As I continue in my Narnia series, I re-read The Horse and His Boy.  Chronologically, this is the 3rd installment in the Chronicles of Narnia and one I have come to love a great deal.  For the story alone is rich with excitement, battles, and emotion, but form a Christian perspective, it takes on another dimension.

At the start we are introduced to Shastsa, an orphan being raised by a fisherman on the coast of Calormen, a neighboring nation to Narnia.  Shasta’s life is hard and filled with work and very little else.  He joins up with Bree, a Narnian talking horse, who himself is making an escape to his home in Narnia and decides to take Shasta with him.  Along the way, they meet Hwin, another Narnian horse, and Aravis, a young Calormen princess, seek to escape being married to a man VERY late in years.

We get to share their adventures and watch as they all learn lessons about their lives and how their lives affect others.  But the reoccurring theme throughout the entire book, is lions.  On one leg of their journey they are chased by two lions, on another Shasta encounters a lion-like cat that protects him, and there is another lion attack that has very humbling results.  And of course, they meet Aslan, King of Kings and Son of the Most High King.  And this brings me to my favorite passage of the book, if not, the most overt Jesus allegory of Aslan himself. Continue reading →