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The Horse and His Boy
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Read The Horse and His Boy
The Chronicles of Narnia: Book 3

The Horse and His Boy (1954) (edit title/settings)

by C. S. Lewis (Author), Pauline Baynes (Illustrator) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

It is enough of a surprise for Shasta to discover he isn't the son of Arsheesh the fisherman. But when Bree, the talking horse, whisks him away from the cruel land of Calormen in search of the safe and happy land of Narnia where High King Peter rules, Shasta finds himself up to his ears in... read more

Summary edit see section history

NARNIA . . . where horses talk and hermits like company, where evil men turn into donkeys, where boys go into battle . . . and where the adventure begins.
During the Golden Age of Narnia, when Peter is High King, a boy name Shasta discovers he is not the son of Arsheesh, the Calormene... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

NARNIA . . . where horses talk and hermits like company, where evil men turn into donkeys, where boys go into battle . . . and where the adventure begins.
During the Golden Age of Narnia, when Peter is High King, a boy name Shasta discovers he is not the son of Arsheesh, the Calormene fisherman, and decides to run far away to the North-to Narnia. When he is mistaken for another runaway, Shasta is led to discover who he really is and even finds his real father.
Enter this enchanted world countless times in The Chronicles of Narina. There are seven books in all.

Characters/People edit see section history

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Quotes edit see section history

  • “For in Calormen, story-telling (whether the stories are true or made up) is a thing you're taught, just as English boys and girls are taught essay-writing. The difference is that people want to hear the stories, whereas I never heard of anyone who wanted to read the essays.”
  • “Daughter, I have now lived a hundred and nine winters in this world and have never yet met any such thing as Luck. There is something about all this that I do not understand: but if ever we need to know it, you may be sure that we shall.”
    The Hermit of the Southern March
  • “My good horse, you've lost nothing but your self-conceit....If you are really so humbled as you sounded a minute ago, you must learn to listen to sense. You're not quite the great Horse you had come to think, from living among poor dumb horses. Of course you were braver and cleverer than them. You could hardly help being that. It doesn't follow that you'll be anyone very special in Narnia. But as long as you know you're nobody special, you'll be a very decent sort of Horse, on the whole, and taking one thing with another.”
    The Hermit of the Southern March
  • “I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the Horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should 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 came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you.”
    Aslan
  • “Child, I am telling you your story, not hers. I tell no one any story but his own.”
    Aslan
  • “"Who are you?" asked Shasta. "Myself," said the voice, very deep and low so that the earth shook: and again, "Myself," loud and clear and gay: and then the third time "Myself," whispeered so softly you could hardly hear it, and yet it seemed to come from all round you as if the leaves rustled with it.”
    Aslan
  • “The High King above all king stooped towards him. Its mane, and some strange and solemn perfume that hung about the mane, was all round him. It touched his forehead with its tongue. He lifted his face and their eyes met. Then instantly the pale brightness of the mist and the fiery brightness of the Lion rolled themselves together into a swirling glory and gathered themselves up and disappeared. He was alone with the horse on a grassy hillside under a blue sky. And there were birds singing.”
  • “For this is what it means to be a king: to be first in every desperate attack and last in every desperate retreat, and when there's hunger in the land (as must be now and then in bad years) to wear finer clothes and laugh louder over a scantier meal than any man in your land.”
    King Lune
  • “...years later, when they were grown up, they were so used to quarrelling and making it up again that they got married so as to go on doing it more conveniently.”
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • “I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the Horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should 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 came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you.”
    Highlighted by 76 Kindle customers
  • He had not yet learned that if you do one good deed your reward usually is to be set to do another and harder and better one.
    Highlighted by 73 Kindle customers
  • But as long as you know you’re nobody very special, you’ll be a very decent sort of Horse, on the whole, and taking one thing with another.
    Highlighted by 69 Kindle customers
  • one of the worst results of being a slave and being forced to do things is that when there is no one to force you any more you find you have almost lost the power of forcing yourself.
    Highlighted by 65 Kindle customers
  • Aravis also had many quarrels (and, I’m afraid, even fights) with Cor, but they always made it up again: so that years later, when they were grown up, they were so used to quarreling and making up again that they got married so as to go on doing it more conveniently.
    Highlighted by 62 Kindle customers
  • “But of course,” he thought, “I was quite safe. That is why the Lion kept on my left. He was between me and the edge all the time.”
    Highlighted by 57 Kindle customers
  • But after one glance at the Lion’s face he slipped out of the saddle and fell at its feet. He couldn’t say anything but then he didn’t want to say anything, and he knew he needn’t say anything.
    Highlighted by 53 Kindle customers
  • It was from the Lion that the light came. No one ever saw anything more terrible or beautiful.
    Highlighted by 49 Kindle customers
  • And certainly both Horses were doing, if not all they could, all they thought they could; which is not quite the same thing.
    Highlighted by 46 Kindle customers
  • one usually gets on better with people when one is making plans than when one is talking about nothing in particular.
    Highlighted by 36 Kindle customers
Show all 19 quotes from this book

Setting & Locations edit see section history

  • Calormen: A vast empire across the Desert from Archenland and Narnia.
  • Tashbaan: An island city on a river, and the capital of Calormen.
  • Tombs of the Ancient Kings: Beehive-shaped tombs where the fathers of Calormene kings are buried. Thought by Calormenes to be haunted by ghouls.
  • Desert: An unnamed Desert separating Calormen from Archenland.
  • Mount Pire: A double-peaked mountain used as a landmark by Shasta, Aravis and the Horses.
  • Winding Arrow: A river to the south of Archenland.
  • Archenland: A mountainous country, populated mostly by humans, to the south of Narnia.
  • Anvard: The capital of Archenland; home of King Lune.
  • Narnia: The country of Talking Beasts and other mythical creatures; Bree's and Hwin's homeland.

First Sentence edit see section history

This is the story of an adventure that happened in Narnia and Calormen and the lands between, in the Golden Age when Peter was High King in Narnia and his brother and his two sisters were King and Queens under him.

Table of Contents edit see section history

1. How Shasta Set Out on His Travels
2. A Wayside Adventure
3. At the Gates of Tashbaan
4. Shasta Falls In With the Narnians
5. Prince Corin
6. Shasta Among the Tombs
7. Aravis in Tashbaan
8. In the House of the Tisroc
9. Across the Desert
10. The Hermit of the Southern March
11. The Unwelcome Fellow Traveler
12. Shasta in Narnia
13. The Fight at Anvard
14. How Bree Became a Wiser Horse
15. Rabadash the Ridiculous

Glossary edit see section history

  • hastilude: Spear play; games of combat.
  • funk: To fail through cowardice.
  • estre: A chamber or apartment.
  • creek: (British) A narrow inlet or bay.
  • apothegm: A proverb or practical saying.

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

  • The Medieval Planets: (Mercury) The plot of The Horse and His Boy mimics the metal mercury, dividing and converging many times and at many points. The delivering of crucial messages is a central element in the book, referring to Mercury's role of the messenger of the gods. Speed and running are constantly emphasized; "But run, run: always run," the main character is told at an important moment. Mercury was also the god of thieves, and Bree justifies stealing from Calormene villages as they travel through the countryside. Mercury was also strongly associated with linguistic cunning, a quality present in Aravis' storytelling as well as in the Calormenes' verbal exchanges. Gemini is a Mercurial sign, and the motif of twins or of dualness is found in Prince Corin and Cor, and in the double-peaked Mount Pire.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 3 of 7 in The Chronicles of Narnia. (standard series)

Preceded by The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and followed by Prince Caspian.

This is book 22 of 216 in Whitcoulls Kids' Top 50 (2011). (authoritative list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. C. S. Lewis (Author)
  2. Pauline Baynes (Illustrator)

Other Contributors:

  1. Stephen Lavis (Cover Artist) - Fontana Lions Edition 1983

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: HarperTrophy
Country: United Kingdom
Publication Date: 1954
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 199

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PZ8.L48 Ho
  • Dewey: 823.912

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Ages 9-12

Recommended for children + 10 and also for Young Adults

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • The Magykal Papers
  • Flyte
  • Physik

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history

   
  • The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
  • The Magician's Nephew

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