The Horse and His Boy: Chapter 4: Shasta Falls In With the Narnians

Chapter Summary:

This chapter begins with Shasta, Bree, Aravis, and Hwin heading into Tashbaan in their disguises. The city gates open, and they enter the city without too much fanfare (though Shasta is chided for taking a saddle horse to do a pack horse's job--indicating that Bree's disguise is fooling no one).

They travel through the crowded and filthy streets undetected--the only interruptions are when important individuals are passing through the streets (all those who are less important must move out of the way for them to pass). During one such occasion, a crier says to make way for the Narnian lords.

As the Narnian lords pass, they grab Shasta and begin to ask where he has been. They have mistaken Shasta for a Prince of Archenland, named Corin. King Edmund continually asks Shasta questions as they proceed down the street, but Shasta does not know how to answer. They eventually end up in a beautiful room with other Narnians, including Queen Susan and Mr. Tumnus (Shasta has never seen a Faun, and is rather surprised). 

Suspecting that Shasta is simply exhausted to the point of muteness, he is well-attended and is allowed to rest. Meanwhile, Edmund and Susan have a conversation about Susan's decision to decline marriage to Prince Rabadash. Edmund believes that Susan has made a wise decision. Edmund then says that he has something to tell Susan, and asked that the doors to the room be sealed.

Reflection:

Today's reflection is going to be on the idea of being a fish out of water. Shasta in Tashbaan is much like a fish out of water. He has lived in the countryside his entire life, in a small agricultural community. The big city--with all of the sights and smells and sensory overloads--is entirely new to him. And that would be enough for Shasta to feel like a fish out of water. But the story takes Shasta well beyond that. A peasant boy in his Calormene community, Shasta is mistaken for a prince in this chapter--and immediately he is treated as such. When he is chided for running away, he is scolded, but in the way that someone would scold their employer's child. He is then returned to his former location--with no real punishment--and provided with sherbet, a comfortable couch, and rest. In fact, here's the short passage:

"Then ... everyone stopped scolding Shasta and asking him questions and he was made much of and laid on a sofa and cushions were put under his head and he was given iced sherbet in a golden cup to drink, and told to keep very quiet.

Nothing like this had ever happened to Shasta in his life before. He had never even imagined lying on anything so comfortable as that sofa or drinking anything so delicious as that sherbet" (p. 159).

As you can see, this is all completely new territory for Shasta. The reason he is rendered speechless--aside from his fear of giving himself away--is that all of this is so entirely new and foreign to him.

Not many people get to have this 'fish out of water' feeling all that often. If you do, you are one of the lucky ones. It is a condition that is inevitably character-building, with an open mind. Just a few weeks away from having incoming college students begin their college careers all over the country, and here at Baylor University, I think of all of the students that will soon have this 'fish out of water' experience. Every single college student who is leaving home for the first time (all 3,700 incoming Baylor freshmen) will be having an experience--during just the first few days of college--unlike anything they have ever experienced before (even if they spent their summers going to summer camps away from home, or taking summer classes in high school). 

And, as those of us who work with college students know, this is an incredibly meaningful and transformational for them--to be away from their parents and (most) authority figures, and to be given the choice of what exactly to do with their time and energy. Unfortunately, upward of 40% of college students from around the country will eventually leave college without obtaining a degree, because for many of them, things get in the way of that goal. But nevertheless, these first moments for them are not much different than Shasta's visit to Tashbaan--they are fish (literally, freshmen) out of water, trying to figure out how to live, eat, and study on their own. And for those of us who work on a college campus, it sure is neat to watch.