by Charlie W. Starr
I am a C. S. Lewis fanatic. I’ve read all his works, been to his home in England, and even written a book about one of his stories. For an expert, it can be humbling when an amateur points out something you’ve missed. The book was The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first of Lewis’s classic Chronicles of Narnia. The hidden lesson was pointed out by my father-in-law who saw it the first time he read the book. That lesson still speaks to us today.
Lord, Liar or Lunatic
Early in LWW, Peter and Susan go to the old professor at whose house they’re staying because they’re troubled over their youngest sibling, Lucy, who claims to have walked through a wardrobe into a magical land called Narnia. They fear Lucy might be going mad. What they expect is that the professor will assume what they already have: that Narnia isn’t real and Lucy is either lying or disturbed. But the old professor doesn’t assume that at all. He first asks them whether or not Lucy is truthful. They reply that Lucy is very honest. Then they ask about madness. The professor replies that Lucy is clearly not mad. But the children don’t understand. How could a magical land through a wardrobe be real, especially when they looked at the wardrobe and found nothing? There couldn’t be a doorway there one minute and gone the next; it’s impossible. The professor disagrees completely, questioning the logic of their assumption. He concludes, on the contrary, that if Lucy is not lying, and not insane, then she must be telling the truth!
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