The Horse and His Boy | Chapter 2: A Wayside Adventure

Chapter Summary:

The chapter begins at Noon the day after Bree and Shasta's escape. They awaken for the day (Shasta is sore from riding) and Shasta eats breakfast from the food stored in Bree's saddle. Money is found there also. Bree rolls on the grass and then worries that this might be a behavior that Narnian horses don't do--perhaps a habit he picked up from the non-talking horses of Calormen.

Bree says that their journey will take them first through Tashbaan--a city in the northern part of Calormen--and then through a desert. For the next few weeks, they travel discreetly. Shasta buys food for himself in villages along the way.

One night on their journey toward Tashbaan, Bree suddenly stops short. Another horse can be heard nearby. Bree stands very still, and then slowly goes in the direction of the ocean to try to lose the other horse/rider. From the direction of the sea comes the sound of a lion's roar, so Bree and Shasta turn around and run the other direction. The roar of the lion (or lions) follows them, and eventually brings the two horses and riders right next to each other.

After crossing a river, Bree overhears the other horse talk. We learn that the other horse is named Hwin, and the rider is a girl named Aravis. Hwin is also a Talking Horse from Narnia, and is escaping enslavement in Calormen. Aravis is a Taarkan (Tarkheena). They are also headed north toward Narnia. Bree suggests that they all travel together. At the end of the chapter, Aravis begins to tell her story.

Reflection:

I am going to go out on a huge limb here (not really) and venture a guess that Bree/Shasta and Hwin/Aravis were not brought together by a merely coincidental lion attack. Frankly, I think it's rather likely that this is Aslan's doing. This is one of those situations that appears to be chance, but is likely much more than that.

This chapter brings me back to The Magician's Nephew when Aslan created the Talking Beasts. He clearly created them to be of a superior race, and indeed this is not lost on them. Take a look at these two quotations from this chapter:

"'Here's not a thief, little Tarkheena,' said Bree. 'At least, if there's been any stealing, you might just as well say I stole him" (p. 149).

And then, later, Aravis is addressing Bree:

"'Why do you keep talking to my horse instead of to me?' said the girl. 

'Excuse me, Tarkheena,' said Bree (with just the slightest backward tilt of his ears), 'but that's Calormene talk. We're free Narnians, Hwin and I, and I suppose, if you're running away to Narnia, you want to be one too. In that case Hwin isn't your horse any longer. One might just as well say you're her human.' 

The girl opened her mouth to speak and then stopped. Obviously she had not quite seen it in that light before" (p. 149).

Indeed, the Narnian Talking Beasts know their place in the world, even when they are not in Narnia. These quotations should certainly bring pause to anyone who has ever owned a pet. It is an interesting and captivating role reversal, which provides insight into how it must feel to be viewed as the secondary or lesser species. This, of course, demonstrates why it is so important to treat our animals well and to provide for all of their needs. Ironically, this is what Bree does for Shasta, by ensuring that he has food, knows how to ride, has money for the journey, etc. 

But this parallel goes beyond the relationship between humans and animals, and brings us to a point of talking about privilege. In a way, Bree and Hwin are the privileged party here. Their food (grass) is available at all times; they are in change, and their humans know it. (Or at least, Aravis is in the process of learning.) But Shasta and Aravis are not treated as lesser by the horses despite not being in a privileged position. Thus, we as readers should remember this lesson. Just because we are viewed by society as the ideal/norm--white, skinny, male, Christian, hetero, etc... Doesn't mean that we treat those who are viewed as "lower" than us with any less dignity or respect.

This is reading into the relationship between the horses and their riders rather a great deal, but there is certainly a privilege hierarchy emerging in this novel that was not often present in the other Narnian tales (aside from, perhaps, the difference between the Talking and non-talking Beasts). As we explore the worlds of Calormen, Archenland, and Narnia, it will be ever more apparent, I think, that there are caste systems in place. Part of the journey will be taking a look at those hierarchies and seeing what messages C.S. Lewis is sending about them along the way.