The Horse and His Boy

by

C. S. Lewis

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Bravery vs. Recklessness Theme Icon
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LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Horse and His Boy, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Christianity Theme Icon

Jesus is never mentioned by name in The Horse and His Boy, but like most of C. S. Lewis’s books, this novel contains numerous references to and allegories for Christianity. The character of Aslan, for example, seems to be Narnia’s equivalent of God, having more authority than mortal kings and intervening in the characters’ lives in mysterious and sometimes invisible ways. For instance, Aslan guides Shasta through a mountain pass when he’s lost and confused, providing a metaphor for how faith in God can help people find direction in life. Shasta ultimately learns that, in fact, Aslan has been helping him even when he didn’t realize it, like when a cat managed to scare off a whole group of jackals surrounding Shasta, as if the cat were a lion. This again symbolizes the Christian idea that God protects people and guides the course of their life—even when they don’t realize it.

The Horse and His Boy portrays Christianity in general as beneficial and rewarding. The brave knights and enlightened kings and queens of Narnia echo medieval Christian stories, such as the legend of King Arthur. The idyllic living conditions in Narnia, including the vibrant green fields and plentiful wildlife, suggest the rewards of living by Christian ideals. By contrast, the Calormenes, who are mostly corrupt and who still practice slavery, are depicted as non-Christians who live in a barren desert that reflects the consequences of rejecting Christianity. Their darker skin, turbans, and beards have led some critics to accuse Lewis of prejudice (since these non-Christian characters are almost exclusively portrayed negatively in the book). There are a couple Calormenes who are depicted in a positive light, like Aravis, although she arguably assimilates into Archenland’s Christian-like culture at the end when she marries Shasta. The Horse and His Boy uses the structure of a fantasy adventure story to metaphorically show the benefits of Christianity, which include help finding a direction in life, while also depicting the moral corruption that Lewis seemed to associate with rejecting Christianity.

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The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Christianity appears in each chapter of The Horse and His Boy. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
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Christianity Quotes in The Horse and His Boy

Below you will find the important quotes in The Horse and His Boy related to the theme of Christianity.
Chapter 1  Quotes

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.

In those days, far south in Calormen on a little creek of the sea, there lived a poor fisherman called Arsheesh, and with him there lived a boy who called him Father. The boy’s name was Shasta. On most days Arsheesh went out in his boat to fish in the morning, and in the afternoon he harnessed his donkey to a cart and loaded the cart with fish and went a mile or so southward to the village to sell it. If it had sold well he would come home in a moderately good temper and say nothing to Shasta, but if it had sold badly he would find fault with him and perhaps beat him.

Related Characters: Shasta/Cor, Arsheesh, Susan, Edmund, Lucy, Peter
Page Number: 1
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2  Quotes

“What is it?” gasped Shasta.

“Lions!” said Bree, without checking his pace or turning his head.

Related Characters: Shasta/Cor (speaker), Horse/Bree (speaker), Aravis, Hwin
Related Symbols: Lion
Page Number: 27
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3  Quotes

“I didn’t say it half so well as that,” muttered the mare.

“Hush, Ma’am, hush,” said Bree, who was thoroughly enjoying the story. “She’s telling it in the grand Calormene manner and no story-teller in a Tisroc’s court could do it better. Pray go on, Tarkheena.”

Related Characters: Horse/Bree (speaker), Hwin (speaker), Aravis, Ahoshta
Page Number: 39
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4  Quotes

“Apparently,” thought Shasta to himself, “I’m being mistaken for a prince of Archenland, wherever that is. And these must be Narnians. I wonder where the real Corin is?” But these thoughts did not help him say anything out loud.

Related Characters: Shasta/Cor (speaker), Corin, Susan, Edmund
Related Symbols: Tashbaan
Page Number: 64
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5  Quotes

Shasta had never seen his own face in a looking-glass. Even if he had, he might not have realized that the other boy was (at ordinary times) almost exactly like himself. At the moment this boy was not particularly like anyone for he had the finest black eye you ever saw, and a tooth missing, and his clothes (which must have been splendid ones when he put them on) were torn and dirty, and there was both blood and mud on his face.

Related Characters: Shasta/Cor, Corin
Related Symbols: Tashbaan
Page Number: 83
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6  Quotes

“It’s a lion, I know it’s a lion,” thought Shasta. “I’m done. I wonder will it hurt much. I wish it was over. I wonder does anything happen to people after they’re dead. O-o-oh! Here it comes!” And he shut his eyes and teeth tight.

But instead of teeth and claws he only felt something warm lying down at his feet. And when he opened his eyes he said, “Why, it’s not nearly as big as I thought! It’s only half the size. No, it isn’t even quarter the size. I do declare it’s only the cat!! I must have dreamed all that about its being as big as a horse.”

Related Characters: Shasta/Cor (speaker), Aslan
Related Symbols: Lion, Tashbaan
Page Number: 95
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10  Quotes

“Stop,” bellowed Shasta in Bree’s ear. “Must go back. Must help!”

Bree always said afterward that he never heard, or never understood this; and as he was in general a very truthful horse we must accept his word.

Related Characters: Shasta/Cor (speaker), Horse/Bree, Aravis, Hwin
Related Symbols: Lion
Page Number: 152
Explanation and Analysis:

“Go home! Go home!” For a fraction of a second he was staring right into its wide-opened, raging mouth. Then, to his utter astonishment, the lion, still on its hind legs, checked itself suddenly, turned head over heels, picked itself up, and rushed away.

Shasta did not for a moment suppose it had gone for good.

Related Characters: Shasta/Cor (speaker), Horse/Bree, Aravis, Aslan, Hwin
Related Symbols: Lion
Page Number: 154
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11  Quotes

“I was the lion.” And as Shasta gaped with open mouth and said nothing, the Voice continued. “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.”

Related Characters: Aslan (speaker), Shasta/Cor
Related Symbols: Lion
Page Number: 175
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12  Quotes

“I see,” said Shasta to himself. “Those are the big mountains between Archenland and Narnia. I was on the other side of them yesterday. I must have come through the pass in the night. What luck that I hit it!—at least it wasn’t luck at all really, it was Him. And now I’m in Narnia.”

Related Characters: Shasta/Cor (speaker), Aslan
Related Symbols: Lion
Page Number: 180
Explanation and Analysis:

The trumpets sounded again: a new noise to Shasta, not huge and solemn like the horns of Tashbaan nor gay and merry like King Lune’s hunting horn, but clear and sharp and valiant. The noise was coming from the woods to the East, and soon there was a noise of horse-hoofs mixed with it. A moment later the head of the column came into sight.

Related Characters: Shasta/Cor, Prince Rabadash, Corin, King Lune, Edmund, Lucy
Related Symbols: Tashbaan
Page Number: 188
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13  Quotes

“Now the ram has started. If I could hear as well as see, what a noise that would make! Stroke after stroke: and no gate can stand it forever. But wait! Something up by Stormness has scared the birds. They’re coming out in masses. And wait again…I can’t see yet…ah! Now I can. The whole ridge, up on the east, is black with horsemen. If only the wind would catch that standard and spread it out. They’re over the ridge now, whoever they are. Aha! I’ve seen the banner now. Narnia, Narnia! It’s the red lion. They’re in full career down the hill now. I can see King Edmund. There’s a woman behind among the archers. Oh!—”

“What is it?” asked Hwin breathlessly.

“All his Cats are dashing out from the left of the line.”

Related Characters: Hwin (speaker), Hermit (speaker), Shasta/Cor, Aravis, Prince Rabadash
Page Number: 202
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14  Quotes

“Aslan,” said Bree in a shaken voice, “I’m afraid I must be rather a fool.”

“Happy the Horse who knows that while he is still young. Or the Human either. Draw near, Aravis my daughter. See! My paws are velveted. You will not be torn this time.”

Related Characters: Horse/Bree (speaker), Shasta/Cor, Aravis, Aslan, Hwin
Related Symbols: Lion
Page Number: 215
Explanation and Analysis:

“Well, as soon as he saw Corin and me, it seems this Centaur looked at me and said, A day will come when that boy will save Archenland from the deadliest danger in which ever she lay. So of course my Father and Mother were very pleased. But there was someone present who wasn’t.”

Related Characters: Shasta/Cor (speaker), Aravis, Corin
Page Number: 221
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15  Quotes

“You have appealed to Tash,” said Aslan. “And in the temple of Tash you shall be healed. You must stand before the altar of Tash in Tashbaan at the great Autumn Feast this year and there, in the sight of all Tashbaan, your ass’s shape will fall from you and all men will know you for Prince Rabadash. But as long as you live, if ever you go more than ten miles away from the great temple in Tashbaan you shall instantly become again as you now are. And from that second change there will be no return.”

Related Characters: Aslan (speaker), Prince Rabadash, Tash
Related Symbols: Tashbaan, Lion
Page Number: 236
Explanation and Analysis:

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. And after King Lune’s death they made a good King and Queen of Archenland and Ram the Great, the most famous of all the kings of Archenland, was their son. Bree and Hwin lived happily to a great age in Narnia and both got married but not to one another. And there weren’t many months in which one or both of them didn’t come trotting over the pass to visit their friends at Anvard.

Related Characters: Shasta/Cor, Horse/Bree, Aravis, Hwin, King Lune
Page Number: 241
Explanation and Analysis: