The Voyage of the Dawn Treader | Chapter 10: The Magician's Book

Chapter Summary:

The invisible voices provide the Narnians with a feast. The next morning, Lucy wakes up, eats breakfast, and then goes upstairs inside the magician's house (leaving the invisible voices and the Narnians downstairs). At the top of the stairs, she sees that there is a long hallway in front of her. She walks down the long, spooky hallway until she reaches the last door on the left.

She enters the room (the door will not close) and immediately sees the book she is looking for. She opens it, and starts reading spell after spell. Lucy comes across a spell to make a person very beautiful, and the pictures in the book show Lucy transformed into a sensationally beautiful version of herself. Just as she is preparing to read the spell, the image of Aslan appears in the middle of the page and prevents her from doing so.

Lucy reads on, and comes across a spell that lets you hear what your friends think of you. Lucy reads the spell, and sees a moving picture (like a movie) appear on the page of the book, showing a conversation in which her friend Marjorie speaks cruelly of Lucy. 

Lucy then sees a spell that refreshes a person's spirit. She reads the spell, which is a short story. Afterward, she cannot remember it at all. Finally, she comes across the spell to make invisible things visible. She reads the spell, and immediately hears footsteps from the hallway. Lucy turns around and sees Aslan, who tells Lucy that he has just been made visible by the spell. Lucy asks about the story from the magical book that she can't remember and wants to hear it from Aslan--and Aslan tells her that she will hear it again, and that he will tell it to her for many years. Aslan then says that it's time to meet the master of the house.

Reflection:

This is another fairly insightful chapter, particularly into the character of Lucy. In this short chapter, Lucy comes across several spells in the magician's spell book, and what follows is a brief but substantial lesson in temptation and ethical decision making. There are four spells in particular that Lucy really takes a detailed look at:

The first of the four spells is a spell that will make the reader of the spell an incredibly beautiful person. Accompanying the spell--obviously as a form of enchantment--are pictures that lure the reader by demonstrating what some of the results of the spell could be. In particular, we see that Lucy is especially swayed by seeing a version of herself that is more beautiful than her sister, Susan--a girl who is already considered beautiful. Lucy is only able to resist the spell when Aslan's face appears in the middle of the page.

The second of the four spells is one that allows Lucy to hear what her friends think of her. This is the first spell that Lucy actually performs. After doing so, she hears a conversation between her friend Marjorie and a classmate named Anne, in which Marjorie tells Anne that she had not really enjoyed all of the time that she had spent with Lucy the previous year. Lucy is obviously distraught, but when Aslan appears later, here's the conversation that occurs about this:

"'Child,' he said, 'I think you have been eavesdropping.'

'Eavesdropping?'

'You listened to what your two schoolfellows were saying about you.'

'Oh that? I never thought that was eavesdropped, Aslan. Wasn't it magic?'

'Spying on people by magic is the same as spying on them in any other way. And you have misjudged your friend. She is weak, but she loves you. She was afraid of the older girl and said what she does not mean.'

'I don't think I'd ever be able to forget what I heard her say.'

'No, you won't'" (p. 342).

The conversation carries on from here, but the point has been made: Lucy's punishment for her decision to eavesdrop on her friend is that she will never forget the cruel thing that her friend said about her, even though her friend did not really mean it.

The third spell that Lucy reads about is one that refreshes her spirit. Strangely, she cannot remember it afterward. But she brings it up to Aslan, and here is their brief exchange:

"'Shall I ever be able to read that story again; the one I couldn't remember? Will you tell it to me, Aslan? Oh do, do, do.'

'Indeed, yes, I will tell it to you for years and years. But now, come. We must meet the master of this house'" (p. 342). 

What that refreshing story is we can only guess, but I suppose we can make a good guess that it has something to do with the conclusion of The Last Battle, which we will come to sooner rather than later.

The fourth and final spell, of course, is a spell that makes invisible things visible. After reading the spell, Lucy becomes momentarily a bit concerned, realizing that there are probably more invisible things in the world than just the voices on this island. Indeed, she is immediately proved correct when Aslan arrives and tells Lucy that she, in fact, had made him appear as well. What else Lucy made appear, we do not know.

Throughout reading the spell book, Lucy undergoes a rather impactful challenge--one that requires her to overcome vanity and curiosity. She does not pass every test, but the important part is that Aslan was always with her through the entire battle, and that is the most important lesson of all from the chapter.