Focus on the Family's Radio Theatre

Douglas Gresham: Last time on the voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Lucy Pevensie: What are those? Beavers?

King Caspian: No, it looks more like a haystack to me.

Reepicheep: These will not fight, I think.

King Caspian: What are they?

Reepicheep: Three men, what you saw and could not identify is their hair.

Ramandu's Daughter: Travelers who have come from far to Aslan's table. Why do you not eat and drink?

King 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.

King Caspian: Sir, will you tell us how to undo the enchantment which holds these three Narnian lords asleep?

Ramandu: 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.

Ramandu: Who is this broken man you speak of?

King Caspian: Lord Roop, a Telmarine who has spent these last several years trapped in a dark island.

Ramandu: I can give him what he needs most. In this island there is sleep without stint or measure.

Lucy Pevensie: Oh, let's do that. I'm sure it's just what he would love.

Guest (Male): The classic adventure series loved by children of all ages, now brought to glorious life.

Edmund Pevensie: It's a magic wardrobe. There's a wood inside it and it's snowing and it's called Narnia. Look.

Guest (Male): 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.

Guest (Female): Oh, children.

Guest (Male): 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 the letter A Family or visit our website at radiotheatre.org. Focus on the Family Radio Theatre. Get ready for adventure.

Guest (Male): Chat GPT and AI can offer you ideas and attempt to give you answers, but it can't listen with compassion, pray with you, or offer biblical wisdom. Real connection is what brings true hope. Focus on the Family offers a free confidential consultation with a Christian counselor to guide you and help you find hope with whatever you're facing. Go to focusonthefamily.com/gethelp or call 1 800 A Family. That's 1 800 the letter A the word Family.

Storyteller: For many days without wind in her shrouds or foam at her bows across a waveless sea, the Dawn Treader glided smoothly east. Every day and every hour the light became more brilliant and still they could bear it. No one ate or slept and no one wanted to. But they drew buckets of dazzling water from the sea, stronger than wine and somehow wetter, more liquid than ordinary water. And one or two of the sailors who'd been oldish men when the voyage began now grew younger every day. Everyone on board was filled with joy and excitement, but not an excitement that made one talk.

The further they sailed the less they spoke. And then almost in a whisper the stillness of that last sea laid hold on them.

King Caspian: My Lord Trinian, what do you see ahead?

Lord Drinian: Sire, I see whiteness all along the horizon from north to south as far as my eyes can reach.

King Caspian: It's what I see too and I cannot imagine what it is.

Lord Drinian: If we were in higher latitudes, your majesty, I would say it was ice, but it can't be that. Not here. All the same, we'd better get men to the oars and hold the ship back against the current. Whatever that stuff is, we don't want to crash into it at this speed.

Storyteller: They did as Trinian said and so continued to go slower and slower. The whiteness did not get any less mysterious as they approached it. If it was land, it must be a very strange land, for it seemed just as smooth as the water and on the same level with it. When they got very close to it Trinian put the helm hard over and turned the Dawn Treader south so that she was broadside onto the current and rode a little way southward along the edge of the whiteness. In so doing they accidentally discovered that the current was only about 40 ft wide and the rest of the sea as still as a pond.

This was good news for the crew who had already begun to think that the return journey to Ramandu's land, rowing against stream all the way, would be pretty poor sport. And still no one could make out what the white stuff was. Then the landing boat was lowered and it put off to investigate with Rhincewind in charge. Those who remained on the Dawn Treader could see that the boat pushed right in amidst the whiteness. Then they could hear the voices of the party in the boat, clear and still across the water, talking in a shrill and surprised way.

Then there was a pause while Rhincewind in the bows of the boat took a sounding and when after that the boat came rowing back there seemed to be plenty of the white stuff inside of it. Everyone crowded to the side of the ship to hear the news.

Rhince: Lilies, your majesty.

King Caspian: What did you say?

Rhince: A field of lilies, lilies, your majesty. You know, same as in a pool in a garden at home.

King Caspian: What's the depth, Rhincewind?

Rhince: Well, that's the funny thing, captain. It's still deep. 3 and 1/2 fathoms clear.

Lucy Pevensie: They can't be lilies at that depth. Not what we call lilies, but look at them, Eustace. They are

Edmund Pevensie: very like them.

King Caspian: So, Trinian, shall we let a sea full of flowers stop us from going ahead?

Lord Drinian: No, your majesty. I think we should turn back into the current and carry on eastward.

Storyteller: There seemed to be no end to the lilies. The whiteness spread round them on every side except just a stern where their passage had thrust the lilies apart and left an open lane of water that shone like dark green glass. Several days later the water became shallower.

Lord Drinian: Sire, we're going to have to stop now or risk going aground.

King Caspian: Lower the landing boat and then call the men off. I must speak to them.

Lord Drinian: Sire.

Lucy Pevensie: What's he going to do? There's a strange look in his eyes. I think we probably all look like that.

Eustace Scrubb: All hands on deck.

Storyteller: They joined Caspian on the deck and soon all the men were crowded together at the foot of the ladder to hear the king's speech.

King Caspian: Friends, we have now fulfilled the quest on which you embarked. The seven lords are all accounted for and as Sir Reepicheep has sworn never to return, when you reach Ramandu's land you will doubtless find the lords Revilian and Argos and Mavramorn awake. To you, my Lord Trinian, I entrust this ship, bidding you sail to Narnia with all the speed you may and above all not to land at the island of Deathwater. Instruct my regent, the dwarf Trumpkin, to give to all these my shipmates the rewards I promised them. And if I come not again, it is my will that the regent and Master Cornelius and Truffle Hunter the badger and the Lord Trinian choose a king of Narnia with the council.

Lord Drinian: Sire, are you abdicating?

King Caspian: I am going with Reepicheep to see the world's end.

Ramandu: We will take the landing boat. You will have no need of it in these gentle seas and you must build a new one in Ramandu's island. And now

Lucy Pevensie: Caspian, you can't.

Reepicheep: Most certainly his majesty cannot.

Lord Drinian: No, indeed.

Ramandu: Can't.

Rhince: We beg it your majesty's pardon, but if if one of our sailors did the same it would be called deserting.

King Caspian: You presume too much on your long service, Rhincewind.

Lord Drinian: No, sire. He's perfectly right.

King Caspian: By the mane of Aslan, I had thought you were all my subjects here, not my school masters.

Eustace Scrubb: I am not your subject and I say you cannot do this.

Ramandu: Can't.

Lord Drinian: Again, what do you mean?

Reepicheep: Please your majesty, we mean shall not. You are the king of Narnia. You break faith with all your subjects and especially with Trumpkin if you do not return. You shall not please yourself with adventures as if you were a private person. And if your majesty will not hear reason, it will be the truest loyalty of every man on board to follow me in disarming and binding you till you come to your senses.

Lucy Pevensie: And you promised Ramandu's daughter you would go back.

King Caspian: Well, yes, there is that. Oh, we'll have it your way. The quest is ended. We all return. Get the boat up again.

Reepicheep: Sire, we did not all return. I, as I explained before and

Ramandu: Silence.

King Caspian: I've been lessoned, but I'll not be baited. Will no one silence that mouth?

Reepicheep: Your majesty promised to be good lord to the talking beasts of Narnia.

King Caspian: Talking beasts, yes, but I said nothing about beasts that never stop talking. No, I've had enough of this. Ah.

Lucy Pevensie: What on earth was that all about?

Edmund Pevensie: We'll give him time to cool down and then we'll go find out.

King Caspian: It's no good. I might as well have behaved decently for all the good I did with my temper and swagger. Aslan has spoken to me.

Lucy Pevensie: Aslan?

King Caspian: No, I don't mean he was actually here.

Lucy Pevensie: Oh.

King Caspian: He wouldn't fit into the cabin for one thing. But that gold lion's head on the wall came to life and spoke to me. It was terrible. His eyes Well, not that he was at all rough with me, only a bit stern at first. But it was terrible all the same. And he said he said I can't bear it. The worst thing he could have said you're to go on Reepicheep, Edmund, Lucy, and Eustace and I'm to go back alone and at once. And what is the good of anything?

Lord Drinian: Sire.

Lucy Pevensie: Oh, Caspian, you knew we'd have to go back to our own world sooner or later.

King Caspian: Yes, but this is sooner.

Lucy Pevensie: You'll feel better when you get back to Ramandu's land.

King Caspian: Perhaps I will. But don't you see this is goodbye. I must turn the ship around immediately, which means you must get on the landing boat and go now.

Reepicheep: Then let us say our goodbyes here

Lucy Pevensie: Yes.

Reepicheep: in the privacy of this cabin and not dwell on them anymore than that.

Jim Daly: Hi, I'm Jim Daly with Focus on the Family and I want to strongly encourage you to watch Truth Rising, powerful documentary featuring courageous believers standing firm in their faith despite real challenges. Watch their inspiring stories now at truthrising.com.

Guest (Male): Focus on the Family Radio Theatre is made possible through the generous donations of listeners like you. For more information, visit radiotheatre.org or contact Focus on the Family at 1 800 A Family.

Storyteller: Well stocked with food and water and Reepicheep's tiny coracle, the landing boat pulled away from the Dawn Treader to row through the endless carpet of lilies. The Dawn Treader flew all her flags and hung out her shields to honor their departure. Tall and big and homelike she looked from their low position with the lilies all around them. And even before she was out of sight they saw her turn and begin rowing slowly westward. Yet though Lucy shed a few tears she couldn't feel it as much as you might have expected. The light, the silence, the tingling smell of the silver sea, even the loneliness itself were too exciting.

None of them slept or ate. All that night and all next day they glided on.

Lucy Pevensie: Shall we row?

Storyteller: And when the third day dawned with the brightness you or I could not bear, even if we had dark glasses on, they saw a wonder ahead. It was as if a wall stood up between them and the sky, a greenish gray, trembling, shimmering wall. Then up came the sun and at its first rising they saw it through the wall. And it turned into wonderful rainbow colors. Then they knew that the wall was really a long, tall wave, a wave endlessly fixed in one place as you may often see at the edge of a waterfall. It seemed to be about 30 ft high and the current was gliding them swiftly towards it.

You might have supposed they would have thought of their danger. They didn't. I didn't think anyone could have in that position. For now they saw something not only behind the wave, but behind the sun. It was a range of mountains. The mountains were so high that either they never saw the tops of them or they forgot later. None of them remembers seeing any sky in that direction. And the mountains must really have been outside the world, for they didn't have ice and snow on them as mountains. Even a fraction of that height in our world would have.

But they were warm and green and full of forests and waterfalls, however high you looked. Then suddenly there came a breeze from the east, tossing the top of the wave into foamy shapes and ruffling the smooth water all round them. It lasted only a second or so, but what it brought them in that second none of those three children will ever forget. It brought both a smell and a sound, a musical sound which Lucy said would break your heart. But not from sadness. No one in the boat doubted that they were seeing the end of the world into Aslan's country.

At that moment with a crunch the boat ran aground. The water was too shallow now even for it.

Reepicheep: This is where I go on alone.

Edmund Pevensie: Eustace and I will lift out your coracle.

Lucy Pevensie: It's such an odd little boat.

Reepicheep: Suitable for me. If you may keep my sword, I shall need it no more.

Edmund Pevensie: These are away.

Reepicheep: Then let the lilies have it.

Eustace Scrubb: I say Reep, good shot.

Lucy Pevensie: Yes.

Edmund Pevensie: You saw it sticking up out of the water.

Reepicheep: Farewell to your majesties and to you, Eustace.

Lucy Pevensie: Oh, Reepicheep, I've been meaning to say that is before I was a dragon I was a nuisance. And then when I was a dragon you you I I'll bother.

Reepicheep: Say nothing more, Eustace, for there is nothing to be said.

Lucy Pevensie: Oh, Reepicheep, I must do something I've always wanted to do.

Reepicheep: What, your majesty?

Lucy Pevensie: Hug you and stroke your fur.

Reepicheep: If your majesty insists.

Lucy Pevensie: I do.

Reepicheep: Farewell.

Lucy Pevensie: Yes, farewell, Reepicheep. Goodbye.

Edmund Pevensie: Goodbye.

Storyteller: The current caught Reepicheep's coracle and away he went, very black against the lilies. But no lilies grew on the way. It was a smooth, green slope. The coracle went more and more quickly and beautifully. It rushed up the wave inside. For one split second they saw its shape and Reepicheep on the very top. Then it vanished. And since that moment no one can truly claim to have seen Reepicheep the mouse. But my belief is that he came safe to Aslan's country and is alive there to this day. As the sun rose the sight of those mountains outside the world faded away.

The wave remained, but there was only blue sky behind it.

Lucy Pevensie: What do we do now?

Edmund Pevensie: We get out and wade.

Lucy Pevensie: Which direction?

Edmund Pevensie: To the south, I think.

Lucy Pevensie: Why? I don't know. I just have a feeling about it.

Edmund Pevensie: So do I.

Lucy Pevensie: So do I. But I wanted to confirm it first. To the south we go.

Storyteller: Though they felt and had been very grown up on the Dawn Treader, they now felt just the opposite and held hands as they waded through the lilies. They never felt tired. The water was warm and all the time it got shallower. At last they were on dry sand and then grass, a huge plain of very fine short grass, almost level with the silver sea and spreading in every direction.

Lucy Pevensie: It looks as if the sky comes all the way down and meets the grass.

Edmund Pevensie: I think it really is, Lou. The blue sky has joined the earth and it looks like a a wall, but real and solid, more like glass than anything else, I'd say.

Lucy Pevensie: We're getting very near now.

Edmund Pevensie: Wait. There's something ahead. Something white in the grass.

Lucy Pevensie: Oh, it's a lamb.

Aslan: Come and have breakfast.

Lucy Pevensie: Thank you, kind lamb. Fish. It's delicious. It's the most delicious food I've ever tasted, I'll say. Please, lamb, is this the way to Aslan's country?

Aslan: For you, for you the door into Aslan's country is from your own world.

Lucy Pevensie: What? Is there a way into Aslan's country from our world too?

Aslan: There is a way into my country from our world.

Lucy Pevensie: Oh, my.

Edmund Pevensie: Aslan.

Lucy Pevensie: Oh, Aslan. Oh, Aslan. Will you tell us how to get into your country from our world?

Aslan: I shall be telling you all the time. But I will not tell you how long or short the way will be, only that it lies across a river.

Lucy Pevensie: Oh.

Aslan: But do not fear that for I am the great bridge builder. And now come. I will open the door in the sky and send you to your own land.

Lucy Pevensie: Please, Aslan, before we go will you tell us when we can come back to Narnia again? Please and oh, do make it soon.

Aslan: Dearest, you and your brother will never come back to Narnia.

Lucy Pevensie: What? Never? Oh, Aslan.

Aslan: You are too old, children, and you must begin to come close to your own world now.

Lucy Pevensie: It isn't Narnia, you know. It's you. We shan't meet you there. And how can we live never meeting you?

Aslan: But you shall meet me, dear one.

Lucy Pevensie: Are you there in our world too?

Aslan: I am. But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little you may know me better there.

Lucy Pevensie: And is Eustace never to come back here either?

Aslan: Oh, child, do you really need to know that? Come. I am opening the door in the sky. Then all in one moment there was a rending of the blue wall like a curtain being torn and a terrible white light from beyond the sky and the feel of Aslan's mane and a lion's kiss on their foreheads and then the back bedroom in Aunt Alberta's home at Cambridge.

Lucy Pevensie: Oh.

Storyteller: Only two more things need to be told. One is that Caspian and his men all came safely back to Ramandu's island and the three lords woke from their sleep along with Lord Roop. Caspian married Ramandu's daughter and they all reached Narnia in the end and she became a great queen and the mother and grandmother of great kings. The other is that back in our own world everyone soon started saying how Eustace had improved and how you'd never know him for the same boy. Everyone except Aunt Alberta that is, who said he had become very commonplace and tiresome and it must have been the influence of those Pevensie children.

Douglas Gresham: It has been observed by some biographers of C. S. Lewis that the voyage of the Dawn Treader must have been written in a white heat of inspiration, since Jack's original handwritten manuscript was hardly revised for the final published version. The reaction to its release in 1952 was respectable and at the time Jack himself thought that it might be the last of the Narnian stories. Indeed, one can see how complete the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and the voyage of the Dawn Treader are together. This seemed particularly true because of the ends of the Earth finale.

But to Jack's surprise and the enjoyment of his readers, inspiration came to write more stories. And the ultimate finale for Narnia came later in an astonishing climax. The voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis was dramatized and directed by Paul McCusker. Sound recording and design was by Dave Arnold. Music was composed and orchestrated by John Campbell. Our producer was Dave Arnold. Our cast included Paul Scofield as the storyteller, David Suchet as Aslan, Matthew White as Edmund, Elizabeth Eaton as Lucy, Stephen Webb as Eustace, and Joe Shaw as King Caspian. Our cast also included the multi-voice talents of Stephen Entry, Robert Benfield, Norman Bowler, Bernard Cribbins, Chris Emmett, Martin Friend, Katie Glasborow, Peter Goodright, Michael Hordern, Freddie Jones, Katie Kelgren, David Oakley, Daniel Philpot, Lin Robertson Hay, Philip Sherlock, Mervyn Stutter, Simon Treves, and Zoe Wanamaker.

Focus on the Family Radio Theatre is a production of Focus on the Family. I'm your host Douglas Gresham. Thank you for listening.