The first stop the Dawn Treader makes after picking up Eustace and the Pevensies is the Lone Islands. That's an interesting little vignette with several things worth noting. Let's discuss a few of them!
The Lone Islands
- Thread starter PrinceOfTheWest
- Start date
Drawing straight with crooked lines
Here's something worth noticing: that sometimes Aslan draws straight with crooked lines.
When Caspian made the ill-fated choice to be dropped off from the Dawn Treader in order to stroll across Felimath with his guests, it seemed like the decision ended in disaster. Being nabbed by kidnappers and marched off to be sold into slavery is a terrible thing to happen. But if you consider the ultimate consequences, you can see how it bore good fruit - so much so that it looks to have been engineered.
Step back and consider how things might have gone if the Dawn Treader had come into the Lone Islands as they had all their other stops. They would have sailed into Narrowhaven heralded by messengers. The Governor would have had time to "put away" the less pleasant aspects of the Islands and offer his sovereign a more presentable appearance. They might never have learned of the slave market or the pirates who frequented it - they might have only been shown the more respectable aspects of the Lone Islands.
But being captured by pirates showed them swiftly just how bad things had gotten in the Islands. How "coincidental" it was that Lord Bern was right there to notice Caspian right off! How intriguing that the forces of wickedness managed to bring the man who could do something right to a man of position, influence, and knowledge of the local situation! How providential that circumstances lined up so that the king's coming to the Lone Islands would be quite different than his visits to the other stops!
One lesson we can draw from this is that just because things start to go badly in our lives doesn't mean that we've been forgotten, or that things have gone wrong. If we place our faith in Aslan, we can trust that good will ultimately come. Consider how Edmund and Lucy must have felt: captured, seeing their friend and king taken away, spending the night in a slaver's hold, dragged to market and auctioned the next day. From all appearances, a grand adventure in Narnia had swiftly turned into the nightmare of a life of slavery. They didn't know about Lord Bern, or the plans the others were making. It must have been a very dismal night, filled with doubts and fears.
One of my dad's favorite sayings was "Sometimes God draws straight with crooked lines". The lines must have seemed very crooked to the children taken by Pug, and they sometimes seem very crooked to us. But trusting in Him will bring everything right in the end.
Here's something worth noticing: that sometimes Aslan draws straight with crooked lines.
When Caspian made the ill-fated choice to be dropped off from the Dawn Treader in order to stroll across Felimath with his guests, it seemed like the decision ended in disaster. Being nabbed by kidnappers and marched off to be sold into slavery is a terrible thing to happen. But if you consider the ultimate consequences, you can see how it bore good fruit - so much so that it looks to have been engineered.
Step back and consider how things might have gone if the Dawn Treader had come into the Lone Islands as they had all their other stops. They would have sailed into Narrowhaven heralded by messengers. The Governor would have had time to "put away" the less pleasant aspects of the Islands and offer his sovereign a more presentable appearance. They might never have learned of the slave market or the pirates who frequented it - they might have only been shown the more respectable aspects of the Lone Islands.
But being captured by pirates showed them swiftly just how bad things had gotten in the Islands. How "coincidental" it was that Lord Bern was right there to notice Caspian right off! How intriguing that the forces of wickedness managed to bring the man who could do something right to a man of position, influence, and knowledge of the local situation! How providential that circumstances lined up so that the king's coming to the Lone Islands would be quite different than his visits to the other stops!
One lesson we can draw from this is that just because things start to go badly in our lives doesn't mean that we've been forgotten, or that things have gone wrong. If we place our faith in Aslan, we can trust that good will ultimately come. Consider how Edmund and Lucy must have felt: captured, seeing their friend and king taken away, spending the night in a slaver's hold, dragged to market and auctioned the next day. From all appearances, a grand adventure in Narnia had swiftly turned into the nightmare of a life of slavery. They didn't know about Lord Bern, or the plans the others were making. It must have been a very dismal night, filled with doubts and fears.
One of my dad's favorite sayings was "Sometimes God draws straight with crooked lines". The lines must have seemed very crooked to the children taken by Pug, and they sometimes seem very crooked to us. But trusting in Him will bring everything right in the end.
~Lava~
Well-known member
Yes, also, if they had arrived like they did at other islands. Caspian could never have pulled off his Coup D'etats even if he had found out about the bad stuff because Gumpas would never have let it happen knowing that Caspian did not have a strong following in the waters.