two questions

[Apple_Of_Life29]

i have two questions im not sure of....

1) at the end of chapter 14 im MN aslan tells digory what would have happened if he gave his mother the apple. in the other books, Aslan always tells the other characters "nobody is told what would have happened" Is this just a mistake or is there something im missing??

2) is the valley that fledge flies digory and polly to the same one in HaHB when aravis and shasta are crossing the desert?


any answers would help lots, thanks. :confused: :confused:

[Ithilien]

Maybe I can help on number 1.

What Aslan is saying is what would have happen if Diggory took a certain course of action. Eating the apple for the wrong reasons would cause certain negative things to happen; it is what would have happened if Diggory had given the apple to his mother prematurely. In the end, Diggory does give the apple to his mother at the right moment and she heals.

However, he did not know the consequences of his actions as he committed them. (He could have left for his own world with the apple when he was in the garden or he could have returned to Aslan first. The latter action was the right choice. But, like Aslan said, "Nobody is told what would have happened.") But in hindsight, they can see what could have happened.

I hope that helped.

[PrinceOfTheWest]

I think Ithilien's got part of it, but I also think there were two other dynamics. One was that though "each is only told his own story" was one of Aslan's catchphrases, I don't think Lewis meant it to be a hard-and-fast rule about how Aslan dealt with people - just how things normally went. Secondly, it was a serious "teaching moment" for Digory, and he needed to know why he'd had to suffer so much, and that the offering of his obedience was not only accepted but would bear good fruit. Remember, at the time Aslan said that, Digory did not yet know the good outcome - all he knew was that he'd done the right thing, essentially trusting Aslan with the outcome. His faith did not disappoint him.

With respect to the valley before the Garden being the one that Shasta and Aravis found: no, they weren't the same thing. Remember, Fledge had to fly well west to find the Garden - Shasta and Aravis were coming from the south. Their valley was on the western side of the desert, but not west enough - and nowhere near north enough - to be the valley before the Garden.

[Apple_Of_Life29]

i guess im understanding a bit now...but i dont think digory and polly coul dhave guessed that if they DID go back to earth and gave his mother the apple, that later on they woul dlook back on the illness and say it would have been better for her to die(hope you caught that its sorta confusing) ;)