The horse and his boy (by CS Lewis)

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I’m very glad I decided to re-read the Narnia series by CS Lewis. I loved them as a child, and I appreciate them more each time I read them. ‘The horse and his boy’ was probably my least favourite when I was younger; I’m not sure why. Perhaps because it didn’t have any scenes set in the ‘real’ world - or perhaps because it didn’t fit neatly into the chronology of the others. It’s set somewhere towards the end of ‘The lion, the witch and the wardrobe’, which I re-read last month. 

But last time I read ‘The horse and his boy’, I was surprised to find how much I liked it. I appreciated it even more on rereading in the last couple of days; so much so that I could barely put it down. And I knew the overall storyline so it wasn't as if there were any surprises.

The story starts in Calormen, in the south of the world where Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are reigning as kings and queens in Narnia. Shasta lives with a man he calls his father, and since he’s never known anything different, he’s not too unhappy. However he has to do a lot of chores. His father often becomes angry with him, and beats him, so Shasta has learned to keep out of the way, and not answer back. 

One day a wealthy man arrives, and offers to buy Shasta… and Shasta, to his astonishment, learns that the man’s horse is a talking horse from Narnia who was captured some years before. So the two decide to escape together. 

The bulk of the story covers their lengthy journey. At first they’re worried about being followed, but soon other problems occur: Shasta has never ridden a horse before, so he has to learn and becomes very sore. They have to find places to sleep, and things to eat when the supplies in the saddlebags have run out. They meet wild animals, and they keep away from other riders, until they’re unaccountably forced to join up with Aravis, a young and haughty girl around Shasta’s age, and her horse Hwin, who is also a talking Narnian horse. Aravis is escaping from an arranged marriage to someone she despises.

The story is an exciting one with a good pace; I could feel some of the excitement and also their anxieties, particularly as they approach the city of Tashbaan, and realise that they will have to go through it in order to continue their journey. They make some plans but inevitably things go wrong, and they are separated…

It’s a wonderful story, one that could stand alone as well as being read in chronological sequence (as I am trying to do). It looks at issues of slavery, of greed, of corruption, and so much more. It contrasts the freedom and friendship of the Narnians with the coercion and distrust of the rest of the world. There are also lessons to be learned by the main protagonists. Shasta has to become courageous and honest; Aravis has to learn not to be snooty and rude. Bree has to swallow his pride, and Hwin has to realise her value. 

There are, no doubt, negative racial stereotypes that might offend some. But this book was written in 1954 and the attitudes were probably typical of the era. And Lewis was far from racist: his books involve individuals from not just the human race: as well as the talking animals who are wise with strong personalities, there are fauns, centaurs, giants and others. The king of them all is Aslan the lion. 

These books can be enjoyed and appreciated at many different levels by people of all ages. They make great read-alouds to children of about seven or eight and upwards; fluent readers from around those ages can also like them. As a child I read them as exciting stories; as a teenager I became aware of the analogies and metaphors inherent in all Lewis’s fiction writing. As an adult, I see more in them each time. 

Definitely recommended. 

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