The prophecy of freedom - a Guest Blog

Another guest blog from my daughter, now 14 years old. This piece won the imaginative text response category of a local writing competition with "a prophecy to enhance CS Lewis' lovely book, 'Prince Caspian'."

The prophecy of freedom  - a guest blog by Tianna Moo-shoo

 

I’m sure that most of the people who read this, have read the book “Prince Caspian” by C.S. Lewis. And I’m sure that most of you know it’s a great story. 

But C.S. Lewis forgot one vital part of the story when he wrote the book. I’m not sure if he left it out on purpose or if he just forgot about it, but I thought that I should tell you anyway:

After the night of Tarva and Alambil, Caspian and his tutor had many more secret conversations on 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 one of his favourite conversations was when Dr Cornelius told him some very important and relieving information:

“Caspian,” whispered Dr Cornelius, shaking the sleeping prince, “Caspian!”

Caspian rubbed his eyes and saw his tutor shaking him. He looked out the window. It was still dark. From the position of the glowing Narnian moon, he guessed it was about 2:30 in the morning. He let out a big yawn and stretched out his stiff arms.

“Are we going for another astronomy lesson Doctor?” yawned Caspian.

“Hush!” Dr Cornelius whisper-shouted, “Careful, we don’t want to wake anyone. No, we aren’t having another lesson. I need to tell you something far more important.”

This excited Caspian, as he wondered what the doctor would tell him. The prince jumped out of bed and staggered for his cloak and looked for his boots. When he was finally ready, he followed the doctor through many passages and up several staircases and through the little door in the turret which led to another door. Dr Cornelius quietly fumbled for his key and then opened the door leading to the steep winding staircase. Once they were at the top, Caspian smiled at his favourite part of the castle; their secret place.

“Now” said the doctor, taking hold of Caspian’s cold hands. “I need to tell you something very important. This could lead to our freedom, to saving Narnia.”

Caspian marvelled at the doctor and grew very excited. “Tell me Doctor, tell me!”

“Hush!” said the doctor, “Even though this area is soundproof to the rest of the castle, we don’t want someone outside to hear us. This might be some of the most important information currently in Narnia.”

The doctor lowered his voice to a whisper, and brought his face closer to Caspian’s, so that they were eye-to-eye.

“I have been doing some more studying. As you know, I have told you, and you alone, that I have found something and have been working on it in every spare hour I have. Well, the thing I have found is one of the most incredible things that I have seen in my lifetime so far.”

He pulled out a very old looking, musty scroll from his cloak, and very carefully, he drew a deep breath, and said “Caspian, the thing that I have found, is this. This scroll holds a very important secret of Narnia. I had to mutter many spells to find it, in the ruins of Cair Paravel, and went through much trouble for it, too.”

Caspian wished that the doctor would hurry up and get to the point, as he could manage his excitement no longer. 

“Please tell me doctor, before I explode with excitement!”

The doctor drew another deep breath and patiently said, “Caspian, this is a prophecy, a prediction. It tells of Narnia’s future. I have studied it and most of these clues match up; these events are on their way.”

“Oh, do read the prophecy to me doctor,” pleaded Caspian, “If someone predicted something about the future, and wrote it down, then it ought to be told.”

The wise tutor frowned, and firmly, he whispered, “Caspian, that is not true. Yes, someone predicted it, but they hid it, deep within the ruins of Cair Paravel. That means that, if it fell into the wrong hands, it could cause trouble, and could even be prevented from happening. But I trust you, and will tell you all the same. But you must promise not to tell any Telmarine about this, for they will not like it.”

Caspian promised, and the wise doctor began reading the scroll aloud:

In the time of the tenth king,

Before he even reigns.

Soon after Tarva and Alambil,

Things are not the same.

The trees dance no longer,

Most creatures do not speak.

For the old ones are in danger,

The power of Aslan, they seek.

For Aslan’s right,

And Aslan’s might,

Is truly an amazing sight.

For all evil will tremble with fright.

In the time of Caspian the Tenth,

Who longs for the “Old days”,

A queen will finally give birth,

And there will be danger where he lays.

He must flee from the castle,

As far as he can get,

And with the blow of Susan’s Horn,

The battle is all set.

The Kings and Queens return,

Ready for a fight.

The Glorious Aslan joins them,

And roars with all his might.

For Aslan’s right,

And Aslan’s might,

Is truly an amazing sight.

For all evil will tremble with fright.

The fauns will shout with joy.

The trees will dance again.

All creatures will sing happily,

For Aslan is there, with them.

For Aslan’s right,

And Aslan’s might,

Is truly an amazing sight.

For all evil will tremble with fright.

The battle is long and hard,

And no one feels at ease.

But then they form a clever plan

Which, they decide to seize.

The High King is ready to win,

And a lot of pressure forms.

But he takes up all his courage,

And his sword starts to perform.

The fight takes lot of work,

And the pressure continues to grow.

But the enemy proves quite clumsy,

And is defeated, by his soldier’s blow.

The enemy’s followers will fight, then run,

And make it to their home town.

The Narnians have won the victory,

And no Narnian wears a frown.

For Aslan’s right,

And Aslan’s might,

Is truly an amazing sight.

For all evil will tremble with fright.

He brings much delight

And shines with light.

Which makes the stars look less than bright.

And you shall be safe with him tonight.

 

When the doctor had finished, he brought himself even closer to Caspian, so that their noses almost touched, and whispered “Caspian, this is about you. You are Caspian the tenth, the prince from the prophecy. The clues match up. We recently saw Tarva and Alambil’s passing each other. I don’t know any creature in Narnia that speaks, and the trees don’t dance. Two of the paragraphs are already fulfilled.  And the rest seem to be on their way.”

Caspian felt his face turn white. He couldn’t believe what his tutor was saying.

The doctor saw Caspian’s face, and smiled.  

“Caspian, don’t you understand? You are Caspian the Tenth! You are going to be the one to save Narnia, and bring her back to her former glory! You will be known as the amazing hero for the rest of eternity, that is, if you do what is right.  You will be the one to put an end to Miraz’s selfishness, even though the prophecy says that he will be killed by his own soldier. Maybe it is just a regular soldier, or maybe it’s you. You are still a Telmarine, no matter what. So you are one of Miraz’s soldiers anyway, even now. And even better, the prophecy tells of kings and queens, and the Mighty Aslan!  That means that you will eventually see him. Caspian, you are the one who will save Narnia.”

Caspian could not believe this. It was too much to take in. Could this be true, is it even possible that he could save Narnia from her troubles?

He and the doctor talked a bit longer, and then went to bed. Caspian couldn’t sleep for a while, thinking about his future victory.

Eventually, Caspian and the doctor forgot all about this, and only remembered after they had already won the victory. It was almost as if the scroll released some kind of magic to make them forget while the prediction was in the process of coming true. I guess that it was good that they forgot, so that they still had to figure out what to do, and still have the sense of adventure in the victory.

                             

There you have it. ‘The Prophecy of freedom.’ I can tell that most of you who read this don’t think that this was really part of the story. But that is for you to decide. You have the choice to believe it or not.

I’m sure that some of the people who read this will think that reading it was a waste of your time. But you need to read between the lines. When you think about it, this story is an allegory of about life. Like, about the end of the world, Aslan (being Jesus) coming to set the world free of Miraz (being Satan) and his sins. Like, about the battle with Jesus (being Aslan) and Satan (being The White Witch or Miraz) at the end, before we get to heaven. But I can’t tell you how this story relates to life; you need to find that out yourself. Because you never know, the end could be soon, maybe even just one wardrobe away..

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