terb’s world: my thoughts on NARNIA

In The Last Battle, there is an important scene in Chapter 3 where the animals were gathered at the stable. They have just heard the frightening news from Shift (the Ape) who told them that “Aslan” had sold all the Talking Beasts of Narnia to slavery. Of course, if you know the entire story, the pretend “Aslan” was actually a stupid donkey named Puzzle dressed up in lion’s skin, but it was effective in cowing the animals to obedience.

“And now here’s another thing,” the Ape went on, fitting a fresh nut into its cheek, “I hear some of the horses are saying, Let’s hurry up and get this job of carting timber over as quickly as we can, and then we’ll be free again. Well, you can get that idea out of your heads at once. And not only the Horses either. Everybody who can work is going to be made to work in future. Aslan has it all settled with the King of Calormen – The Tisroc, as our dark faced friends the Calormenes call him. All you Horses and Bulls and Donkeys are to be sent down into Calormen to work for your living – pulling and carrying the way horses and such-like do in other countries. And all you digging animals like Moles and Rabbits and Dwarfs are going down to work in The Tisroc’s mines. And -”

“No, no, no,” howled the Beasts. “It can’t be true. Aslan would never sell us into slavery to the King of Calormen.”

“None of that! Hold your noise!” said the Ape with a snarl. “Who said anything about slavery? You won’t be slaves. You’ll be paid – very good wages too. That is to say, your pay will be paid into Aslan’s treasury and he will use it all for everybody’s good.” Then he glanced, and almost winked, at the chief Calormene. The Calormene bowed and replied, in the pompous Calormene way:

“Most sapient Mouthpiece of Aslan, The Tisroc (may he-live-forever) is wholly of one mind with your lordship in this judicious plan.”

“There! You see!” said the Ape. “It’s all arranged. And all for your own good. We’ll be able, with the money you earn, to make Narnia a country worth living in. There’ll be oranges and bananas pouring in – and roads and big cities and schools and offices and whips and muzzles and saddles and cages and kennels and prisons – Oh, everything.”

“But we don’t want all those things,” said an old Bear. “We want to be free. And we want to hear Aslan speak himself.”

“Now don’t you start arguing,” said the Ape, “for it’s a thing I won’t stand. I’m a Man: you’re only a fat, stupid old Bear. What do you know about freedom? You think freedom means doing what you like. Well, you’re wrong. That isn’t true freedom. True freedom means doing what I tell you.”

“H-n-n-h,” grunted the Bear and scratched its head; it found this sort of thing hard to understand.

“Please, please,” said the high voice of a woolly lamb, who was so young that everyone was surprised he dared to speak at all.

“What is it now?” said the Ape. “Be quick.”

“Please,” said the Lamb, “I can’t understand. What have we to do with the Calormenes? We belong to Aslan. They belong to Tash. They have a god called Tash. They say he has four arms and the head of a vulture. They kill Men on his altar. I don’t believe there’s any such person as Tash. But if there was, how could Aslan be friends with him?”

All the animals cocked their heads sideways and all their bright eyes flashed towards the Ape. They knew it was the best question anyone had asked yet. 

The Ape jumped up and spat at the Lamb.

Knowing that Aslan had appeared once before in The Chronicles of Narnia as a lamb (towards the end of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader), it is quite possible that this Lamb was also Aslan in another form. Siberian Christmas, a friend I met from The Lion’s Call forum, wrote a very beautiful poem about the Lamb which I’m posting here with her permission:

The Lamb Who Spoke the Truth
by Siberian Christmas

Where did you go, you precious?
What happened to you?
Did they hurt you?
When you spoke, oh! I felt your words touch us!

I lie here, dreaming in my bed
Of your innocence,
Of your courage,
And the truth that with valiant words you said.

Where did you come from, darling?
Did Aslan send you here?
Did he whisper his words to you?
Maybe I’ll know in the morning…

Lamb, little Lamb, I know now.
I dreamt of you.
I saw you.
You were laid out as a Lion on Aslan’s How.