The Silver Chair: Chapter 3 “The Sailing of the King”
C.S. Lewis Read-Along, Vol. 4, Issue 4
Background: Jill learns what Aslan meant when he told her that the air will thicken in Narnia and the signs will not look as she expects them to look. Her mind focuses on other things, particularly her comfort. We worship the God of all comfort, but that does not mean we experience perpetual comfort in this life. The very fact that we need God to comfort us demonstrates that this is not an inherently comfortable life. If we are finding our comfort here, we are not finding it in Him.
Quote: “‘I say, Scrubb, isn’t it all simply too exciting and scrumptious for words.’ She had forgotten all about the signs and the lost Prince for the moment.”
As Jill lands in Narnia, she begins to learn what Aslan meant when he told her that the air will thicken in Narnia and the signs will not look as she expects them to look. This is because she has her mind on other things.
She and Eustace are near “the most beautiful castle Jill had ever seen.” This isn’t saying much for an American audience where our only exposure to castles may be at Disney theme parks, but Jill lived where actual castles exist. In our read-along of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, we talked about how Cair Paravel was likely inspired by Dunluce Castle, a location Lewis visited as a child.
Later in the chapter, they discover the castle is Cair Paravel.1 This may cause some confusion among readers of earlier books. We know the state of the castle in Prince Caspian. Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy don’t realize they’re back in Narnia at Cair Paravel until the second chapter because the castle has become a ruin.
But Caspian, being a lover of old Narnia, clearly sets about rebuilding the castle or at least one near the original location carrying the same name.2 In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which is set shortly after Prince Caspian, we learn the ship set sail from Cair Paravel and Trumpkin sat as regent in the castle itself. By the time of The Last Battle, the castle and the surrounding city share the same name.3
