by C. S. Lewis, 1956
I LOVED THE NARNIA BOOKS!!!
Here, in order of most favorite to least:
- A Horse and His Boy
- Voyage of the Dawn Treader (very close second to A Horse and His Boy)
- The Silver Chair
- The Last Battle
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
- The Magician’s Nephew
- Prince Caspian
We saw the movie, Prince Caspian, on 5-17-08. Next movie will be in 2010 and it will be The Dawn Treader. Not sure I want to see it. Wayne doesn’t, for sure.
C.S. Lewis describes heaven in The Last Battle so wonderfully and so beautifully that you want to cry. It goes on for about 2 1/2 chapters in The Last Battle. These books are a treasure!!
In The Last Battle, an ape in Narnia dresses up his donkey, Puzzle, in a lion skin, passes him off as Aslan. He fools many of the talking beasts and starts taking over Narnia. He invites the Calormen and they start cutting down trees, using the talking horses to pull them.
King Tirian and his Unicorn, Jewel, go to investigate and end up captured. Jill and Eustace come to Narnia and save him.
They soon discover that the castle has been taken. They go to the stable where the Ape (Shift) keeps the lion guarded and rescue Jewel. Jill went into the stable and led out Puzzle dressed as the lion.
Tirian thought he could show the Narnians the fake lion and everyone would believe again and fight against the Ape and the Calormen with them. But the first group they met were some dwarves and they were unwilling to believe in the real Aslan again, even after seeing the donkey.
Only one, Poggin, decided to help the king recapture Narnia for the true Aslan. They decided to go back to the stable at night and hide and listen to the Ape and the Tarkaan and Ginger the cat speak to the Narnians at a nightly bonfire.
There, they heard the Ape tell everyone that someone had dressed up a donkey as Aslan and was trying to trick them. He said “Tashlan” (combination of Tash and Aslan) was in the stable. The Ape asks the Narnians who would like to go in. They all wanted to go in but they only wanted them to go in one at a time (so they could kill them one-by-one). Finally, Ginger the cat goes in and tears out in terror. This surprised the Ape and Tarkaan. Then Emeth, a young Calormen warrior wants to see his god Tash, so he goes in and only the good guys could see that the body thrown out was not him.
Then, the ape and Tarkaan try to force a Boar to go in. King Tirian could stand it no longer. They begin the Last Battle of Narnia. Tirian trows the Ape through the stable door. The battle goes on. the Calormen’s drum for reinforcements and alas, all is lost. They are forced into the stable door. Tirian takes the Tarkaan with him though and Tash (Devil) seizes him. Aslan commands him to leave with his lawful prey. And lo and behold, they are in Aslan’s country (Heaven). Aslan lets those who want to come in, come in. Those that were full of fear and hatred went to his left into Aslan’s dark shadow. Then Aslan destroyed Narnia and closed the door. What follows is the most wonderful description of what heaven will be like!
Peter, Edmund, Lucy, Prof. Digory, Polly, and Eustace and Jill are there. Not Susan though, she’s not interested in the things of Narnia anymore. Also, Peter’s and Edmund’s and Lucy’s Mom and Dad are there, too. Turns out they all died in a horrible train wreck in England. Susan wasn’t there. Also, Emeth is there! When he walked into the stable, he was in the sunlight right away. He killed the Calorman and threw his body out the door. He met Aslan and Aslan told him why he was saved even through he felt he should be doomed for seeking Tash all his days. Pg 188-189. The Dwarves were also put into the stable but they only see it as a stable. Lucy tries to show them beautiful flowers, but they see it as straw. Aslan gives them a lovely meal but they taste it as rot. They sit in a circle staring at one another refusing to believe they are in the most glorious place; seeing only a dark, dirty stable!