Tammy’s Reviews > The Horse and His Boy > Status Update

The influence of Mercury is strong! Shasta leaves because the men are going to haggle the price for the rest of the night. They will go back and forth (LOL) between 15 crescents and 70, He goes to the barn to ponder the meaning of it all. He’s relieved because he tried to love his father, but could not. Then he wonders who is really is. Can you say identity quest? He realizes he is a slave. The lord might be better.

On the night the Tisroc ascended to his throne--a full moon prevented him from sleeping. He heard some oars and went to see the source. He found a boat with a baby and a newly expired man. He plays up his role as a tender-hearted man and the lord checks him and points out he has extracted 10 times more out of the boy through free labor than he put in. He cuts to the chase and asks for the price of the boy.

I wonder why the Tarkaan dyed his beard crimson. Even his father obeys the law of hospitality and gave the great tarkaan lord his best. Shasta is turned out with a hunk of bread so he drops some eaves (like Samwise). The lord asks to buy Shasta but the fisherman quotes a proverb saying that parental affection is stronger than soup (which is not strong) and offspring is more precious than carbuncles.

Arsheesh didn’t know and didn’t care while Shasta didn’t know but he cared. CM vibes. LOL One day a great lord rode from the South and the helmet with the spike, scimitar, silken turban, and gold band on his arm make the Middle East vibe clear. This story is about Calormen, a land in the South. People in this land have dark skin because of its climate. He rides a dappled warhorse and carries a shield and lance.

The father has a mercantile outlook. When Shasta asked about North (a complete mystery to both father and the boy), his father would either box his ears (Mercury) or quote poets who lack a poetic outlook on life. He’s actually quoting a practical proverb about applying oneself to business (the root of prosperity) rather than asking ridiculous questions. He shuts down wonder about the mysterious North.

Ch. 1 Our high school Narnia book! This round is to focus on the medieval romance. This is the Golden Age of Narnia when the Pevensies ruled. A poor fisherman named Arsheesh raises a boy named Shasta who works very hard at home for their seems to be no mother. How the boy was treated depends on how the fishing went. The men wore turban and had long beards so there is a Mddle Eastern feeling.

Ch. 12-15 Amazing! My musing might be true because the very first paragraph of Ch. 12 talks about taking one’s breath away. Corin’s feistiness seemed odd until I looked up Gemini (a Mercury thing) and Pollux was a boxer (ahem, Corin Thunderfist) while Castor (Shasta/Cor) was a horsebreaker. PERFECT! I even think my Pyramus/Thisbe musing might be on point -- Rabadash is temporarily turned into a donkey!

I just looked up a handy guide I downloaded from Kelly Cumbee’s class on The Discarded Image. Mercury goes with the lungs, which allows us to breathe AND is part of the reSPIRation system. As a singer, I have perceived for a long time the relationship between breathing and the Holy Spirit.

Hmmmmmm.......

Ch. 8-11 I’ve been wondering in which book Aslan would be cast as Holy Spirit and I think this is it. The first book was clearly the Son (Jupiter) and Dawn Treader was the Father (Sol). Ch. 11 makes me wonder if this is Holy Spirit for Shasta feared it was a ghost. He was caught up in a mist and had what seems like a mystical experience with Aslan.