The Horse And His Boy

f mimicking the behavior of the metal mercury, characters, and the story itself, divide and converge and divide only to converge again. The children are separated from each other in Tashbaan, each getting pulled away in different directions, only to meet again outside the city; and they are separated again after arriving in Archenland, only to meet up again after the battle. Prince Cor and his brother Corin are separated shortly after birth, meet again in Tashbaan, are separated again and meet up just before the battle. While with her friend Lasaraleen in Tashbaan, Aravis walks a passageway in the Tisroc's palace that divides in two; Shasta confronts a similar parting of ways on his way to Anvard after meeting King Lune for the first time. The original convergence of the horses, on the run from wild lions, is another Mercurial event. Mercury is also associated, by way of the Greco-Roman god of the same name, with messengers, speed, and thieving, all of which are prominent motifs in The Horse and His Boy. Bree justifies stealing from Calormene villages as they make their way through the countryside. Prince Rabadash tells his army that nothing matters but speed. The Hermit of the Southern Marches urges Shasta on to Anvard, telling him, "But run, run: always run." The Horses repeatedly run from lions (actually Aslan in disguise). But probably the most obvious Mercurial motif is the messenger. Indeed most of the central characters of this book serve as messengers at some point. Aravis bears the message of Rabadash's secret plans, while Shasta bears the message of the secret way into Archenland to Aravis; and the two (whose messages converge into one central mission) bear this news speedily and frantically to King Lune of Archenland himself, often after running to the point of exhaustion. Another Mercurial motif is twins; as Gemini is associated with the planet Mercury, twins and dualness are prominent in this book. Prince Corin and Cor are themselves twins, while Mount Pire, a prominent landmark, is a double-peaked mountain said to have once been a two-headed giant. Lastly, Mercury is associated with language and linguistic cunning, an art shown effusively in the oral habits of the Calormenes. Lewis repeatedly makes a point that Calormene storytelling is some of the best storytelling in the world. Though the atmosphere of this book's governing planet is less pervasive than in others, the story is filled with elements pointing toward Mercury and its spiritual truths of activity, expression, revelation and reunion.