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

Red stage. New clothes, name, and identity. Air is the element. The trumpet sounds. Aravis gasps when she recognizes Shasta who blushes. He wears a red tunic beneath the white one. She asks about his wound. His old identity is burned to ash. They talk about Aravis’ wounds. His father is a brick (red). Not only does he know who he is, he knows his backstory. Shasta is in his Edenic state (before his fall in status).

I think the white stage happens off stage. We have an ascent from Shasta to Cor, from Calormen to Archenlander, from fisherman’s son to prince and eventually king. The white begins when he meets King Lune. He is still the barefoot boy who hasn’t washed in ages who has just come through the muck of battle. In the next scene, he is all cleaned up and groomed. Clearly he sat in a bath full of suds and hot water. BOOM!

Shasta has to be educated in reading, writing, heraldry, dancing, hisotry, and music. Poor Bree worries that he will never be able to roll in the grass one he gets to Narnia.

By saving Archenland, Shasta fulfilled the prophecy. Cor shares that King Lune has invited Aravis to live in Archenland and act as the lady presiding over court. Nobody has done that since his mother died. I think this book could be called the education of Shasta. They visit the horses and say good-bye to the hermit. They all walk to Narnia because Narnian horses are not ridden upon except in time of war.

It was a blessing and it became a prophecy. The Lord Chancellor has been fired for embezzling but he was allowed to stay in Archenland. He was in collusion with the Tisroc kidnapped Cor and sailed down the Winding Arrow River. His father followed in a warship and on the seventh day they battled. The lord was killed and the ship taken. Cor was not there because he had been sent off with a knight in a ship’s boat.

Shasta blushes (red stage). They also both realize they had an encounter with the Lion. She asked about the batgtle and his wound. He said, “A mere scratch” in a lordly tone and they laughed! She is impressed even though he calls himself a clumsy fool. He calls his father a brick (red). He says how, when they were a week old, his parents brought the twins to a centaur who made a prophecy that Cor would save the land.

Two soldiers with halberds (ceremonial weapons) walk into the hut, followed by a herald and trumpeter (MERCURY). In walks the prince and the attendants leave. He gives a clumsy bow and Aravis curtseys very gracefully in Calormene fashion.

He tells her he was the only lion and the scratches match the scratches on the servant girls back. Aravis asks if anymore harm came to the girl and he says that’s not for her to know. He cheers them up with the promise of another visitor and leaves. They each go somewhere different to think and pace to and fro. Ninety minutes later a trumpet announces the arrival of Prince Cor. Avaris opens the door (to her future).

Hwin submits first, telling him that she’d rather be eaten by him than be fed by anyone else. He licks her nose and says that joy will come to her. There is no rebuking. He treats Bree like Thomas with a gentle rebuke: here are my paws, tail, and whiskers. Bree admits to being a fool and Aslan reassures him. She shows Aravis his velveted paws and she responds with respect, calling him sir.

Because his eyes are shut (blindness) and he was speaking in a superior manner (pride), he doesn’t see why the other two have dropped their jaws. An enormous, bright yellow lion has jumped down from the green wall (mastery over nature). They are frozen (dead in their tracks). Bree freaks out when he suddenly feels a whisker touch him. He runs to a wall and turns to look. The other two back up.