TCN05 - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Part 04 of 09

Narrator: Last time on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
Caspian: Do you see any place to land?
Lord Drinian: It's all cliffs and crags. Not the most welcoming island I've ever seen.
Eustace: Nobody's looking. I could simply slip away and have a good long sleep. And then I'll join the others when they've finished their work. Who's there? Is someone there? You're dead. What is this? A gold ring? And gold coins? I've found a treasure! A treasure!
Caspian: Confound the fellow. What on earth did he want to slink away like this for?
Lucy: We must do something. He may have got lost or been captured by savages.
Lord Drinian: Or killed by wild beasts. And good riddance if he has, I say.
Eustace: There's nothing to be afraid of anymore. I'm a terror now, and nothing in the world would dare attack me. Nothing. I could get even with Caspian and Edmund now. But I don't want to!
Narrator: The classic adventure series loved by children of all ages now brought to glorious life.
Lucy: It's a magic wardrobe! There's a wood inside it, and it's snowing, and it's called Narnia. Look!
Narrator: Step through the wardrobe and into a world filled with marsh-wiggles, unicorns, and animals that talk. Best of all, you'll meet the most incredible lion in literature, Aslan.
Aslan: Oh, children!
Narrator: C.S. Lewis's classic Narnia series, available for you to cherish. From The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to The Last Battle. This complete set, produced by Focus on the Family's Radio Theatre, can now be yours. For more information, the number is 1-800-A-FAMILY, or visit our website at radiotheatre.org. Focus on the Family Radio Theatre. Get ready for adventure!
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Lucy: Edmund, are you asleep?
Edmund: Yes.
Lucy: What are we going to do about Eustace?
Edmund: Send another search party out for him in the morning.
Lucy: It is morning.
Edmund: Barely. The sun's only just come up. Go back to sleep.
Lucy: Do you think he's all right? I keep thinking about that dragon the search party saw.
Edmund: The dragon was dead, Lucy. It was old and lying at the bottom of a valley. At least that's what Captain Drinian said, and he thought it was unlikely to have been killing anyone before that. Now go to sleep.
Lucy: I can't. Oh!
Edmund: What's the matter?
Lucy: It's Caspian, Drinian, and Reepicheep.
Caspian: Oh, and you're both awake. Good.
Edmund: Is something wrong? Or are you awake worrying about Eustace too?
Caspian: Well, I'm afraid we have another problem. Now, Lucy, you must show great constancy.
Lucy: Why?
Caspian: A dragon has just flown over the treetops and lighted on the beach.
Lucy: Another dragon?
Caspian: It would seem so.
Lord Drinian: And I'm afraid it is between us and the ship.
Caspian: Arrows are no use against it. I know that much, and they're not at all afraid of fire.
Reepicheep: With Your Majesty's leave—
Caspian: No, Reepicheep. You are not going to attempt a single combat with it. And unless you promise to obey me in this matter, I'll have you tied up. We must just keep close watch and go down to the beach and give it battle. I will lead. King Edmund will be on my right and the Lord Drinian on my left. There are no other arrangements to be made.
Lucy: Perhaps it will go away.
Edmund: It'll be worse if it does, because then we shan't know where it is. If there's a wasp in the room, I'd like to be able to see it.
Caspian: If we're going to do it, I'd like to get it over with. Right. Swords to the ready, then! Now for it, friends!
Caspian: All right, Lucy. You should stay back now.
Lucy: It doesn't look threatening at all.
Edmund: Don't be fooled. These beasts are clever.
Lucy: But look, it's retreating.
Edmund: That's odd. Normally, it would be blasting us with fire and smoke as a show of strength.
Lucy: What's it wagging its head like that? No, wait. It's nodding.
Lord Drinian: This is most strange.
Lucy: There's something coming from its eyes. Oh, it's crying! Those are tears!
Lord Drinian: I shouldn't trust to that, ma'am. That's what crocodiles do to put you off your guard.
Edmund: It wagged its head when you said that, just as if it meant no. Look, there it goes again.
Lucy: Do you think it understands what we're saying?
Caspian: This discourse is a waste of time. Dragon, can you understand speech? I've never heard of a dragon that understands speech. Dragon, will you speak to us?
Lucy: No.
Caspian: Then it is idle to ask your business. But if you will swear friendship with us, raise your left foreleg above your head.
Lord Drinian: I never thought I'd live to see such a thing. Friends with a dragon.
Lucy: Oh, but look. There's something wrong with its leg. Oh, the poor thing. That's probably what it was crying about. Perhaps it came to us to be cured like in that story. You know the one.
Edmund: Androcles and the Lion?
Lucy: Yes. I could put a drop of the cordial on it.
Edmund: Be careful, Lucy. It's a very clever dragon, but it may be a liar.
Lucy: Show me your paw. I might be able to cure it with this. Just a drop or two around the bracelet. There. Is that better?
Caspian: Wait, look!
Edmund: Look at what?
Caspian: The design on the bracelet. A little hammer with a diamond above it like a star. I've seen that before.
Edmund: Seen it? Why, of course you have. It is the sign of a great Narnian house. This is the Lord Octesian's arm ring.
Caspian: Then this dragon is a villain! Have you devoured a Narnian lord?
Edmund: It says it didn't.
Lucy: Perhaps this is the Lord Octesian turned into a dragon under an enchantment.
Edmund: It needn't be, either. All dragons collect gold. But I think it's a safe guess that Octesian got no further than this island. Dragon, are you the Lord Octesian?
Lucy: No.
Edmund: Are you someone enchanted? Someone human, I mean? Good heavens, it was a human? I wonder who?
Edmund: Oh, Lucy. You don't think—
Lucy: It could be.
Caspian: What are you two thinking?
Lucy: Dragon, you're not Eustace by any chance? Oh, Eustace! Oh, don't cry! Poor Eustace.
Narrator: Lucy tried hard to console him and even screwed up her courage to kiss the scaly face. And nearly everyone assured Eustace that they would all stand by him, and many said there was sure to be some way of disenchanting him and they'd have him as right as rain in a day or two. But in the days that followed, no one came any closer to knowing how to help Eustace. One night, when it was clear that the Dawn Treader was ready to continue its voyage eastward, Eustace decided to put everyone's mind to rest by simply leaving. His plan was to hide somewhere on the island so that they would have to leave without him. He made this decision without any of the self-pity the old Eustace would have felt. This new Eustace was convinced it was the right thing to do, even if it meant a lifetime of loneliness as a dragon on that island. He was lying awake in a secluded spot, wondering what on earth would become of him, when he looked up and saw a huge lion coming slowly towards him. There was no moon that night, but there was moonlight where the lion was. It came nearer and nearer until it was close enough to look straight into his eyes.
Aslan: Follow me.
Eustace: Follow you? To where?
Aslan: Follow me.
Narrator: So Eustace got up and followed him, a long way into the mountains and finally to the top of one where there was a garden with trees and fruit. In the middle of it was a large well, like a round bath with marble steps going down into it. The water was as clear as any he'd ever seen in his life.
Eustace: The water looks so soothing. If I could get in there and bathe, it would ease the pain in my leg.
Aslan: You must undress first.
Eustace: But I can't undress because I don't have any clothes on.
Aslan: Still, you must undress first.
Narrator: Then it occurred to Eustace that dragons are snakey sorts of things, and snakes can cast off their skins.
Eustace: That's what you mean! I can shed these scales.
Narrator: So Eustace started scratching himself, and the scales began to come off. He scratched deeper, and instead of just scales, his entire skin started peeling off. After a minute or two, he stepped out of it. He could see it lying there beside him, looking very nasty. But it was a most lovely feeling. And he started to go down into the well for his bath. But just as he was going to put his feet into the water, he looked down and saw—
Eustace: Oh! My feet are hard and rough and wrinkled and scaly, just like they were before. Can I scratch that off too?
Narrator: So he scratched and tore again, and this underskin peeled off beautifully, and out he stepped and left it lying beside the other one. He went down to the well for his bath. But once again, he looked down and saw—
Eustace: Oh, dear! How many skins do I have to take off?
Narrator: So he scratched away a third time and got off the third skin just like the other two and stepped out of it. But as soon as he looked at himself in the water, he knew it was still no use.
Eustace: It won't come off!
Aslan: You will have to let me help you.
Eustace: You'll take it off? But how? I mean, with your claws?
Aslan: Lie down on your back.
Narrator: Desperate now, Eustace agreed and lay flat down on his back. The very first tear the lion made was so deep that he thought it had gone right into his heart. And when the lion began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything Eustace had ever felt. The only thing that made him able to bear it was the pleasure of feeling the skin peel off. But this skin was unlike the three Eustace had peeled off himself. This was thicker and darker. Soon Eustace was as smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than he had been. And then the lion caught hold of him and threw him into the water. After a while, the lion said—
Aslan: Come out. You must dress now.
Eustace: But I don't know where my clothes are.
Aslan: I will dress you in the clothes I have prepared.
Narrator: Though Eustace could never explain how, the lion dressed him. And then suddenly, Eustace was back in a wood near the camp, certain he had had a dream.
Edmund: It wasn't a dream, Eustace. I'm certain of that. Now come on. Let's go and tell the others the good news.
Eustace: No, wait, Edmund. I'm still not ready to meet the others just yet.
Edmund: Whatever you wish. I say, I am glad to see you looking yourself again. You must have had a pretty beastly time.
Eustace: It's true. I've been miserable. But tell me, why are you so certain I didn't dream about the lion?
Edmund: Well, there are your clothes for one thing, and you've been a dragon for another.
Eustace: What do you think it was, then?
Edmund: I think you've seen Aslan.
Eustace: Aslan? I've heard that name mentioned several times since we joined the Dawn Treader, and I felt, I don't know what. I hated it, but I hated everything then. Oh, and by the way, I'd like to apologize. I'm afraid I've been pretty beastly.
Edmund: That's all right. Between ourselves, you haven't been as bad as I was on my first trip to Narnia. You were only a jackass, but I was a traitor.
Eustace: But who is Aslan? Do you know him?
Edmund: Well, he knows me. He's the great lion, the son of the Emperor-over-the-sea, who saved me and saved Narnia. We've all seen him. Lucy sees him more often, and it may be Aslan's country we're sailing to. That's Caspian's horn. Everyone must be getting up.
Eustace: Is it morning already?
Edmund: It is, and we should go back to camp. They'll be wondering about us. Are you ready?
Eustace: Yes, I am. Now.
Narrator: Great was the rejoicing when Edmund and the restored Eustace walked into the breakfast circle around the campfire. And now, of course, everyone heard how he had become a dragon in the first place and how the lion had restored him to his true self. It would be nice and fairly near the truth to say that from that time forth Eustace was a different boy. To be strictly accurate, Eustace began to be a different boy. He had relapses when he could be very tiresome, but most of these times we shall not notice. The cure had begun.
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Narrator: The Dawn Treader, remasted, repainted, and well-stored, was ready to sail. Before they embarked, Caspian caused to be cut on a smooth cliff face facing the bay the words: "Dragon Island, discovered by Caspian X, King of Narnia, in the fourth year of his reign. Here, as we suppose, the Lord Octesian had his death." People wondered whether the other dragon had killed the Lord Octesian several years ago, or whether Octesian himself had been the old dragon. The Lord Octesian's arm ring had a curious fate. Eustace didn't want it and offered it to Caspian, and Caspian offered it to Lucy. She didn't care about having it.
Caspian: Very well, then. Catch as catch can!
Narrator: Up went the arm ring, flashing in the sunlight, and caught and hung on a little projection in the rock of the cliff face just above the inscription. No one could climb up and get it from below, and no one could climb down to get it from above. And there, for all we know, it is hanging still and may hang till that world ends.
Caspian: Captain Drinian, to the ship! It's time we set sail.
Lord Drinian: Aye, sire!
Narrator: Everyone was cheerful as the Dawn Treader sailed from Dragon Island. They had fair winds as soon as they were out of the bay and came early next morning to a low, green island inhabited by nothing but rabbits and a few goats. But from the ruins of the stone houses and from blackened places where fires had been, they judged that it had been peopled not long before. There were also some bones and broken weapons.
Lucy: Pirates' work?
Edmund: Or the dragons'.
Narrator: The only other thing they found was a coracle, a little skin boat on the sands. It was made of hide stretched over a wicker framework. They thought that either it had been made for a child, or else that the people of that country had been dwarves. Reepicheep decided to keep it as it was just the right size for him. They called that island Burnt Island and sailed away before noon. For some five days, they ran before a southeast wind, out of sight of all land and seeing neither fish nor gull. Then they had a day that rained hard till the afternoon. Later, Lucy stepped onto the deck and looked astern.
Lucy: Hello, Captain.
Lord Drinian: My lady.
Lucy: What are those things coming up out of the water?
Lord Drinian: I don't know. I've been keeping my eye on them.
Lucy: Is it some sort of rock formation?
Lord Drinian: No.
Lucy: Why not?
Lord Drinian: Because it wasn't there five minutes ago.
Edmund: I say, we've just seen the strangest thing over there off the port bow.
Lucy: Can you see it?
Lord Drinian: Yes, we're watching now.
Caspian: Oh, one's just disappeared.
Lucy: And there's another one coming up.
Edmund: Even nearer!
Caspian: Oh, hang it! The whole thing's moving this way.
Lord Drinian: And moving a great deal quicker than we can sail, sire. It'll be up with us in a minute.
Narrator: They all held their breath, for it is not at all nice to be pursued by an unknown something either on land or sea. But what it turned out to be was far worse than anyone had suspected. Suddenly, from their port side, an appalling head reared itself out of the sea. It was all greens and vermilions with purple blotches and shaped rather like a horse though without ears. It had enormous eyes, eyes made for staring through the dark depths of the ocean, and a gaping mouth filled with double rows of sharp, fish-like teeth.
Caspian: Stand back!
Narrator: It came up on what they first took to be a huge neck. But as more and more of it emerged, everyone knew that this was not its neck, but its body. And at last, they were seeing what so many people have foolishly wanted to see: a great sea serpent. The folds of its gigantic tail could be seen far away rising at intervals from the surface, and now its head was towering up higher than the mast.
Caspian: To your weapons, men! To your weapons! Set fire arrows! Quickly!
Narrator: The arrows glanced off the sea serpent's hide as if it were iron-plated. And then for a dreadful minute, everyone was still, staring up at its eyes and mouth and wondering where it would pounce.
Caspian: Brace yourselves, everyone! Be ready!
Narrator: But it didn't pounce. It shot its head forward until its body created an arch over the back end of the ship. Then down its head began to come, not onto the crowded deck, but into the water again. All at once, the arch of the serpent began to get smaller.
Lucy: What in blazes is the thing doing?
Edmund: Don't you see? The brute's made a loop of itself around the ship and is drawing the loop tight!
Lord Drinian: We'll be floating matchwood if we don't do something!
Edmund: What are we going to do?
Eustace: Well, I'm not going to stand here!
Narrator: Eustace now did the first brave thing he had ever done. He was wearing a sword that Caspian had lent him. As soon as the serpent's body was near enough on the starboard side, he jumped up on the bulwark and began hacking at it with all his might. It accomplished nothing beyond breaking Caspian's second-best sword to bits, but it was a fine thing for a beginner to have done. Others would have joined him if at that moment Reepicheep had not called out—
Reepicheep: Don't fight it! Push! Push! Push on the body of the serpent to move the ship out from under its loop! Push!
Narrator: It was so unusual for the mouse to advise anyone not to fight that even in that terrible moment, every eye turned to him. And when he jumped up on the bulwark forward of the snake and set his furry little back against its huge, scaly, slimy back and began pushing as hard as he could, quite a number of people saw what he meant and rushed to both sides of the ship to do the same. The whole ship's company was in two long lines along the two bulwarks pushing on the loop of the serpent's body with all their might. For a few sickening seconds, nothing appeared to happen. Joints cracked, sweat dropped, breath came in grunts and gasps. Then they felt that the ship was moving. They saw that the snake loop was further from the mast than it had been, but they also saw that the loop was getting smaller.
Caspian: Harder! Faster! It's closing in!
Narrator: Hope rose high until everyone remembered the decorative dragon's tail that made up the rear of the ship. It would be quite impossible to get the brute's body over that.
Lord Drinian: Someone get an axe! We'll hack the stern off and keep pushing!
Narrator: But it was too late. There came a great crashing noise like a tree coming down, and the ship rocked and darted forward. For at that very moment, whether because the sea serpent was being pushed so hard or because it foolishly decided to draw the loop tight, the whole of the carved stern broke off and the ship was free.
Caspian: Hold on, everyone! Hold on!
Narrator: A few yards behind them, the loop of the sea serpent's body got rapidly smaller and disappeared with a splash.
Caspian: To your stations! Let's get clear of the creature before it realizes it's lost us!
Narrator: The simple fact is the sea serpent was a very stupid creature. For instead of pursuing the ship, it turned its head around and began nosing all along its own body as if it expected to find the wreckage of the Dawn Treader there. But the Dawn Treader was already well away, running before a fresh breeze. And the men lay and sat panting and groaning all about the deck. Later, drinks were served out, and they even raised a cheer, praising the valor of Eustace, though it hadn't done any good, and of Reepicheep.
Narrator: Next time on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
Eustace: Ow!
Lucy: It's a sword hilt.
Edmund: Narnian too, by the look of it.
Caspian: Is it the body of a man?
Edmund: Yes. In the sense that it's a statue of a man.
Lord Drinian: A gold statue from the looks of it.
Caspian: Get down to the shore! Between them and their boat!
Reepicheep: I don't see your weapons. Are they invisible too?
Caspian: Any other questions, Reepicheep?
Reepicheep: None at the moment, sire.
Narrator: 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.