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The Horse and His Boy

The flight

Shasta sur Bree au clair de lune
La ville en terrasses sur son île
Tashbaan
Shasta seul parmi les tombeaux, veillé par un chat
The tombs
Shasta et la grande présence
In the fog

During the Golden Age, while the four Pevensies reign at Cair Paravel, a boy named Shasta grows up in the south, in Calormen, in the house of a fisherman who treats him as a servant. On the evening he learns that he is to be sold to a passing lord, he discovers that the lord's horse can talk. Bree, a Narnian horse captured as a foal, dreams of returning home. The two of them flee towards the North. On the way they meet Aravis, a young aristocrat fleeing a forced marriage, with her mare Hwin, who can speak as well. To reach Narnia they must cross Tashbaan, the teeming capital, and then the desert. And they will uncover a plot that threatens Archenland. It is the only novel lived entirely by characters of that world: a tale of travel and of identity, full of humour, in which one learns to cast off one's pride.

  • In the story — 3
  • Publication order — 5
  • Original title — The Horse and His Boy
  • First published — 6 September 1954
  • Published in the United States — 5 October 1954 (Macmillan, New York)
  • Dedication — To David and Douglas Gresham
  • Translation — Philippe Morgaut

Abandoned titles

  • Shasta and the North
  • Narnia and the North
  • The Desert Road to Narnia
  • Cor of Archenland
  • The Horse Stole the Boy
  • Over the Border
  • The Horse Bree
  • The Horse and the Boy

Quotation

  • Quotation — Narnia and the North!

Themes

  • identity and freedom
  • pride and humility (Bree, Aravis)
  • providence: “I am telling you only your own story”
  • the meeting of cultures
  • friendship between humans and horses

Did you know?

  • It is the only book whose action takes place entirely in the world of Narnia, with no journey from our world.
  • Lewis dedicated it to the two sons of Joy Davidman, David and Douglas Gresham. Douglas would later be a co-producer of the films.
  • It holds third place in chronological order, but it was published fifth.
  • The book is often criticised for its portrait of Calormen. Yet Lewis places Aravis and Emeth (in The Last Battle) among the noblest characters.

Adaptations

  • No adaptation for the cinema or for television to date.

Characters

Places

Objects

Peoples

The story in a few words (no spoilers)

During the Golden Age, while the four Pevensies reign at Cair Paravel, a boy named Shasta grows up in the south, in Calormen, in the house of a fisherman who treats him as a servant. On the evening he learns that he is to be sold to a passing lord, he discovers that the lord's horse can talk. Bree, a Narnian horse captured as a foal, dreams of returning home. The two of them flee towards the North. On the way they meet Aravis, a young aristocrat fleeing a forced marriage, with her mare Hwin, who can speak as well. To reach Narnia they must cross Tashbaan, the teeming capital, and then the desert. And they will uncover a plot that threatens Archenland. It is the only novel lived entirely by characters of that world: a tale of travel and of identity, full of humour, in which one learns to cast off one's pride.

The full story (beware, spoilers)

Shasta overhears Arsheesh, who took him in, bargaining him away to a Tarkaan. He learns that he is not his son. The Tarkaan's war-horse, Bree, reveals that he is a Talking Horse from Narnia, and they flee together. Lions drive them to take the road with Aravis and her mare Hwin, who are fleeing as well.

In Tashbaan, Shasta is taken for Prince Corin of Archenland by the Narnian delegation: Queen Susan and King Edmund have come to consider Prince Rabadash's proposal of marriage. Shasta hears their plan of escape, then meets the real Corin, who resembles him in every feature. Aravis, hidden with her friend Lasaraleen in the palace, overhears Rabadash winning the Tisroc's permission to attack Archenland by surprise.

The fugitives meet again at the Tombs of the Ancient Kings, where Shasta spends the night watched over by a mysterious cat, then they cross the desert in a forced march. Pursued by a lion, they reach the Hermitage of the Southern March. Aravis is clawed. Shasta, exhausted, runs to warn King Lune.

Lost in the fog, Shasta walks beside an immense presence. It is Aslan: he reveals that he was the lion who drove them on, the cat of the tombs, and the one who saved him as a baby. The Narnian army arrives, and Rabadash is defeated before Anvard.

Shasta is revealed to be Cor, Corin's twin, abducted at birth. Aslan turns Rabadash into a donkey: he will become a man again only in the temple of Tash, before all his people. Bree learns humility, Aravis is reconciled with Shasta, and in the end they marry. Their son will be Ram the Great.

The great themes

  • identity and freedom
  • pride and humility (Bree, Aravis)
  • providence: “I am telling you only your own story”
  • the meeting of cultures
  • friendship between humans and horses

Did you know?

  • It is the only book whose action takes place entirely in the world of Narnia, with no journey from our world.
  • Lewis dedicated it to the two sons of Joy Davidman, David and Douglas Gresham. Douglas would later be a co-producer of the films.
  • It holds third place in chronological order, but it was published fifth.
  • The book is often criticised for its portrait of Calormen. Yet Lewis places Aravis and Emeth (in The Last Battle) among the noblest characters.

On screen

  • No adaptation for the cinema or for television to date.

See also

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