He Is That Lion

I know I talk a lot about C.S. Lewis.  His writings have had a profound impact on the way I look at my Christian walk and the Bible.  While I don't agree with all of his theology, I definitely appreciate much of the contributions he made in the area of Christian publishing.

Some of my favorite books of Lewis's are The Chronicles of Narnia.  And my favorite of those is The Horse and His Boy.  I was just listening to it on my trip home from California and was stuck again by the most beautiful and moving scenes in the entire series.  I'm going to just reproduce it here, hoping I'm not breaking and copyright laws or anything (if I am, and you realize it, just let me know and I'll fix it.  Thanks!)

For those of you not familiar with the story, it's about a young boy named Shasta who allows a talking Narnian horse, Bree, to talk him into escaping from the country of Calormen, far to the south of Narnia.  They escape and are joined along the way by a young girl, Aravis, and her talking horse, Hwin.  After several misadventures, they escape through the desert in time to warn the unsuspecting country of Archenland that Prince Rabadash of Calormen is on his way to conquer their country.  As they reach Archenland, the group is attacked by a lion and Shasta must go on alone to warn King Lune of Archenland of the imminent danger.  He finds the king, but is left behind in the confusion as the king and his men return to the castle.  Shasta finds himself alone and lost in the mountain fog.  To his surprise, he suddenly realizes that there is Something in the fog, walking along with him.

"Who are you?" he said, scarcely above a whisper.

"One who has waited long for you to speak," said the Thing.  Its voice was not loud, but very large and deep.

"Are you--are you a giant..."

"You might call me a giant...but I am not like the creatures you call giants."

"I can't see you at all...You're not--not something dead, are you?  Oh please--do go away.  What harm have I ever done you?  Oh, I am the unluckiest person in the whole world!"

Once more he felt the warm breath of the Thing on his hand and face.  "There," it said, "that is not the breath of a ghost.  Tell me your sorrows."

Shasta was a little reassured by the breath: so he told how he had never known his real father or mother and had been brought up sternly by the fisherman.  And then he told the story of his escape and how they were chased by lions and forced to swim for their lives; and of all their dangers in Tashbaan and about his night in the tombs and how the beasts howled at him out of the desert.  And he told of the heat and thirst of their desert journey and how they were almost at their goal when another lion chased them and wounded Aravis.  And also, how very long it was since he had had anything to eat.

"I do not call you unfortunate," said the Large Voice.

"You don't think it was bad luck to meet so many lions..."

"There was only one lion..."

"What on earth do you mean? I have just told you there were at least two the first night, and--"

"There was only one: but he was swift of foot."

"How do you know?"

"I was that lion... I was the lion that forced you to join with Aravis.  I was the cat that comforted you among the houses of the dead.  I was who drove the jackals from you while you slept.  I was the lion who gave the Horses that new strength of fear for the last mile so that you would reach King Lune in time.  And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it would come to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you..."

"Who are you?" asked Shasta.

"Myself."

(quoted from The Horse and His Boy, C.S. Lewis, copyright 1954, published by Harper-Collins, pp. 174-176)