As it worked with Eustace's seasickness, logically it would have to work on other illnesses.

I have two things that would fit in this category from The Silver Chair. A possible error and possible plot hole are the names.

1. Plot hole? Could Caspian had been saved from his illness? Lucy had a cordial that could heal almost any injury or illness, and she even had some left in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Unless she ran out somehow? Thoughts?

2. Error with book and timeline? According to one timeline and accurate sources, Caspian X was said to have died at age 66. However, during the third chapter of The Silver Chair, I found some conflicting information.
Eustace said," And now apparently it's been about seventy years-- Narnian years-- since I was here last." Since Caspian was about 16 years old in VDT, he would have been 86 years old when he died, not 66 according to the timeline. Thoughts or opinions?

I think what we see of the use of Lucy's cordial very clearly shows what it can do and what it can't. In LWW it can save people's lives by healing wounds. But it can't bring back people who have already died. In PC it can heal Trumpkin and even the badly wounded Reepicheep, but it can't replace his chopped off tail. And whilst the cordial in VDT can reduce pain, inflammation and nausea, it cannot remove the physical causes of the pain, inflammation and nausea.

No cordial would have aided King Caspian X once his wife died. The cordial would not bring back his missing son, and it would not ease the heaviness of his grief-stricken heart over 10 years. It would not remove the cancer of loss nagging at him. Yes, a failing broken heart would most definitely give King Caspian X a nasty cough. And it would age the poor bloke prematurely.

I think that what C.S.Lewis is pointing out something here about the nature of time, itself, even in the real world. Yes, we can measure time in our world. But time in Narnia flowing differently reflects that personal revelations and journeys of the spirit, however profound and memorable, can take little or no time at all in our measured time of days, hours, and minutes. Whilst a time in despair and unhappiness, however short, can seem like an eternity. A man fully occupied and happy might not notice he is 86, and still feel like he is just 66. Whereas the same man, with a failing, broken heart, would feel like 86 at the age of 66. And the latter situation would leave him prey to the sorts of physical illnesses that the cordial might not be able to cure.

What Eustace perceives is a man he once knew in his youth who is now in poor shape at the end of his life. No wonder he is shocked.

In regards to the whole riding on a centaur or unicorn thing, it was mentioned in HHB that Talking Horses are only ridden in battle, when everyone must do what they can do best. They acknowlege that if it wasn't necessary, no one would have dared to ride a unicorn or centaur or anything like that.

A thought occurred to me over on the "Raiding vs. Stealing" thread- Bree's master immediately spots Shasta as a Northerner from his fair complexion; Edmund immediately mistakes him for Cor in Tashbaan, so he's not in disguise.

However, Shasta goes through any number of villages to buy food on their way north- doesn't it seem strange in a slave-holding empire that a 12-year-old (?) foreign boy is wandering around the countryside alone with money in his pocket?
(Think of an African boy in medieval England, or a blond boy in the countryside outside Baghdad)

As well, the guards in Tashbaan don't seem surprised to see a Northern slaveboy leading his master's horse- were there a lot of Northern slaves in Calormen?

However, Shasta goes through any number of villages to buy food on their way north- doesn't it seem strange in a slave-holding empire that a 12-year-old (?) foreign boy is wandering around the countryside alone with money in his pocket?
(Think of an African boy in medieval England, or a blond boy in the countryside outside Baghdad)

The blond boy in Afghanistan or Iraq would be the best analogy I'm thinking, since in the north of both countries there are people of Kurdish, Persian, Assyrian or Tajiki descent who are of slightly fairer complexion than others there. Perhaps when Shasta has to go shopping, it isn't all that uncommon for relatively fair-headed slaveboys to be abroad in Calormen, even with money, to do errands for their masters. And the stealing/raiding was to keep Shasta or Aravis from being seen too publically with or without money anyway.

I expect the Calormene villagers or the crowds in Tashbaan or even the soldier who struck Shasta, were not really on the lookout for fair-haired boys, being mostly preoccupied with their own affairs. That is why Hwin's idea of going through Tashbaan as ordinary peasants was such a good one. None of the four travellers really thought about Shasta's own physical differences as something to be worried about, especially as he was a bit grubby anyway..

Edmund of course was specifically looking for Corin or someone like him in Tashbaan. So of course he would have picked out Shasta, even in a crowd, especially because of Corin's fair hair. Even if he was mistaken in which boy he had collected, Edmund was the first to note the relationship Shasta had with Corin.

The real question is, why did it take all of ten years or more for someone in neighbouring Calormen to notice that Arsheesh and Shasta were not related, when a passing Tarkaan could pick out Arsheesh's lie so easily? Another question is, why would someone like Anradin specifically go to an out-of-the-way fisherman's hovel, demand free 5 star hospitality for the night, and be so interested in buying fair-haired Shasta?

Especially as Anradin already had some food in his saddlebags and even more especially as he, himself, told Arsheesh that he could have bought any amount of other boys in the neighbouring villages, where most likely he could have bought some food, such as a pasty, and which even might have had some sort of proper accommodation for travellers.

The real question is, why did it take all of ten years or more for someone in neighbouring Calormen to notice that Arsheesh and Shasta were not related, when a passing Tarkaan could pick out Arsheesh's lie so easily?

I think that there are two answers for this:

1. Arsheesh doesn't exactly strike me as the sort of person who would have many friends. HAHB does say that Shasta has frequently been tossed out into the stable with the donkey when Arsheesh has company. So the few friends that Arsheesh had might not have even known about Shasta, and certainly wouldn't have cared.

2. The few people who would care (such as the Tarkhaans and Tarkheenas) while numerous in Tashbaan, would not (I think) have been heavily concentrated in the far south of Calormen. Therefore, such an encounter would have been rare.

Another question is, why would someone like Anradin specifically go to an out-of-the-way fisherman's hovel, demand free 5 star hospitality for the night, and be so interested in buying fair-haired Shasta?

The book never says that he went out of his way. Bree says that the two of them were on their way to Tashbaan. They were most likely riding along the coast, and stopped at the first sign of civilization that they could, which just happened to be Arsheesh's.

As for buying "Fair-Haired Shasta," I think that has to do with three things:

1. He knows Arsheesh isn't Shasta's father, and that he's been getting free labour out of him. I don't think Arsheesh liked that fact very much. As he probably wouldn't have considered a fishermen worthy of having a slave.

2. The beauty of the northerners was prized by Calormens. It would be entertaining to have such a rarity in his "collection."

3. As nobility, Anradin had likely been raised to hate the North. He probably wanted Shasta to rub it in the faces of the Northern countries.

But back to the topic at hand,

I don't think that Northerners were all that common anywhere in Calormen (especially as far south as Arsheesh lived). And I doubt that Shasta had ever frequented a market. The book says that Arsheesh always took his donkey cart into the village; it never says anything about Shasta accompanying him.

Along those lines, I don't think that Shasta and Bree "raided" from any markets. Perhaps it mentions where they did their raiding in the books, but I cannot remember, and do not have a copy here to check. I think that they did most of their raids from local farms. Farming in the south of Calormen was big business. They had an empire that took up almost half of the known world, and had to have huge supplies to keep everybody fed. The southern climate was ideal for growing crops year round, and I think that farmhouses would have been much more common than markets.

EDIT: And I'm getting this thread confused with the current Raiding thread going on. So ignore my little comment about getting back to the topic at hand

You've raised some really good points, even if I don't agree with them.

1. Arsheesh doesn't exactly strike me as the sort of person who would have many friends. HAHB does say that Shasta has frequently been tossed out into the stable with the donkey when Arsheesh has company. So the few friends that Arsheesh had might not have even known about Shasta, and certainly wouldn't have cared.

Possibly you are right. But just because Shasta got thrown out when visitors arrived doesn't mean they didn't see him. Even the Tarkaan saw him at first. Besides, Shasta had been once or twice to the village with Arsheesh. On the very first page of the book we learn he didn't find that village very interesting. All he saw there was a bunch of men dressed like Arsheesh, with turbans who spoke very slowly about dull things. I bet what they had to say after he left might not be so dull. Furthermore, on p. 15 Shasta knew how Arsheesh would bargain, having often heard men bargaining in the village.

2. The few people who would care (such as the Tarkhaans and Tarkheenas) while numerous in Tashbaan, would not (I think) have been heavily concentrated in the far south of Calormen. Therefore, such an encounter would have been rare.

Maybe not. It seems that Anradin spent a lot of time in Tashbaan and was one of Rabadash's best pals. And because Bree knew the way to Tashbaan, it seems that Anradin had often travelled from the south to go there. This was the first time though that he had called in on Arsheesh and Shasta. Why did they stop on that occasion?

I don't think that Northerners were all that common anywhere in Calormen (especially as far south as Arsheesh lived).

Yes, but Anradin lived even further south, along with others who had to administer their estates. He kept slaves and owned a talking horse that had been captured from Narnia. When Bree's mother told him not to wander to the Southern slopes, you can be sure that Bree had hardly been the first talking horse to be captured, and this is confirmed when we meet Aravis and Hwin. We also know that the Calormenes went far afield to get slaves, as far as the Lone Islands, Galma and Terebithia. The slopes of Archenland might not be free of Calormene slavers either, especially with the likes of Lord Bar around.

Why I am pointing out all this is because I think that someone in the village must have told Anradin that Arsheesh had a fair-headed boy living with him. Maybe Anradin even asked about the fair-headed boy - if he was looking for a certain missing princeling, being deep in Rabadash's counsel. In the FotF audio version, Anradin comments that he could have bought another boy from the village.

The plot thickens...

)1 Shasta's presence causing surprise among the locals: these people were after all fishermen, even if land-based local ones- they must have been used to flotsam and jetsam being washed up, even dead bodies from shipwrecks, so a live one in a life-boat may not have seemed that unusual.

I bet most of them had heard Arsheesh's story so often they were sick of it, especially as it grew over the years- "then, hearing the infant's cry, and remembering the what the poets said about the Tree of Prosperity being watered by the Fountains of Mercy, Tash gave me strength to swim through the breakers..."

As well, even isolated fishermen are still based on the sea- younger sons and the reckless may go out on larger boats, or even merchant ships, or pirates, so a fair-haired foreigner might not have been so exotic as he would have seemed to peasants even a few miles inland.

2) As for location, I was under the impression that Arsheesh's village was somewhere on the middle of the coast, with Anradin being from farther in the South- and I also always had the feeling that the South was the real Calormen, with the Southern Tarkhaans being especially arrogant and independent, though I don't know where I got this idea.

3) As for Anradin actually looking for Shasta, it sems a little far-fetched, though possible; all the hubbub about Queen Susan may have stirred up stories and reminisces of the North, including the missing twin son.

4) Though, yeah, thinking a little more deeply (probably far more deeply than Lewis ever intended ) there's something mysterious about Anradin's showing up at that time.

A very wealthy, powerful and haughty Tarkhaan riding alone, without guards or servants, travelling along the deserted coast instead of the more settled and hospitable interior?

He's on some kind of mission, though I don't know if it necessarily involved Shasta- connected with the Tisroc's uneasy feelings about Rabadash, maybe? He seems the kind that might favor Rabadash's more aggressive Northern policy. Maybe he was bringing messages of support from the Southern lords for a plot against the Tisroc- to be launched with the news of Rabadash's marriage, indicating his readiness to mount the throne?

(Obviously I'm just winging this as I go...still, it's fun!)

That would explain why he stopped at Arsheesh's hut- he was pushing as far as he could go in one day, and so went on past the village.

As to why stay in a smelly hut- remember those beautiful green empty rolling hills to the north- nice place for a ride, maybe not so nice for an open-air camp without a tent or even firewood.

It seems that the weather was quite nice for Shasta's sleeping alfresco, so I'm sure the Tarkaan would not be too inconvenienced by having to do the same for a few nights. Unless, the journey being long, Anradin customarily made it a habit of staying in the first smelly hut he came across. Trouble is, he'd already passed through the village Arsheesh normally traded at, where he would even get a choice of which of several smelly huts to spend the night if he had to.

I bet most of them had heard Arsheesh's story so often they were sick of it, especially as it grew over the years- "then, hearing the infant's cry, and remembering the what the poets said about the Tree of Prosperity being watered by the Fountains of Mercy, Tash gave me strength to swim through the breakers..."

That is really funny, Graymouser. Except that Shasta only heard that tale for the first time when Anradin turned up. And Shasta customarily eavesdropped on Arsheesh when the latter was entertaining, and whenever else he could get away with it, so if Arsheesh had been in the habit of boasting about his tender heart etc, surely Shasta would have heard about his mysterious arrival at Arsheesh's place well beforehand. I think Arsheesh was as close-mouthed as he was close-fisted and tight with his money. He would only say anything if he thought he could make some money out of it as we see in the book.

He's on some kind of mission, though I don't know if it necessarily involved Shasta- connected with the Tisroc's uneasy feelings about Rabadash, maybe? He seems the kind that might favor Rabadash's more aggressive Northern policy. Maybe he was bringing messages of support from the Southern lords for a plot against the Tisroc- to be launched with the news of Rabadash's marriage, indicating his readiness to mount the throne?

Yes, I expect that Anradin had been summoned for Rabadash's wedding to Queen Susan, and to be at hand if Rabadash needed him in any way. And I am sure that Rabadash's intentions towards Susan had far more to do with a Calormene takeover of Narnia sooner or later, than it ever did because of her black-haired beauty.

Now I come to think about it, and hearing of the way Aravis previously travelled around Tashbaan, it is odder and odder that a single, unescorted, but fully armed Tarkaan would show up out of the blue at Arsheesh's hut. Where was Anradin's entourage? Quartered in the village? He must have been able to get help quickly to have reached Tashbaan in time to be part of Rabadash's two hundred horse expedition to Anvard.

I think though that C.S.Lewis wanted us to think from Shasta's point of view: that is to say, that the priority of anyone in Shasta's position would be to seize the chance to escape being sold as a slave as offered by Bree, and not to analyse why a lone Tarkaan would turn up out of the blue, and why he would be so interested in how Arsheesh came by Shasta in the first place. Of course Shasta would have been too stunned, himself, to find out that he was of no relationship to Arsheesh to understand in just how much danger he really was in if the sale had gone the way Arsheesh expected. Especially if one of Anradin's acquaintances over the year had been one Lord Bar.

If Bree and later Aravis hadn't been so arrogant, maybe they also should have stopped to think that Shasta was possibly in even more danger than simply being caught as a horse thief. But if Anradin did know about the missing Archenlandish prince, how was it that Queen Susan and King Edmund seemed to be ignorant of such a possibility when they were consorting with King Lune so much he entrusted them with his son on a Tashbaan expedition?

It seems that the weather was quite nice for Shasta's sleeping alfresco, so I'm sure the Tarkaan would not be too inconvenienced by having to do the same for a few nights. Unless, the journey being long, Anradin customarily made it a habit of staying in the first smelly hut he came across. Trouble is, he'd already passed through the village Arsheesh normally traded at, where he would even get a choice of which of several smelly huts to spend the night if he had to.

Well, sleeping under the stars might be more enticing to a young boy on his first adventure than to a seasoned old campaigner.

Except that Shasta only heard that tale for the first time when Anradin turned up. Anid Shasta customarily eavesdropped on Arsheesh when the latter was entertaining, and whenever else he could get away with it, so if Arsheesh had been in the habit of boasting about his tender heart etc, surely Shasta would have heard about his mysterious arrival at Arsheesh's place well beforehand. I think Arsheesh was as close-mouthed as he was close-fisted and tight with his money. He would only say anything if he thought he could make some money out of it as we see in the book.

Yea, you're right there. "Found him in some wreckage" when Shasta was a baby might have been enough, and he probably wouldn't have wanted any loose talk around that might start Shasta asking questions.

Yes, I expect that Anradin had been summoned for Rabadash's wedding to Queen Susan, and to be at hand if Rabadash needed him in any way. And I am sure that Rabadash's intentions towards Susan had far more to do with a Calormene takeover of Narnia sooner or later, than it ever did because of her black-haired beauty.

Now I come to think about it, and hearing of the way Aravis previously travelled around Tashbaan, it is odder and odder that a single, unescorted, but fully armed Tarkaan would show up out of the blue at Arsheesh's hut. Where was Anradin's entourage? Quartered in the village? He must have been able to get help quickly to have reached Tashbaan in time to be part of Rabadash's two hundred horse expedition to Anvard.

That's a really good point.

I'm leaning toward your original explanation that Anradin was actually looking for Shasta/Cor. It would explain not only why he was at Arsheesh's hut but why he was there alone, with his entourage back at the village.

We know there was a "war" faction led by Rabadash, and a, not exactly "peace'" , more like "status quo", faction which was the Tisroc supported by the Grand Vizier Ahoshta. Since Anradin was one of only a handful of Tarkaans on the Archenland expedition, it can be assumed that not only was he a war supporter, but that he was closely aligned with Rabadash.

After all, he was a military aristocrat, and war is what these guys did- it's how they got their wealth, power, and glory- and a shot at becoming Tisroc.

He would have despised the 'appeasement' policy of the base-born Ahoshta, who was busily accumulating wealth and power - the last thing the Grand Vizier wanted was any change in the status quo.

I have to admit I might be influnced by having just finished "Wolf Hall" by Hilary mantel, winner of the 2009 Booker Award- and, as straight-forward historical fiction,a welcome change from the usual post-modern stuff that wins awards.
It's about the rise of Thomas Cromwell as advisor to Henry VIII, and the fall of his great predecessor Cardinal Wolsey.

Both of them low-born- Cromwell a blacksmith's son, Wolsey a butcher's; both reaching their position through undestanding of intrigue and finance, both accumulating great wealth, both anxious to avoid war which would disrupt commerce, and both despised for it by the great feudal nobility.

We know that Bar was a traitor in Calormen pay, presumably in a plot to allow Calormen to conquer Archenland, and that his exposure and subsequent kidnapping of Cor might have proven embarrassing to the Tisroc, even if he had 'deniability'- for one thing it would have alerted Archenland to his machinations, and drawn them closer to Narnia.

If Anradin had been one of the war faction, he might have been involved in this, and thus fallen from favour with the Tisroc, allowing for the rise of Ahoshta.
Of course, by urging on the Crown Prince he'd hope to be eventually get back into power.

(Crown Princes have a long-history of chafing against the restrictions of their long-lived fathers, seeking to replace their "realist" diplomacy with a grab for glory themselves- Henry VIII after the long rule of the penny-pinching Henry VII for one)

The idea of the Archenland expedition seems to have been developed pretty quickly- unless it was a long-standing contingency. And it probably wasn't the brain-child of Rabadash, who certainly wasn't the sharpest arrow in the quiver.

Again speculation, but if Anradin ha been involved in Northern intrigue,he would thus be very aware of what happened to Cor, and if word did reach him of a fair-haired boy of about the right age living on the coast....

Hmm, I don't quite see the connection between the likes of Ahoshta and the likes of Thomas Cromwell and Cardinal Wolsey, both of whom merely tried to do the bidding of that would be philanderer, Henry VIII, and got themselves destroyed in the process. But I agree that Ahoshta might have been a somewhat more cringeing lackey to the Tisroc, whose philandering resulted in 'eighteen other sons'. Henry VIII would have considered himself so lucky!

We know there was a "war" faction led by Rabadash, and a, not exactly "peace'" , more like "status quo", faction which was the Tisroc supported by the Grand Vizier Ahoshta. Since Anradin was one of only a handful of Tarkaans on the Archenland expedition, it can be assumed that not only was he a war supporter, but that he was closely aligned with Rabadash.

We know that the Tisroc left Narnia strictly alone whilst the White Witch was there, and that until that conversation Aravis overheard, he really wasn't convinced that Narnia was worth their while. He wasn't going to stick his neck out over a land that, even if it wasn't snowbound any more, certainly had not recovered from its previous condition by natural means.

Anradin being one of Rabadash's men suggests that he might have known more about Archenland than one would have expected from someone from Southern Calormen. He might have accompanied Rabadash on a previous visit to Cair Paravel, and he might also have known Lord Bar ten years earlier, or whenever Cor was kidnapped. I wouldn't be too surprised if that was the case if it was Anradin that suggested the Archenland idea to Rabadash, and I wouldn't be surprised if all along there was a long-standing plan for Calormen to get Archenland, and Narnia, later on, if possible. And yes, my guess is that Anradin would have used his search for fair complexioned boys as a cover to find out what had happened to the missing baby.

We know that Bar was a traitor in Calormen pay, presumably in a plot to allow Calormen to conquer Archenland, and that his exposure and subsequent kidnapping of Cor might have proven embarrassing to the Tisroc, even if he had 'deniability'- for one thing it would have alerted Archenland to his machinations, and drawn them closer to Narnia.

If Anradin had been one of the war faction, he might have been involved in this, and thus fallen from favour with the Tisroc, allowing for the rise of Ahoshta.

I wouldn't go so far as to say Anradin wasn't in favour with the Tisroc, but yes, I agree with you, if he had been involved with Lord Bar he wouldn't have wanted to have advertised the fact too openly when Cor's kidnapping miscarried so spectacularly. I wonder if he would have wanted to produce Cor at some suitable time, or whether he would have wanted to quietly kill Cor once he stopped being useful as a slave.

It seems that Archenland was more than aware of the Lord Bar/Archenland connection, and yes, they did draw closer to Narnia. But when? Once the White Witch was defeated, the four Pevensies ruled Narnia. But they were still children with their hands full. By the time Anradin had a mind to buy Shasta from Arsheesh, Shasta was eleven or twelve. Quite old enough to earn his living, according to Arsheesh. I think the Pevensies were in Narnia for about 15 years, weren't they?

What we don't have is some sort of time line to trace events from Shasta's and Corin's birth and the Lord Bar kidnapping up to their meeting up again in a Tashbaan palace. By that time, Queen Susan could say that Corin and she had been friends for time out of mind, and seems to be such a trusted friend of King Lune that he allowed his remaining son to travel with her and King Edmund to Tashbaan. However, the Pevensies don't seem to know about the missing baby prince. Didn't King Lune ever tell them in all that time? Or was the subject too painful for him to discuss?

Edmund in the book does notice that the boy he picks out from the crowd is unusually hangdog and silent, compared to Corin's usual behaviour, but he doesn't notice how different are the clothes the boy is wearing, or anything else unusual about him. Even Queen Susan doesn't really notice, which I find strange. For I doubt that Cor/Shasta had been anywhere near as well-fed as Corin would have been up to that point.

By the way, how long do you think Edmund and Susan were in Tashbaan before they realised they were less free to go than they would have liked? Only a few days? Or was it longer?

Yea, you're right there. "Found him in some wreckage" when Shasta was a baby might have been enough, and he probably wouldn't have wanted any loose talk around that might start Shasta asking questions.

I'm not so sure. Shasta had always been instructed to call Arsheesh 'father', however he felt about Arsheesh. I doubt that the Tarkaan would have been too impressed with 'found him in some wreckage' or even Arsheesh's cronies. I think Arsheesh would have enjoyed skiting about Shasta's mythical mother - that would have made him look good in the neighbourhood, wouldn't it?

Hmm, I don't quite see the connection between the likes of Ahoshta and the likes of Thomas Cromwell and Cardinal Wolsey, both of whom merely tried to do the bidding of that would be philanderer, Henry VIII, and got themselves destroyed in the process. But I agree that Ahoshta might have been a somewhat more cringeing lackey to the Tisroc, whose philandering resulted in 'eighteen other sons'. Henry VIII would have considered himself so lucky!

Sure, from our historical viewpoint- but if you had asked the Dukes of Norfolk or Sussex, or members of the other old nobility, I bet their attitudes to commoners with the King's ear like Wolsey and Cromwell would have been similar to an Anradin's view of Ahoshta.

I wouldn't go so far as to say Anradin wasn't in favour with the Tisroc, but yes, I agree with you, if he had been involved with Lord Bar he wouldn't have wanted to have advertised the fact too openly when Cor's kidnapping miscarried so spectacularly. I wonder if he would have wanted to produce Cor at some suitable time, or whether he would have wanted to quietly kill Cor once he stopped being useful as a slave.

Or a "Man in the Iron Mask" substitution?

It seems that Archenland was more than aware of the Lord Bar/Archenland connection, and yes, they did draw closer to Narnia. But when? Once the White Witch was defeated, the four Pevensies ruled Narnia. But they were still children with their hands full. By the time Anradin had a mind to buy Shasta from Arsheesh, Shasta was eleven or twelve. Quite old enough to earn his living, according to Arsheesh. I think the Pevensies were in Narnia for about 15 years, weren't they?

This draws us close to the biggest plot hole/discrepancy/inconsistency of all, the difference between the Narnia of LWW and the one of HHB- but that's a whole can of worms for later.

However, the Pevensies don't seem to know about the missing baby prince. Didn't King Lune ever tell them in all that time? Or was the subject too painful for him to discuss?

Ahh, another good point

Edmund in the book does notice that the boy he picks out from the crowd is unusually hangdog and silent, compared to Corin's usual behaviour, but he doesn't notice how different are the clothes the boy is wearing, or anything else unusual about him. Even Queen Susan doesn't really notice, which I find strange. For I doubt that Cor/Shasta had been anywhere near as well-fed as Corin would have been up to that point.

The clothes they probably would have written off as some prank, the appearance maybe- but they did have other things on their mind.

By the way, how long do you think Edmund and Susan were in Tashbaan before they realised they were less free to go than they would have liked? Only a few days? Or was it longer?

Hadn't really thought about it, but I'd say a few weeks at least- long enough for Rabadash to get impatient, not that he was the forebearing type.

Oh, one thing I checked- the Hermit refers to Anradin and the other Tarkhaans a fierce "Eastern" lords, not Southern.

I'm not so sure. Shasta had always been instructed to call Arsheesh 'father', however he felt about Arsheesh. I doubt that the Tarkaan would have been too impressed with 'found him in some wreckage' or even Arsheesh's cronies. I think Arsheesh would have enjoyed skiting about Shasta's mythical mother - that would have made him look good in the neighbourhood, wouldn't it?

"That beautiful Northern blonde I met that time I was off doing deep-sea fishing those couple of years"? Not only a bit of a stretch, but wouldn't they hve known when Shasta showed up- no matter how anxious Arsheesh would have been to keep Shasta under wraps?

"That beautiful Northern blonde I met that time I was off doing deep-sea fishing those couple of years"? Not only a bit of a stretch, but wouldn't they hve known when Shasta showed up- no matter how anxious Arsheesh would have been to keep Shasta under wraps?

Ah yes, you are right. But I was thinking of something a bit more sleazy, that you wouldn't have put in a children's novel anyway. Something that would allow Arsheesh to claim - perhaps more truthfully than he knew himself - that Shasta looked like his etc etc and so forth etc 'mother'. That is to say, "that etc etc and so forth 'huzzy' and 'false jade'" (supply your own suitable pejoratives - we've all heard them at sometime or other. ).

Arsheesh might then be able to tell his cronies, who didn't of necessity have the same opportunites for travelling and getting lost: 'She was good for the time I was shipwrecked'. But also 'She did me wrong, landing me with this useless bludger (use your own pejorative for a 'lazy, good-for-nothing' ) of a child to look after. If I wasn't such a tender-hearted father, and mindful of the wrath of the Gods, I'd have got rid of him long ago.' Then, having satisfied their curiosity, he wouldn't have needed to keep Shasta under wraps quite so much. Besides, whilst with Arsheesh all Shasta ever heard was a lot of things that poets and sages had said already, and which Arsheesh and friends repeated very slowly, many times. That is also how Arsheesh could keep questions at a minimum.

Sure, from our historical viewpoint- but if you had asked the Dukes of Norfolk or Sussex, or members of the other old nobility, I bet their attitudes to commoners with the King's ear like Wolsey and Cromwell would have been similar to an Anradin's view of Ahoshta.

Again you are right. Especially about the Dukes of Norfolk or Sussex. But the likes of Thomas Cromwell, let alone Cardinal Wolsey, weren't in any position to marry any of their noble, nubile daughters, who were either reserved for Henry VIII, himself, or related to him through Henry's sister, Mary, who was rather fond of Catherine of Aragon, and no friend of Anne Boleyn's.

In any case, it would be more like Aravis and maybe her father, who was disdainful of Ahoshta, rather than Anradin, himself. Anradin, after all, was prepared to bargain with Arsheesh, eat his food and even drink the wine of someone who was not only dirt poor, but of even lower rank than Ahoshta would ever be.

Or a "Man in the Iron Mask" substitution?

That might work, too. And a good reason for Anradin, himself, to keep Shasta under wraps. I was thinking of blackmail as well. Especially of the Tisroc and Rabadash, himself, if Anradin's relationship with Rabadash or his brothers or even Queen Susan turned sour. Remember that Arsheesh found Shasta in the first year of the Tisroc's reign, according to HHB the book. What was Lord Bar playing at by abducting Shasta, anyway?

Hadn't really thought about it, but I'd say a few weeks at least- long enough for Rabadash to get impatient, not that he was the forebearing type.

Oh, one thing I checked- the Hermit refers to Anradin and the other Tarkhaans a fierce "Eastern" lords, not Southern.

Yes, it might take a few weeks for Susan to begin to be disillusioned. She'd need a while to observe Rabadash's behaviour before starting to have doubts about him. Otherwise she would have looked silly after encouraging him in the first place.

That Anradin was one of the 'fierce Eastern Tarkaans' stands to reason. They were by the coast, which according to C.S. Lewis' map of Calormen, ran north and south. I was going by what Bree said that home for Anradin was south. Look on page 19 HHB. Bree tells Shasta that he and the Tarkaan were on their way North. Shasta then asks if it would be better then to go South..... Bree replies:

'I think not'..... You see, he thinks I'm dumb and witless like his other horses. Now if I really were, the moment I got loose, I'd go back home to my stable and paddock, back to his palace which is two days' journey South. That's where he'll look for me.....And anyway, he will probably think that someone in the last village who saw him ride through has followed us to here and stolen me."

In any case Anradin living in the East, near the coast also shows he would be more familiar with the sea, with shipping, and probably involved with Lord Bar, aligned with Rabadash, in particular, unlike Western Tarkaans like Emeth, some centuries later on. It may also account for all those battles Bree had participated in.

Another question is, why would someone like Anradin specifically go to an out-of-the-way fisherman's hovel, demand free 5 star hospitality for the night, and be so interested in buying fair-haired Shasta?

I think Anradin was a character who was proud of his military 'hardness', and would actually get a perverse pleasure showing how hardened he was, able to sleep on the ground, travel alone. ride hard for many days, etc etc - and also get an angry satisfaction from bullying some villager in a remote hamlet into giving him their paltry 'hospitality' - so that he could despise the villager for their poverty, and at the same time congratulate himself for not being 'soft'.

Now that is a very good point which does explain a lot. Why Anradin rode alone, at least on that particular occasion. And why he would be okay with sleeping al fresco most of the time. As one of the fierce Eastern Tarkaans he certainly would be militaristic, and Bree's tales of the battle of Zalindreh and others certainly bear this out.

Though, I still wonder if Anradin was really as unaccompanied as he looked at Arsheesh's hut, when by the time Shasta left Tashbaan with Aravis, Bree and Hwin, Anradin was available in Tashbaan to take part in Rabadash's 200 horse on the ride to Anvard. Even if Anradin took the donkey, that would be four days' journey lost if he had to go back to his own palace to get another horse. How then did Anradin get to Tashbaan in time to accompany Rabadash?

It still does not answer the question why Anradin would choose to stay with Arsheesh in the first place, when he had never met Arsheesh beforehand, and when Arsheesh lived north of the last village, rather than in the village, itself. Why not stay at the village where Anradin had a choice of villagers to pick on? Was Anradin really so partial to Arsheesh's cooking?

C.S.Lewis had his answer to that question: Anradin wanted to buy Arsheesh's oddly fair complexioned son as a slave. And was oddly interested in hearing the truth about how Arsheesh came by the boy. The truth, mind you. And did you notice the veiled threat suggesting how he would have Arsheesh whipped in that conversation if he didn't tell the truth? How did Anradin happen to know that Arsheesh would have a fair complexioned child staying with him who was not really his son, before he decided to go there?

I imagine that Anradin was also one of the more powerful of Rabadash's faction. His palace was two days' journey south of Arsheesh's cottage so he could have been the local warlord for the entire district. He was clearly the Tisroc's man, and so clearly Rabadash's ally, but even if he wasn't, it would still be his business to know who was who in his own domain.