TCN05 - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Part 08 of 09

Doug Gresham: Last time on the Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
Lucy Pevensie: It's so, so black.
Prince Caspian: Dare we go into this?
Lord Drinian: Not by my advice.
Reepicheep: Who calls? If you are a foe, we do not fear you. And if you are a friend, your enemies shall be taught the fear of us.
Ramandu: Fly. Fly, I tell you, fly.
Reepicheep: We are not used to flying, sir. What is the danger?
Ramandu: This is the island where dreams come true. Do you hear what I say? This is where dreams come to life, come real, not daydreams or wishes, but dreams, nightmares.
Prince Caspian: Trinian, how long did we take rowing in?
Lord Drinian: Five minutes perhaps. Why?
Prince Caspian: Because we've been more than that already trying to get out.
Guest (Male): We are never getting out. Never. He's steering us wrong.
Lord Drinian: Row it. Put your energy in your rowing, not your panic.
Lucy Pevensie: Aslan, if you ever loved this please send us help now. Please. Look. A light. I can see a light.
Ramandu: This is a great mystery to me. You destroyed that accursed island.
Prince Caspian: Lord Rhu, I don't think it was us.
Doug Gresham: The most beloved children's series.
Guest (Female): And what wonderful adventures we shall have.
Lucy Pevensie: Oh, I do wish we knew the story that's behind all this.
Doug Gresham: Brought to glorious life.
Edmund Pevensie: It's the army. It's and he's coming this way.
Guest (Male): Quick, we must get to Anvard before them.
Reepicheep: Tomorrow, I will begin the conquest of the world.
Doug Gresham: And coming to an imagination near you.
Eustace Scrubb: There's not much point in finding a magic ring that lets you into other worlds if you're afraid to look at them when you've got there.
Doug Gresham: C. S. Lewis's classic Narnia series, available for you to cherish in your own home. Produced by Focus on the Family's Radio Theatre. Stories like The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Horse and His Boy, The Magician's Nephew, Prince Caspian, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader now can be yours. Call our toll-free number at 1-800 the letter A Family, or visit our website at radiotheatre.org. Focus on the Family Radio Theatre. Set sail for adventure.
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Edmund Pevensie: Well, I say this looks splendid.
Eustace Scrubb: But where are the guests?
Lord Drinian: We can provide that.
Prince Caspian: Look. At the head of the table, something or some things. Oh, yes. What are those? Beavers?
Edmund Pevensie: No, I I don't think so.
Prince Caspian: Or is it a huge bird's nest?
Edmund Pevensie: Could be.
Prince Caspian: It looks more like a haystack to me.
Edmund Pevensie: Yes.
Reepicheep: I will go and see. These will not fight, I think.
Prince Caspian: What are they?
Reepicheep: Three men, sire. What you saw and could not identify is their hair.
Prince Caspian: Good heavens. It's an overgrown tangle.
Edmund Pevensie: I've never seen such long hair. It covers, it covers everything.
Prince Caspian: Are they dead?
Reepicheep: I think not, sire. This one is warm and his pulse beats in his wrist.
Prince Caspian: This one too.
Edmund Pevensie: And this one.
Prince Caspian: Why? They're only asleep.
Edmund Pevensie: It's been a long sleep though to let their hair grow like this.
Lucy Pevensie: It must be an enchanted sleep. I felt from the moment we landed on this island that it was full of magic. Oh, do you think we have perhaps come here to break it?
Prince Caspian: We can try. Trinian, shake that one a little to see if he'll wake up.
Lord Drinian: Wake up, sir. Wake up.
Ramandu: I'll go eastward no more. Out oars for Narnia.
Lord Drinian: Out oars for Narnia? Edmunda, how about that one?
Prince Caspian: Wake up. Hey you, wake up.
Ramandu: No, what? Born to live like animals. Get to the east while you have a chance. Huh? Lands behind the sun in here.
Prince Caspian: Try the third, Trinian. Hello? Wake up. Hello?
Reepicheep: Mustard, please.
Edmund Pevensie: It's no good.
Prince Caspian: No. But at least we know our quest is at an end. Look at the insignia on their rings. Yes. The Lord Revillian, the Lord Argos, and the Lord Mavramorn.
Edmund Pevensie: But what if we can't wake them? Then what are we to do?
Prince Caspian: I don't know.
Lord Drinian: Your Majesty, we don't see a dinner like this every day. Why not eat while we discuss our plan?
Prince Caspian: Not on your life.
Guest (Male): That's right. There's too much magic around here.
Reepicheep: Depend upon it. It was from eating this food that these three lords came by a seven years sleep.
Lord Drinian: Well, in that case the lights going uncommon quick. We should go back to the ship.
Prince Caspian: But what of these three sleepers?
Edmund Pevensie: We can decide what to do with them tomorrow. We daren't eat the food and there's no point staying here for the night. The whole place smells of magic and danger.
Reepicheep: I am entirely of King Evan's opinion as far as concerns the ship's company in general, but I myself will sit at this table till sunrise.
Edmund Pevensie: Why on earth?
Reepicheep: Because this is a very great adventure. And no danger seems to me so great as that of knowing when I get back to Narnia that I left a mystery behind me through fear.
Edmund Pevensie: I will stay here with you, Rhu.
Prince Caspian: And I too.
Edmund Pevensie: And me. Then I will too.
Lord Drinian: I beseech your Majesty.
Prince Caspian: No, no my Lord Trinian. Your place is with the ship and you have had a day's work while we five have idled. Now take the crew back to the Dawn Treader. We'll see you in the morning.
Lord Drinian: I go under protest, sire. This whole business gives me a cold feeling in the pit of my stomach. Good night, sire.
Prince Caspian: Good night.
Edmund Pevensie: So, what now?
Prince Caspian: I suppose we should sit down.
Edmund Pevensie: Somewhere in the middle of the table, I think.
Guest (Male): Yes.
Doug Gresham: At last they settled down. It was about 10 by now and almost dark. They wrapped themselves in their sea cloaks and sat still and waited.
Edmund Pevensie: And how long have they been asleep?
Prince Caspian: Hard to tell.
Doug Gresham: At first there was some attempt at talk, but it didn't come to much. And they sat and sat. And all the time they heard the waves breaking on the beach. After hours that seemed like ages, there came a moment when they all knew that they'd been dozing a moment before, but were all suddenly awake. They were cold, thirsty, and stiff. And none of them spoke because now, at last, something was happening. Before them, beyond the pillars, there was the slope of a low hill. And now a door opened in the hillside.
Edmund Pevensie: Look.
Doug Gresham: And light appeared in the doorway. And a figure came out. And the door shut behind it. The figure carried a light. And this light was really all that they could see distinctly. It came slowly nearer and nearer till at last it stood right at the table opposite them. Now they could see that it was a tall girl dressed in a single long garment of clear blue which left her arms bare. She was bareheaded and her yellow hair hung down her back. And when they looked at her, they thought that they had never before known what beauty meant. The light which she was carrying was a tall candle in a silver candlestick which she now set upon the table. The flame of the candle burned as straight and still as if it were in a room with the window shut and the curtains drawn. The gold and silver on the table shone in the light.
Reepicheep: Majesty, stand. We are in the presence of a great lady.
Ramandu's Daughter: Travelers who have come from far to Aslan's table.
Ramandu's Daughter: Why do you not eat and drink?
Prince Caspian: Madam, we feared the food because we thought it had cast our friends into an enchanted sleep.
Ramandu's Daughter: They have never tasted it.
Prince Caspian: No, what?
Edmund Pevensie: Then please tell us what happened to them.
Ramandu's Daughter: Seven years ago they came here in a ship whose sails were rags and her timbers ready to fall apart. There were others with them, sailors. And when they came here to this table, one said, Here is the good place. Let us set sail and reef sail and row no longer, but sit down and end our days in peace. And the second said, No, let us reembark and sail for Narnia and the West. It may be that Miraz is dead. But the third, he was a very masterful man, leaped up and said, No, by heaven. We are men and Telmarines, not brutes. What should we do but seek adventure after adventure? We have not long to live in any event. Let us spend what is left in seeking the unpeopled world behind the sunrise. And as they quarreled, he caught up the knife of stone which lies there on the table and would have fought with his comrades. But it is a thing not right for him to touch. And as his fingers closed upon the hilt, deep sleep fell upon all the three. And till the enchantment is undone, they will never wake.
Prince Caspian: What is this knife of stone? Do none of you know it?
Edmund Pevensie: I, I think I've seen something like it before. It was a knife like it that the white witch used when she killed Aslan at the stone table long ago.
Ramandu's Daughter: It is the same. And it was brought here to be kept in honour while the world lasts.
Prince Caspian: Um, look here. I hope I'm not a coward. About eating this food, I mean. And I'm sure I don't mean to be rude, but we have had a lot of strange adventures on this voyage of ours. And things aren't always what they seem. When I look in your face, I can't help believing all you say. But then that's just what might happen with a witch too. How are we to know you're a friend?
Ramandu's Daughter: You cannot know. You can only believe or not.
Reepicheep: Sire, of your courtesy fill my cup with wine from that flagon. It is too big for me to lift. I will drink to the lady.
Prince Caspian: If you insist, Rhupegeep.
Reepicheep: Lady, I pledge you.
Prince Caspian: Oh, bother. Let's all drink. Lady.
Edmund Pevensie: We pledge you.
Reepicheep: With your Majesty's permission, I am going to eat.
Prince Caspian: We should all eat.
Edmund Pevensie: Why is it called Aslan's Table?
Ramandu's Daughter: It is set here by his bidding for those who come so far. Some call this island the world's end. For though you can sail further, this is the beginning of the end.
Prince Caspian: But how does the food keep?
Ramandu's Daughter: It is eaten and renewed every day. This you will see.
Prince Caspian: And what are we to do about the sleepers?
Edmund Pevensie: Yes. In the world from which we come, they have a story of a prince or a king coming to the castle where all the people lay in an enchanted sleep. In that story, he could not dissolve the enchantment until he had kissed the princess.
Ramandu's Daughter: But here it is different. Here he cannot kiss the princess until he has dissolved the enchantment.
Prince Caspian: Then in the name of Aslan, show me how to set about that work at once.
Ramandu's Daughter: My father will teach you that.
Prince Caspian: Your father? Who's he?
Edmund Pevensie: And where?
Prince Caspian: Look.
Doug Gresham: The girl pointed at the door in the hillside. They could see it more easily now. For while they'd been talking, the stars had grown fainter and great gaps of white light were appearing in the grayness of the eastern sky. Slowly the door opened again and out came a figure as tall and straight as the girls, but not so slender. It carried no light, but light seemed to come from it. As it came nearer, Rhupegeep saw that it was like an old man. His silver beard came down to his bare feet in front and his silver hair hung down to his heels behind. And his robe appeared to be made from the fleece of silver sheep. He looked so mild and grave that once more all the travelers stood in silence. The old man came on without speaking to the travelers and stood on the other side of the table opposite to his daughter. Then both of them held up their arms before them and turned to face the East. In that position they began to sing. As they sang, the gray clouds lifted from the eastern sky. And the white patches grew bigger and bigger till it was all white. And the sea began to shine like silver. And long afterwards the sun came up out of the sea and its long level ray shot down the length of the table on the gold and silver and on the stone knife. The brightness of its ray on the table was far beyond any morning brightness they had ever seen. Then something seemed to be flying at them out of the very centre of the rising sun. But of course one couldn't look steadily in that direction to make sure. There were birds, large and white. And they came by hundreds and thousands and alighted on everything, on the grass, on the pavement, on the table, on the travelers' heads, shoulders, hands, till it looked as if heavy snow had fallen. One flew to the old man with something in its beak that looked like a little fruit. And as it was a little live coal, which it might have been, for it was too bright to look at, and the bird laid it in the old man's mouth. The birds were very busy about the table. When they rose from it again, everything on the table that could be eaten or drunk had disappeared. These birds rose from their meal in their thousands and hundreds and carried away all the things that could not be eaten or drunk and took their flight back to the rising sun.
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Reepicheep: And now welcome.
Prince Caspian: Sir, will you tell us how to undo the enchantment which holds these three Narnian lords asleep?
Ramandu: I will gladly tell you that, my son. To break this enchantment, you must sail to the world's end or as near as you can come to it. And you must come back having left at least one of your company behind.
Reepicheep: What is to happen to that one?
Ramandu: He must go on into the utter East and never return into the world.
Reepicheep: That is my heart's desire.
Prince Caspian: And are we near the world's end now, sir? Have you any knowledge of the seas and lands farther East than this?
Ramandu: I saw them long ago, but it was from a great height. I cannot tell you such things as sailors need to know.
Edmund Pevensie: Do you mean you were flying in the air?
Ramandu: I was a long way above the air, my son. I am Ramandu. But I see that you stare at one another and have not heard this name. And no wonder. For the days when I was a star had ceased long before any of you knew this world. And all the constellations have changed.
Prince Caspian: Golly, he's a retired star. Aren't you a star any longer?
Ramandu: I am a star at rest, my daughter.
Edmund Pevensie: Oh.
Ramandu: When I set for the last time decrepit and old beyond all that you can reckon, I was carried to this island. I am not so old now as I was then. Every morning a bird brings me a fire berry from the valleys in the sun and each fire berry takes away a little of my age. And when I have become as young as the child that was born yesterday, then I shall take my rising again and once more tread the great dance.
Prince Caspian: In our world, a star is a huge ball of flaming gas.
Ramandu: Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is, but only what it is made of. And in this world you have already met a star, for I think you have been with Coriakin.
Edmund Pevensie: Oh, is he a retired star too?
Ramandu: Well, not quite the same. It was not quite as a rest that he was set to govern the Duffers. You might call it a punishment. He might have shone for thousands of years more in the southern winter sky if all had gone well.
Prince Caspian: What did he do, sir?
Ramandu: My son, it is not for you, a son of Adam, to know what faults a star can commit. But come, we waste time in such talk. Are you yet resolved? Will you sail farther East and come again, leaving one to return no more and so break the enchantment? Or will you sail westward?
Reepicheep: Surely, sire, there is no question about that. It is very plainly part of our quest to rescue these three lords from enchantment.
Prince Caspian: I think the same, Rhupegeep. And even if it were not so, it would break my heart not to go as near the world's end as the Dawn Treader will take us. But I am thinking of the crew. They signed on to seek the seven lords, not to reach the rim of the earth. Well, if we sail East from here, we sail to find the edge, the utter East. And no one knows how far it is. Well, they're brave fellows, but I see signs that some of them are weary of the voyage and long to have our prow pointing to Narnia again. I don't think I should take them farther without their knowledge and consent. And then there's the poor Lord Rhupe. He's a broken man.
Ramandu: My son, it would be of no use even though you wished it to sail for the world's end with men unwilling or men deceived. That is not how great unchantments are achieved. They must know where they go and why. But who is this broken man you speak of?
Prince Caspian: Lord Rhupe, a Telmarine who has spent these last several years trapped in a dark island. An island where dreams came true.
Ramandu: I can give him what he needs most. In this island there is sleep without stint or measure. And sleep in which no faintest footfall of a dream was ever heard. Let him sit beside these other three and drink oblivion till your return.
Edmund Pevensie: Oh, let's do that. I'm sure it's just what he would love.
Doug Gresham: King Caspian assembled the crew of the Dawn Treader and presented the entire situation to them. At first there was a long silence. Then some of the crewmen took turns expressing their concerns about how they'll get back to Narnia. Others claimed it was foolish to go on, while others argued it was cowardly not to go on. And finally, someone asked Rhupegeep if he had anything to say.
Reepicheep: Why should I? My own plans are made. While I can, I sail East in the Dawn Treader. When she fails me, I paddle East in my coracle. When she sinks, I shall swim East with my four paws. And when I can swim no longer, if I have not reached Aslan's country or shot over the edge of the world in some vast cataract, I shall sink with my nose to the sunrise. And Rhupegeep will be head of the talking mice of Narnia.
Doug Gresham: This roused the crew to a heated argument about who among them would be outdone by a mouse when it came to bravery. Finally, when Caspian had had enough of the debate, he jumped to his feet.
Prince Caspian: Friends, friends, friends.
Lord Drinian: I think you have not quite understood our purpose. You talk as if we had come to you with our hat in our hand begging for shipmates. It isn't like that at all. We and our royal brother and sister and their kinsman and Sir Rhupegeep the good night and the Lord Trinian have an errand to the world's edge. It is our pleasure to choose from among such of you as are willing, those whom we deem worthy of so high an enterprise. We have not said that any can come for the asking. That is why we shall now command the Lord Trinian to consider carefully what men among you are the hardest in battle, the most skilled seamen, the purest in blood, the most loyal to our person, and the cleanest of life and manners, and to give their names to us on a list.
Prince Caspian: Aslan's main, do you think that the privilege of seeing the last things is to be bought for a song? Why? Every man that comes with us shall bequeath the title of Dawn Treader to all his descendants. And when we land at Cair Paravel on the homeward voyage, he shall have either gold or land enough to make him rich all his life. Now scatter over the island, all of you. In half an hour's time I shall receive the names that Lord Trinian brings to me.
Doug Gresham: Caspian's speech helped, perhaps by some magic of the island, had just the effect he intended. A good many who'd been anxious enough to get out of the voyage felt quite differently about being left out of it. At the end of the half hour they all came trooping back to Aslan's table and stood at one end while Trinian went and sat down with Caspian and made his report. Needless to say the entire crew, except one, was listed and Caspian accepted them all. Rhupegeep gratefully accepted the offer to sleep without dreams and was placed next to the other three lords at the head of the table. There he fell into a deep, peaceful sleep. Before saying goodbye, King Caspian spoke to Ramandu's daughter ever so quietly.
Prince Caspian: My lady, I hope to speak with you again when I have broken the enchantment.
Ramandu's Daughter: I hope you will.
Doug Gresham: And Ramandu's daughter looked at him and smiled. The next morning the Dawn Treader set sail once more.
Doug Gresham: Next time on the Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
Prince Caspian: My Lord Trinian, what do you see ahead?
Lord Drinian: Sire, I see whiteness.
Prince Caspian: To you, my Lord Trinian, I entrust this ship, bidding you sail to Narnia with all the speed you make.
Lord Drinian: But sire, are you abdicating?
Prince Caspian: I am going with Rhupegeep to see the world's end. And now.
Edmund Pevensie: Caspian, you can't.
Reepicheep: Most certainly his Majesty cannot.
Lord Drinian: Silence. God, I've had enough of this. Ah.
Doug Gresham: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader from the Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis is a production of Focus on the Family. I'm Doug Gresham. Thank you for listening.