TCN04 - Prince Caspian, Part 02 of 08

Focus on the Family: Last time on Prince Caspian, the Return to Narnia.
Lucy: This is magic. I can tell by the feeling.
Lucy: Oh, Peter. Do you think we've got back into Narnia?
Peter: It might be anywhere. I can't see a yard in all these trees.
Lucy: Have none of you guessed where we are?
Lucy: We're in the ruins of Cair Paravel itself.
Peter: Look over there.
Susan: It's a rowboat.
Lucy: Those are soldiers in it. Oh!
Peter: They're going to drown that poor dwarf. We have to do something.
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Lucy: And what wonderful adventures we shall have.
Susan: Oh, I do wish we knew the story that's behind all this.
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Lucy: It's the army. It's Rabidash and he's coming this way.
Edmund: Quick. We must get to Anvard before them.
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Peter: There's not much point in finding a magic ring that lets you into other worlds if you're afraid to look at them when you've got there.
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Focus on the Family: Peter and Susan, fully dressed as they were, plunged in and before the water was up to their shoulders, their hands were on the side of the boat. In a few seconds, they'd hauled it to the bank and lifted the dwarf out.
Dwarf: Oh, that you do. I've got my pocket knife. I'll try and cut him free.
Focus on the Family: Edmund cut his bonds with the pocket knife. Like most dwarves, he was very stocky and deep-chested. He would have been about three feet high if he'd been standing up, and an immense beard and whiskers of coarse red hair left little of his face to be seen, except a beak-like nose and twinkling black eyes.
Dwarf: When at last the dwarf was freed, he sat up, rubbed his arms and legs and exclaimed.
Dwarf: Oh, well. Whatever they say, you don't feel like ghosts.
Susan: Ghosts?
Dwarf: Ghosts or not, you've saved my life and I'm extremely obliged to you.
Lucy: But why should we be ghosts?
Dwarf: I've been told all my life that these woods along the shore were as full of ghosts as they were of trees.
Susan: Oh.
Dwarf: That's what the story is. And that's why when they want to get rid of anyone, they usually bring him down here like they were doing with me and say they'll leave him to the ghosts. But I always wondered if they didn't really drown him or cut their throats.
Susan: Oh.
Dwarf: I never quite believed in ghosts, but those two cowards believed all right. They were more frightened to take me to my death than I was of going.
Lucy: So that explains why they ran away.
Peter: Hey, what's that?
Lucy: They got away to the mainland.
Susan: I wasn't shooting to kill, you know.
Peter: What were they going to drown you for?
Dwarf: Oh, I'm a dangerous criminal, I am. But that's a long story. Meantime, I was wondering if perhaps you were going to ask me to breakfast. You've no idea what an appetite it gives one, being executed.
Lucy: There's only apples.
Dwarf: Better than nothing, but not as good as fresh fish. I saw some fishing tackle in the boat. And anyway, we must take her around to the other side of the island. We don't want anyone from the mainland coming down and seeing her.
Susan: I ought to have thought of that myself.
Dwarf: After we've caught a few fish and made ourselves a good fire.
Lucy: We've got firewood up at the castle.
Dwarf: The castle? Beards and bits. So there really is a castle after all.
Lucy: It's only a ruin.
Peter: Then who on earth are.
Dwarf: Oh, no matter. Breakfast first. But one thing before we go on, can you lay your hand on your heart and tell me I'm really alive? Are you sure I wasn't drowned and we're not all ghosts together?
Lucy: We're sure.
Dwarf: Then let's see about catching those fish.
Dwarf: What's wrong?
Peter: Didn't you enjoy your breakfast?
Dwarf: Oh, it's this castle. Looks a bit spooky after all. It smells like ghosts too.
Lucy: Never mind about that. Please tell us your story, and then we'll tell you ours.
Dwarf: First of all, I'm a messenger of King Caspian's.
Lucy: Who's he?
Dwarf: Caspian the 10th. King of Narnia, and long may he reign.
Lucy: Hmm.
Dwarf: That is to say he ought to be King of Narnia and we hope he will be. At present, he is only King of us old Narnians.
Susan: What do you mean by old Narnians, please?
Dwarf: Why that's us. We're kind of rebellion, I suppose.
Peter: I see, and Caspian is the chief old Narnian.
Dwarf: Well, in a manner of speaking, but he's really a new Narnian himself, a Telmarine if you follow me.
Susan: We don't.
Dwarf: Oh, dear. I'm doing this very badly. Look here. I think I'll have to go right back to the beginning and tell you how Caspian grew up in his uncle's court and how he comes to be on our side at all.
Peter: Please do.
Lucy: Yes.
Dwarf: Well, Prince Caspian lived in a great castle in the center of Narnia with his uncle, Miraz, the King of Narnia, and his aunt who has red hair and was called Queen Prunaprismia. His father and mother were dead and the person whom Caspian loved best was his nurse. What he liked most about her was that she told him stories. He did not care much for his uncle and aunt, but about twice a week, his uncle would send for him and they would walk up and down together for half an hour on the terrace of the castle.
Dwarf: One day, while they were doing this, the King said,
Guest (Male): Well, boy, we must soon teach you to ride and use a sword. You know that your aunt and I have no children. So it looks as if you might have to be king when I'm gone. How shall you like that, eh?
Caspian: I don't know, Uncle.
Guest (Male): Don't know? Why, I should like to know what more anyone could wish for.
Caspian: All the same, I do wish.
Guest (Male): And what do you wish?
Caspian: I wish I wish I could have lived in the old days.
Guest (Male): What's that? What old days do you mean?
Caspian: Don't you know, Uncle? Oh, when everything was quite different. When all the animals could talk. And there were nice people who lived in the streams and the trees. Naiads and Dryads, they were called. And there were dwarves, and there were lovely little fauns in all the woods.
Guest (Male): There will let's old nonsense. At your age you ought to be thinking of battles and adventures, not fairy tales.
Caspian: But there were battles and adventures in those days. Wonderful adventures. Once there was a white witch and she made herself queen of the whole country. And she made it so that it was always winter. And then two boys and two girls came from somewhere, and they killed the witch, and they were made kings and queens of Narnia. And their names were Peter and Susan and Edmund and Lucy. And it was all because of Aslan.
Guest (Male): Who's he?
Caspian: Aslan is the great lion who comes from over the sea.
Guest (Male): Who's been telling you this pack of lies?
Caspian: Nurse.
Guest (Male): Never let me catch you talking or thinking either about all those silly stories again. There never were those kings and queens. How could there be two kings at the same time? And there's no such person as Aslan. And there are no such things as lions, and there never was a time when animals could talk. Talk! You hear me?
Caspian: Yes, Uncle.
Guest (Male): Then let's have no more of it. Gilva?
Guest (Male): Sir.
Guest (Male): Conduct His Royal Highness to his apartments and send His Royal Highness's nurse to me at once.
Guest (Male): Yes, Sire.
Focus on the Family: The next day, Prince Caspian found what a terrible thing he had done. For nurse had been sent away by the King without even being allowed to say goodbye. He was told he was to have a tutor. The Prince felt sure that he would hate the new tutor, but when the new tutor arrived, he turned out to be the sort of person it is almost impossible not to like. He was the smallest and also the fattest man the Prince had ever seen. He had a long, silvery, pointed beard which came down to his waist, and his face, which was brown and covered with wrinkles, looked very wise and very ugly and very kind. His eyes were merry so that until you got to know him really well, it was hard to know when he was joking and when he was serious. His name was Doctor Cornelius.
Doctor Cornelius: It was your Highness's ancestor, Caspian the First, who first conquered Narnia and made it his kingdom. It was he who brought all your nation into the country.
Caspian: Oh.
Doctor Cornelius: You're not native Narnians at all. You're Telmarines. That is, you all came from the land of Telmar, far beyond the Western Mountains. That is why Caspian the First is called Caspian the Conqueror.
Caspian: Please, Doctor Cornelius, who lived in Narnia before we all came here out of Telmar?
Doctor Cornelius: No men, or very few, lived in Narnia before the Telmarines took it.
Caspian: Then who did my great-great-grand sisters conquer?
Doctor Cornelius: Whom, not who, my prince. Perhaps it's time to turn from history to grammar.
Caspian: Please, wait. I mean, wasn't there a battle? Why is he called Caspian the Conqueror if there was nobody to fight with him?
Doctor Cornelius: I said there were very few men in Narnia.
Caspian: Oh, do you mean that there were other things? Do you mean it was like in the stories my nurse told? Were there.
Doctor Cornelius: Not another word more. Don't you know your nurse was sent away for telling you about old Narnia? The King doesn't like it. If he found me telling you secrets you'd be whipped and I'd have my head cut off.
Caspian: But why?
Doctor Cornelius: Tonight, I'm going to give you a lesson in astronomy.
Caspian: Astronomy.
Doctor Cornelius: At dead of night, two noble planets called Tarva and Alambil will pass within one degree of each other. Such a conjunction has not occurred for 200 years, and your Highness will not live to see it again.
Caspian: I don't understand.
Doctor Cornelius: It will be best if you go to bed a little earlier than usual. When the time of the conjunction draws near, I will come and take you to the tower.
Caspian: The tower? Oh, I've never been to the tower.
Doctor Cornelius: It's high time to turn to grammar now, your Highness.
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Caspian: I can see everything from up here.
Doctor Cornelius: Do you know what you see?
Caspian: Those are the Western Mountains and down there to the left is the gleam of the Great River. And I can hear the sound of the waterfall at Beaver's Dam.
Doctor Cornelius: Now, look there. Very low in the southern sky, almost as bright as two moons. Those are Tarva and Alambil. Tarva, the Lord of Victories, salutes Alambil, the Lady of Peace.
Caspian: Oh, it's a pity that tree gets in the way. We'd really see better from the West Tower, though it's not so high.
Doctor Cornelius: You're right. We should have seen it even better from the smaller tower. I brought you here for another reason.
Caspian: What reason?
Doctor Cornelius: The virtue of this tower is that we have six empty rooms beneath us and a long stair, and the door at the bottom of the stair is locked. We cannot be overheard.
Caspian: Are you going to tell me what you wouldn't tell me earlier today?
Doctor Cornelius: I am. But remember, you and I must never talk about these things except here, on the very top of the great tower.
Caspian: Oh, that's a promise. But do go on, please.
Doctor Cornelius: Well, listen. All you have heard about the old Narnia is true. It's not the land of men. It is the country of Aslan, the country of the waking trees and visible Naiads, of fauns and satyrs, of dwarves and giants, of the gods and the centaurs, of talking beasts.
Doctor Cornelius: It was against these that the first Caspian fought. It is you Telmarines who silenced the beasts and the trees and the fountains and who killed and drove away the dwarves and fauns, and are now trying to cover up even the memory of them. The King does not allow them to be spoken of.
Caspian: Oh, I do wish we hadn't. And I am glad it was all true, even if it is all over.
Doctor Cornelius: Many of your race wish that in secret.
Caspian: But, Doctor, why do you say my race? After all, I suppose you're a Telmarine too.
Doctor Cornelius: Am I?
Caspian: Well, you're a man anyway.
Doctor Cornelius: Am I? Think, my prince. Small, fat, a very long beard.
Caspian: You're not a dwarf?
Doctor Cornelius: So you've guessed it at last. Or guessed it nearly right. I'm not a pure dwarf. I have human blood in me too. Many dwarves escaped in the great battles and lived on, shaving their beards and wearing platform shoes and pretending to be men. They have mixed with your Telmarines. I am one of those. Only a half-dwarf, and if any of my kindred, the true dwarves, are still alive anywhere in the world, doubtless they would despise me and call me a traitor. But never in all these years have we forgotten our own people, and all the other happy creatures of Narnia, and the long lost days of freedom.
Caspian: I'm sorry, Doctor. It wasn't my fault, you know.
Doctor Cornelius: I'm not saying these things in blame of you, dear prince. I say them, for I know that you also, Telmarine though you are, love the old things.
Caspian: Oh, I do. But how can I help?
Doctor Cornelius: When you become King, you can be kind to the poor remnants of the dwarf people like myself. You can gather learned magicians and try to find a way of awakening the trees once more. You can search through all the nooks and wild places of the land to see if any fauns or talking beasts or dwarves are perhaps still alive in hiding.
Caspian: Do you think there are any?
Doctor Cornelius: I don't know. Sometimes I'm afraid there can't be. I've been looking for traces of them all my life. I've often despaired, but something always happens to start me hoping again. I don't know, but at least you can try to be a king like the high King Peter of old.
Caspian: Then it's true about the kings and queens too, and about the white witch?
Doctor Cornelius: Certainly it's true. Their reign was the Golden Age in Narnia, and the land has never forgotten them.
Caspian: Did they live in this castle, Doctor?
Doctor Cornelius: Nay, my prince. This castle is a thing of yesterday. Your great-great-grandfather built it. But when the two sons of Adam and the two daughters of Eve were made kings and queens of Narnia by Aslan himself, they lived in the castle of Cair Paravel. No man alive has seen that blessed place, and perhaps even the ruins of it have now vanished. But we believe it was far from here, down at the mouth of the Great River, on the very shore of the sea.
Caspian: Do you mean in the Black Woods? Where all the, you know, the ghosts live?
Doctor Cornelius: There are no ghosts there. That is a story invented by the Telmarines. Your kings are in deadly fear of the sea because they can never quite forget that in all stories Aslan comes from over the sea. They don't want to go near it and they don't want anyone else to go near it. So they have let great woods grow up to cut their people off from the coast. But because they have quarreled with the trees, they are afraid of the woods. And because they're afraid of the woods, they imagine that they are full of ghosts.
Doctor Cornelius: Come, we've been here long enough. It's time for you to go to bed.
Caspian: Oh, must I? I'd like to go on talking about these things for hours and hours.
Doctor Cornelius: Someone might begin looking for us if we did that.
Focus on the Family: Prince Caspian and his tutor had many more secret conversations on the top of the great tower, and at each conversation, Caspian learned more about old Narnia, so that thinking and dreaming about the old days and longing that they might come back filled nearly all his spare hours. But of course, he had not many hours to spare, for now his education was beginning in earnest. He learned sword fighting and riding, swimming and diving, how to shoot with the bow, how to hunt the stag, and of course, he had to learn all about law, the arts, and sciences.
Focus on the Family: He also learned a great deal by using his own eyes and ears. As a little boy, he often wondered why he disliked his aunt, Queen Prunaprismia. He now saw that it was because she disliked him. He also began to see that Narnia was an unhappy country. The taxes were high and the laws were stern, and Miraz was a cruel man. Then there came a time when the Queen seemed to be ill, and there was a great deal of bustle and bother about her in the castle, and doctors came and courtiers whispered. This was in early summertime, and one night, while all this fuss was going on,
Doctor Cornelius: Up, Prince Caspian. Get up.
Caspian: Oh, are we going to do a little astronomy?
Doctor Cornelius: Hush, trust me and do exactly as I tell you. Put on all your clothes. You have a long journey before you.
Caspian: Yes, sir.
Doctor Cornelius: I have a satchel for you. We must go into the next room and fill it with vittles from your Highness's supper table.
Caspian: My gentlemen in waiting are there.
Doctor Cornelius: They're fast asleep. They will not wake. I may be a very minor magician, but I can at least contrive a charmed sleep. Now, come quickly. Oh, have you your sword?
Caspian: Yes.
Doctor Cornelius: Then put this mantle over all to hide the sword and the satchel once we've filled it. Then we must go to the great tower and talk.
Caspian: Now tell me, Doctor Cornelius, what's this all about?
Doctor Cornelius: Your prince, you must leave this castle at once and go to seek your fortune in the wide world. Your life is in danger here.
Caspian: Why?
Doctor Cornelius: Because you are the true King of Narnia. Caspian the Tenth, the true son and heir of Caspian the Ninth. Long live your Majesty.
Caspian: Oh, no, please get up, Doctor Cornelius. What does it all mean? I don't understand.
Doctor Cornelius: I wonder you have never asked me before why, being the son of King Caspian, you are not King Caspian yourself. Everyone except your Majesty knows that Miraz is a usurper. When he first began to rule, he didn't even pretend to be king. He called himself Lord Protector. But then your royal mother died, the good Queen, and the only Telmarine who was ever kind to me. And then one by one, all the great lords who had known your father died or disappeared. Not by accident, either. Miraz weeded them out. Some were shot during hunting parties by chance. It was all pretended. Some were killed in battle, some were executed for treason on a false charge. And seven of the noble lords, who alone among the Telmarines did not fear the sea, Miraz persuaded to sail away and look for new lands beyond the Eastern Ocean. As intended, they never came back. And when there was no one left who could speak a word for you, then his flatterers begged him to become king. And of course, he did.
Caspian: Do you mean he wants to kill me too?
Doctor Cornelius: That is almost certain.
Caspian: But why now? I mean, why didn't he do it a long time ago if he wanted to? And what harm have I done him?
Doctor Cornelius: He has changed his mind about you because of something that happened only two hours ago. The Queen has had a son.
Caspian: I don't see what that's got to do with it.
Doctor Cornelius: Have all my lessons in history and politics taught you no more than that? Listen. As long as he had no children of his own, he was willing enough that you should be king after he died. Now that he has a son of his own, he will want his own son to be the next king. You are in the way.
Caspian: Would he really murder me?
Doctor Cornelius: He murdered your father. There's no time to tell you the story now. You must fly at once. Try to get across the southern border to the court of King Nain in Archenland. He will be good to you.
Caspian: Shall I never see you again?
Doctor Cornelius: I hope so, dear King. What friend have I in the wide world except your Majesty? I have a little magic, but in the meantime, speed is everything. And here are two gifts before you go. This is a little purse of gold. All the treasure in this castle should be yours by rights.
Doctor Cornelius: And here is something far better.
Caspian: A horn?
Doctor Cornelius: This is the greatest and most sacred treasure of Narnia. It is the magic horn of Queen Susan herself, which she left behind her when she vanished from Narnia at the end of the Golden Age. It is said that whoever blows it shall have strange help. No one can say how strange. It may have the power to call Queen Lucy and King Edmund and Queen Susan and High King Peter back from the past, and they will set all to rights. It may be that it will call up Aslan himself. Take it, King Caspian, but do not use it except at your greatest need. And now, haste, haste. The little door at the bottom of the tower is unlocked. It leads into the garden. There we must part.
Caspian: Can I get my horse, Destrier?
Doctor Cornelius: He's already saddled and waiting for you at the corner of the orchard. Now go.
Focus on the Family: During the long climb down the winding staircase, Cornelius whispered many more words of direction and advice. Caspian's heart was sinking, but he tried to take it all in. Then, then came the fresh air in the garden, a fervent hand clasp with the doctor, a run across the lawn, a welcome whinny from Destrier, and so King Caspian the Tenth left the castle of his fathers. Looking back, he saw fireworks going up to celebrate the birth of the new prince.
Lucy: Oh, poor Prince Caspian. It must have been awful for him to have to run away like that.
Dwarf: Oh, it was, it was. All night he rode southward. As soon as it was full daylight, he found an open grassy place amid a wood where he could rest. It was late afternoon when he awoke. He ate a morsel and continued his journey still southward by many unfrequented lanes. He was now in a land of hills going up and down, but always more up than down. The mountains grew bigger and blacker ahead. As evening closed in, he was riding the lower slopes. The wind rose. Soon rain fell in torrents. Destrier became uneasy. There was thunder in the air, and now they entered a dark and seemingly endless pine forest. All the stories Caspian had ever heard of trees being unfriendly to man crowded into his mind. The wind became a tempest. The woods roared and creaked all around them. There came a crash. A tree fell right across the road just behind them.
Caspian: Quiet, Destrier, quiet. It's all right.
Dwarf: Lightning flashed, and a great crack of thunder seemed to break the sky in two. Destrier bolted. Caspian was a good rider, but he hadn't the strength to hold him back. It was a wild ride. Tree after tree rose up before them in the dusk and was only just avoided. Then, almost too suddenly to hurt, and yet it did hurt him, something struck Caspian on the forehead. He knew no more.
Focus on the Family: Next time on Prince Caspian, the Return to Narnia.
Peter: What are you? Beg your pardon. You're not a man, you're a badger.
Guest (Male): Well, if he is against Miraz, we'll have him for king.
Guest (Male): I and my sons are ready for war.
Peter: Do you mean a real war to drive Miraz out of Narnia?
Guest (Male): What else?
Guest (Male): We must all fly from this place at once.
Dwarf: Before midday tomorrow, you will be surrounded.
Lucy: Aslan's howl!
Susan: Yes, Aslan's howl!
Focus on the Family: Prince Caspian, the Return to Narnia from The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis is a production of Focus on the Family. I'm Doug Gresham. Thank you for listening.