The rising sun had made everything look so different - all colors and shadows were changed - that for a moment they didn’t see the important thing. Then they did. The Stone Table was broken into two pieces by a great crack that ran down it from end to end. and there was no Aslan.
“Oh, oh, oh!” cried the two girls, rushing back to the Table.
“Oh, it’s too bad,” sobbed Lucy; “they might have left the body alone.”
“Who’s done it?” cried Susan. “What does it mean? Is it more magic?”
“Yes!” said a great voice behind their backs. “It is more magic.” They looked round. There, shining in the sunrise, larger than they had seen him before, shaking his mane (for it had apparently grown again) stood Aslan himself.
“Oh, Aslan!” cried both the children, staring up at him, almost as much frightened as they were glad. “Aren’t you dead then, dear Aslan?” said Lucy.
“Not now,” said Aslan….
“But what does it all mean?” asked Susan when they were somewhat calmer.
“It means,” said Aslan, “that though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and darkness before time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward. And now - ” … “Oh, children,” said the Lion. “I feel my strength coming back to me. Oh, children, catch me if you can!” …
It was such a romp as no one has ever seen except in Narnia; and whether it was more like playing with a thunderstorm or playing with a kitten, Lucy could never make up her mind.
~ C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, “Deeper Magic from Before the Dawn of Time”
6 responses so far ↓
1 Allison // Mar 23, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Thanks for posting these excerpts, Travis. I’ve appreciated re-reading them again as the week has led up to Easter. I’ve especially notived littled details I might’ve missed when reading the books straight through. Happy Easter!
2 lonelypilgrim // Mar 23, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Allow me for a moment a bit of a heretical thought. A friend of mine that I had during my seminary days and I were once discussing whether there was life on other planets or not. He said no because if the created life on another planet had also sinned God would have had to incarnated there as well to deal with it just as He had on earth. At the time I didn’t think of this, but I wish I would have said “Well, perhaps He did. Maybe the name of the place is Narnia and perhaps there His name is Aslan.” Has anyone ever considered that possibility, not that the Narnia stories are actually true, but that something like that is possible? Or should I just be burned at the stake?
3 Travis Prinzi // Mar 24, 2008 at 7:47 am
Heck, I’ll join your heretic group.
Obviously, it would be impossible to know one way or the other. It’s probably unlikely that there really would be another Christ-story in the same way, mostly because multiple incarnations would be really problematic.
4 Holdridge // Mar 24, 2008 at 11:14 am
Lewis deals with this (with a sidelong glance) in his sci-fi trilogy, which is by far, my favorite stuff. There’s nothing that would cause us to say that based on scripture, we’re the only planet in the universe that has created life on it. I don’t think it’s worth much time, however…
I’m the kind of guy that would love to listen to your heresy, and even give my opinion here and there. But I’m pullin’ a Peter when the torches get lit.
5 revgeorge // Mar 24, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Lewis himself said it was a moot point whether or not there was life on other planets & what provision God might have made for them, since nothing’s ever been discovered out there. He said that until somebody came down & tapped us on the shoulder, it was not worth it speculating about alien life. Plus, he said if there are other life forms out there, more advanced than we are, then we probably don’t want them finding us because they’d probably do to us what we did to more primitive societies here on earth.
6 lonelypilgrim // Mar 24, 2008 at 10:44 pm
After I typed what I did, I thought about Romans 8. Especially verses 18-23 which state, paraphrased, that all of creation longs for redemption, and of course the whole chapter ties redemption to Christ. So perhaps, if life is on other planets, Christ’s work on earth has the effect of redemption there as well. Granted, I’m definitely in the realm of speculation here. Holdridge, I give you absolution in advance if the fires are ever lit on this one.
Back to subject of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe for a moment. My favorite line from the book, and I’m paraphrasing again because I don’t have the book at hand and I’m too lazy to go get it, is from Mr. Beaver about Aslan. “Safe? He’s a Lion, of course He isn’t safe. But He’s good. He’s the King.” If we ever decide to add anything to the canon (the fires are being lit again) that should be the line to be added.
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