The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

The Magician's Nephew (c) 1955

I reviewed The Magician's Nephew by C. S. Lewis back in January, but wanted to review it again, because it is such an uplifting book that, while a fantasy, teaches important truths. Diggory and Polly are tricked by Diggory's Uncle Andrew into setting off on an adventure between worlds, and as they travel, they come into contact with Jadis, an evil, power hungry queen from a dying planet who grabs them, and forces them against their wills to take her along with them. After wreaking havoc in London for a few hours, Jadis is transported by Diggory and Polly who are trying to protect their home, into a new world called Narnia. Along with them, come a horse named Strawberry, Strawberry's owner, a cabby named Frank, and Diggory's Uncle Andrew.

They come at the very birth of Narnia, which is being created by Aslan, the Lion, the Son of the Emperor Beyond the Sea. Aslan, clearly a analogy of Jesus Christ, sends Polly and Diggory on a mission to get an apple that will become a tree that will protect Narnia from Jadis' evil, the evil queen who ran off into the wilderness when she realized she could not hurt Aslan.

Meanwhile, while Frank, Polly, Diggory, and eventually Strawberry (who becomes a talking and flying horse) can understand Aslan's speech and the speech of the talking animals he creates, Uncle Andrew cannot. It isn't chance that makes him unable to understand. As the narration explains, from the moment their group found themselves in Narnia and started to hear Aslan's song calling the world to life, Uncle Andrew (who had already made selfish, unrighteous choices already) denied to himself that it was a song, and continued denying it after the light started to increase, and he saw Aslan and the other talking animals. He denied so much that Aslan's words were a song, that Uncle Andrew reached a point where he could not hear the song, and only heard, in his own mind, roars and growls, and from the talking animals, only various animal sounds. C. S. Lewis was a brilliant teacher who taught great truths with his stories, and this particular part of the story teaches me that in order to be able to hear, to sense truth, I need to tune myself to learn it.