Shasta remounted his horse and continued along the road he had chosen, in the faint hope of finding some cottage where he might ask for shelter and a meal...
"I do think," said Shasta, "that I must be the most unfortunate boy that ever lived in the whole world. Everything goes right for everyone except me..."
What put a stop to all this was a sudden fright. Shasta discovered that someone or somebody was walking beside him. It was pitch dark and he could see nothing. And the Thing...was going so quietly that he could hardly hear any footfalls. What he could hear was breathing...It was a horrible shock.
The Thing...went on beside him so very quietly that Shasta began to hope he had only imagined it. But...there suddenly came a deep, rich sigh out of the darkness beside him. That couldn't be imagination!
"Who are you? He said, scarcely above a whisper.
"One who has waited long for you to speak," said the Thing. Its voice was not loud, but very large and deep...
"...Oh please...go away. What harm have I ever done you? Oh, I am the unluckiest person in the whole world!"
...He felt the warm breath of the Thing on his hand and face. "There," it said, "...Tell me your sorrows."
Shasta was a little reassured by the breath: so he told how he had never known his father or mother and had been brought up sternly by the fisherman. And then he told the story of his escape and how they were chased by lions and forced to swim for their lives; and of all their dangers in Tashbaan and about his night among the tombs and how the beasts howled at him out of the desert. And he told about the heat and thirst of their desert journey and how they were almost at their goal when another lion chased them and wounded Aravis. And also, how very long it was since he had anything to eat.
"I do not call you unfortunate," said the Large Voice.
"Don't you think it was bad luck to meet so many lions?" said Shasta.
"There was only one lion," said the Voice.
"What on earth do you mean?...How do you know?"
"I was the lion." And as Shasta gaped with open mouth and said nothing, the Voice continued. "I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the horses new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you."..."Who are you?" asked Shasta.
"Myself," said the Voice, very deep and low so that the earth shook: and again, "Myself," loud and clear and glad: and then the third time, "Myself," whispered so softly you could hardly hear it, and yet it seemed to come from all round you as if the leaves rustled with it.
Shasta was no longer afraid...But a new and different sort of trembling came over him...
The mist was turning from black to gray and from gray to white...Somewhere ahead he could hear birds singing. He knew the night was over at last. He could see the mane and ears and head of his horse quite easily now. A golden light fell on them from the left. He thought it was the sun.
He turned and saw; pacing beside him, taller than the horse, a Lion...It was from the Lion that the light came. No one ever saw anything more terrible or beautiful.
