Refusing to See

(This post is part of a series of posts about The Chronicles of Narnia.)

The Last Battle tells how the country of Narnia falls, through treachery, to its enemies, the Calormenes. Before the end, belief in Aslan had been questioned by many in Narnia, most especially by the Dwarfs. In a desperate nighttime battle, one by one, King Tirian and his friends, including Eustace and Jill, are flung into a stable where unknown horrors await them. Before that point, a group of dwarfs had also been pushed into the stable, after they had shot their arrows at both the Narnians and the Calormenes.

When Tirian emerges through the door of the stable, he finds to his surprise that he is in a brightly lit world, with pleasant fruit trees. Tirian is now wearing beautiful comfortable clothes, and in the presence of almost all the people from our world who have ever come to Narnia: Peter, Edmund, Lucy, Digory, and Polly, as well as Eustace and Jill. They are all attired as kings and queens.

After some explanations of what has happened since they have been there, the group turns its attention to the Dwarfs who had previously been flung into the stable. The Dwarfs are seated in a little circle, paying no attention to the gorgeous surroundings. Tirian and his friends approach the Dwarfs.

"Look out!" said one of them in a surly voice. "Mind where you are going. Don't walk into our faces!"

"All right!" said Eustace indignantly. "We're not blind. We've got eyes in our heads."

"They must be darn good ones if you can see in here," said the same Dwarf whose name was Diggle.

"In where?" asked Edmund.

"Why you bone-head, in here of course," said Diggle. "In this pitch-black, poky, smelly little hole of a stable."

"Are you blind?" said Tirian.

"Ain't we all blind in the dark?" said Diggle.

"But it isn't dark, you stupid Dwarfs," said Lucy. "Can't you see? Look up! Look round! Can't you see the sky and the trees and the flowers? Can't you see me?"

"How in the name of Humbug can I see what ain't there? And how can I see you any more than you can see me in this pitch darkness?"

"But I can see you," said Lucy. "I'll prove I can see you. You've got a pipe in your mouth."

"Anyone that knows the smell of baccy could tell that," said Diggle.

"Oh, the poor things! This is dreadful," said Lucy. Then she had an idea. She stooped and picked some wild violets. "Listen, Dwarf," she said. "Even if your eyes are wrong, perhaps your nose is all right: can you smell that?" She leaned across and held the fresh, damp flowers to Diggle's nose. But she had to jump back quickly in order to avoid a blow from his hard little fist.

"None of that!" he shouted. "How dare you! What do you mean by shoving a lot of filthy stable-litter in my face? There was a thistle in it too...."

Lucy, Tirian and the others try a little longer to convince the Dwarfs that they are not in a black, dirty stable, but they have no success. The Dwarfs see everything wrong.

Then, suddenly, Aslan appears. After the friends have flung themselves at his feet and adored him, Lucy asks Aslan if he can help the Dwarfs. Aslan replies that he will show her how much—and how little—he can do. He provides a wondrous feast for the Dwarfs, but they think it is only garbage and dirty trough water that they have scrounged for in the stable. The Dwarfs say:

"Well, at any rate there's no Humbug here. We haven't let anyone take us in. The Dwarfs are for the Dwarfs."

"You see," said Aslan. "They will not let us help them."

How sad that is! As Lucy and the rest soon discovered, the Dwarfs were in the midst of Paradise—Aslan's own country. It was truly Heaven. No more sorrow was to be any more the lot of Tirian, Lucy, Eustace, and the rest. But the Dwarfs had refused to take part in that wonderful life.

Because the Dwarfs wanted to be sure that they were not fooled by anyone, to be sure that they did not believe anything foolish, they had denied to themselves the greatest blessing and happiness that anyone could ever wish for. All they had to do was open their eyes to Aslan and they would have had joy and life beyond imagining. But instead they kept their minds tightly barricaded against him, and they remained in the black, dirty, miserable stable.

So it often is in our world. Many of us do not want to believe what we used to believe as children. We feel we know better now that we think we are mature. We shut Christ out of our lives. In doing this, we have imprisoned ourselves in a dark, dirty, wretched hovel, when all we would have to do is give ourselves to Christ, and we would find ourselves in a land of beauty and abundance of joy.