Crystal and I read the following portion of The Horse and His Boy the other day. C.S. Lewis is describing a battle taking place at a stronghold called Anvard:
The best way I can tell you what really happened is to take you some miles away to where the Hermit of the Southern March sat gazing into the smooth pool beneath the spreading tree, with Bree and Hwin and Aravis beside him.
For it was in this pool that the Hermit looked when he wanted to know what was going on in the world outside the green walls of his hermitage. There, as in a mirror, he could see, at certain times, what was going on in the streets of cities far farther south than Tashbaan, or what ships were putting into Redhaven in the remote Seven Isles, or what robbers or wild beasts stirred in the great Western forests between Lantern Waste and Telmar. (pg. 200)
I have two observations:
- We have the Hermit’s pool. It’s called the internet. It is astounding to me that the capabilities of a mystical pool in a children’s fiction tale are at our fingertips.
- The negative consequence of this is that it may make us more like hermits than we like to think.
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October 6, 2008 at 11:59 am
Paul
My observation about your observations is that they are insightful. :-)
I suppose one difference with *our* mystical pool is that we’re not limited to simply knowing what’s going on elsewhere. We can also participate in what’s going on. (That can be an advantage or a disadvantage.)
October 15, 2008 at 11:35 am
Tim
My wife and I are currently reading Horse and His Boy together. It’s a great series. I’d be curious to see how many of your readers enjoy reading books as a married couple.
Good work on the blog. I’m new to the blogging world and it’s encouraging to see it being done well.
Keep it up.