The Horse and His Boy: Chapter 15 “Rabadash the Ridiculous”
C.S. Lewis Read-Along, Vol. 5, Issue 16
Given that this is the only Narnia book that does not involve travel from our world into Narnia, Lewis gives us a unique closing chapter. We’re given more about the future of events in Narnia than usual because there are no events on Earth that also need conclusions. But the chapter is full of life applications.
For this is what it means to be 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.
Chapter 15 “Rabadash the Ridiculous”
When the four travelers arrive at Anvard, we discover the juxtaposition of a good ruler. King Lune greets them wearing old clothes and having just washed his “doggy hands” because he was working in the kennels. Yet, he welcomed Aravis with a bow that “would have been stately enough for an Emperor.”
Later, when Lune discusses with Cor what it means to be king, we find more of his character and leadership expectations. But now, we see him as a father and a man. He takes joy in hearing of his son’s bravery. He also speaks to the horses as politely as he did to Aravis. Lewis marks Lune as a moral exemplar, which he displays as he discusses with others what to do with Rabadash.
Peridan rightly says that Lune has every right to put Rabadash to death. “It is very true,” Edmund replies. “But even a traitor may mend. I have known one that did.” The narrator notes that “he looked very thoughtful.”
Obviously, this alludes to Edmund’s betrayal of his siblings to the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In chapter 13, the Witch tells Aslan that he has a traitor in his camp. Lewis writes that everyone knew the witch meant Edmund, but he had a different reaction:
But Edmund had got past thinking about himself after all he’d been through and after the talk he’d had that morning [with Aslan]. He just went on looking at Aslan. It didn’t seem to matter what the witch said.
Now, more than a decade later, Edmund understands that one act of treachery does not define someone as a traitor.
