The Horse and His Boy turned out to be my favorite of the Chronicles this time around. One of the two most memorable lines in my reading of all the stories is when Shasta, feeling terribly sorry for himself, and walking in the dark, suddenly feels the presence of an "invisible companion" who breathes "on a very large scale." Shasta describes his sorrows to the Voice, including his encounters with what he thought were several lions. The Voice responds: "I was the lion." And as 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 then 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."(p. 175)
I was reading The Horse and His Boy toward the end of my seminary class, which was on Calvin's Institutes. The following dialogue between Aravis and the Hermit tied in very well with what I was learning in Calvin regarding the sovereignty and mystery of God, and God's revelation of Himself. I used it at the beginning of my reading journal for The Institutes. "I say!" said Aravis. "I have had luck." "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." (p. 158)
"Aslan," said Bree in a shaken voice, "I'm afraid I must be rather a fool." "Happy the Horse who knows that while he is still young. Or the Human either." (p. 215-216)
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