said that this book does not fit and is altogether a different sort of book than the rest of the Narnia books. I think it is worth reading, and the presence of Aslan is felt just about as much as in any of the other books; but, it is true that this book is not necessarily essential reading for the series (for reasons I'll explain) even though it is a satisfying book. 

The story begins with our main character: a boy named Shasta who does not know who his parents are but is being raised by a cruel fisherman who beats and essentially treats him as a slave. 

Shasta escapes when he meets a Talking Horse named Bree, who is the one to suggest that they flee together, just as the fisherman is about to sell Shasta to Bree's cruel owner. Bree is the more knowledgeable and worldly wise of the two, and he teaches Shasta how to ride him without a saddle and leads the way "To Narnia and the North!"

Along the way, they encounter another escapee (Aravis) and her Talking Horse (Hwin) after a close encounter with a lion or two. The four join forces for their mutual journeys after hearing one another's stories. Shasta is thought of as being from a lower status than the rest, and he has a self-image that wavers being humility and low-self-esteem. Meanwhile, Hwin is simply a humble and respectful Talking Horse but one who who is not always listened to, and Bree and Aravis tend to be proud and prideful, and hold themselves in high esteem, but each also carry with that a dose of self-doubt due to their precarious positions within Calormen and Tashbaan.

In Tashbaan, Shasta and Aravis both fall in with unexpected parties which seemingly sidetrack their quests but in actuality are critical in the telling of this story. Both unintentionally eavesdrop on conversations that concern matters of high counsel and the two sides of a plot concerning the relationship between the Calomenes and the Narnians. Shasta overhear Edmund, Susan, Tumnus, and others discuss how to escape Rabadash's overbearing courtship of Susan, and then Aravis overhears the other side's plot to spring a surprise attack on Archenland as a tactic intended as a means of threatening the border of Narnia. In the course of these events, we find out about all of the characters involved and learn hints of Aravis's and Shasta's background and identity. Aravis found herself not content with the royal lifestyle as a Tarkheenan princess, and Shasta found that he very much resembles a prince named Corin. 

Both find a way to escape and meet at their rendezvous point out beyond the tombs, but not before Shasta spends a lonely night amongst the tombs with nary a companion except a lone cat. The companions then all make a Lawrence of Arabia type of race across the desert. 

That lone cat is eventually revealed to be Aslan, who shows himself to Shasta, and later to Aravis, Hwin, and Bree. It is Aslan's presence in the book that most helps it feel like a Narnia book. In fact, Aslan's paw print is felt all over this book, in retrospect, and the climax and denouement of  the book are quite touching in that Shasta's full story is both a tragedy and an amazing fulfillment of prophecy, providence, and heroic sacrifice, for it had been foretold that Shasta would save the kingdom of Archenland. In fact, his true name was not really Shasta but Cor. Personally, I like the name Shasta just fine because it reminds me of my favorite mountain, but I do appreciate the way his name indicates more of his personal background, and explains his relationship to to Corin, both as his twin and as his older brother. 

In the end, this story has the closest to a "And they all lived happily ever after..." conclusion of all the Narnia books thus far. I'm glad I didn't skip over it, and I'm glad I re-read it when I did. I very nearly put down The Silver Chair and picked this up when its story was directly referred to in the early chapters of The Silver Chair. But that book felt like a continuation of the characters of Eustace and Caspian. Also, I remembered that The Horse and His Boy does some important world-building that is somewhat critical to the reading of The Last Battle (but otherwise unrelated to much of the rest of the series). I think it generally makes sense to read this as six out of seven. The Silver Chair places it in its context and provides some impetus and inspiration for reading it. The Horse and His Boy recalls the time of Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, but their appearances are only minimally satisfying, and this book is not about them... What it is about is a good hero's tale.