Lady Of The Pen

C.S. Lewis-The Silver Chair

This has always been a favorite quote of mine, from the series. The witch is trying to convince them that there is no Narnia, no world on the surface, no Aslan. But this is Puddleglum’s response…

“One word, Ma’am,” he said, coming back from the fire; limping, because of the pain. “One word. All you’ve been saying is quite right, I shouldn’t wonder. I’m a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it. So I won’t deny any of what you said. But there’s one thing more to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things - trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that’s a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We’re just babies making up a game, if you’re right. But four babies playing a game can make a playworld which licks your real world hollow. That’s why I’m going to stand by the play-world. I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia. So, thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready, we’re leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for Overland. Not that our lives will be very long, I should think; but that’s a small loss if the world’s as dull a place as you say.”

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I love this quote because I share Puddleglum’s sentiment. If God was an entity invented by men, I’d rather believe in the beauty and wonder of that imaginary God, than live in a dark, hopeless without Him. Perhaps that would be viewed as denial and escapism, but who wants to live in a world without hope? 

I also love that Puddleglum is saying this as he’s almost convinced that the witch is right. It seems like the world is telling us that God and a better world are not real and we should be satisfied with the dark sorry world we’ve created, but I for one will continue to believe in God, even if he is only ‘imaginary.’