Chapter 8: What Happened After Dinner

Narnia Read-Along Vol. 1, Issue 9

I apologize for the delay again this week. Sometimes personal life intrudes into the wardrobe. I’m actually going to write some about all that tomorrow.

“Scattered, jumbled and smothered” sounds like a Waffle House order, but it’s also how my thoughts often are until I’m able to funnel them onto a page.

Writing allows me to clarify and collect the thoughts running through my brain. I think therefore I write. Lately, I’ve done a lot of thinking without the needed opportunity to write and process, so hopefully the piece tomorrow will help me and maybe you as well.

Inspiration for “What Happened After Dinner”

C.S. Lewis began work on a fairy tale adventure with four children but had no real direction—until a great lion “came bounding into” his story. Contrary to what some may assume, Lewis didn’t set out to write about a “Lion Jesus” to teach theology. When Aslan entered the story about four children in fantasy world, Lewis simply found it pulled everything together, not unlike how the “True Myth” of Jesus had done for Lewis.

Why did Lewis choose a lion to be the ruler of Narnia? In one sense, what else would the king of an animal world be but the king of the jungle? And when you’re creating an incarnational Lord of a fictional world, the imagery the lion of the tribe of Judah works. Lewis does say that it was connected to the biblical reference, but it’s also true that he had encountered many “lions” in his life that probably contributed to the discovery of Aslan.