Narnian headcanon week, 7
Nov. 28th, 2013 07:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Seventh in the series:
Well... Narnia was created by/though/in song. But who was the first singer in Narnia? (I think I have pinched this part of the idea from somebody: Adaese? Apologies that I can't remember where to direct the acknowledgement, and info will be gratefully received and the edit made!)
The first singer was not Aslan, but Frank. When there was Nothing, the first voice to sing was Frank's, singing a harvest hymn 'all about crops being “safely gathered in'. He was then joined by Polly and Digory. It was only after this singing that: 'In the darkness something was happening at last. A[nother] voice had begun to sing.'
But was this just an accident of timing? My head-canon: no. There are two hymns of the period which could fit, but only one of them is a harvest thanksgiving hymn: "Come, you thankful people, come", which ends in a verse of invocation 'Even so, Lord, quickly come...'. My head-canon: Aslan comes because he is called by Frank (and the children, but the leader is Frank.)
Of course, this runs up against the line in Silver Chair, that Eustace and Jill would not have called Aslan, if he hadn't been calling them, but... (handwave, handwave). And in any case: 'Do you think I wouldn't obey my own rules?' (Voyage of the Dawn Treader) and one of the (ahem! unstated) rules is: Aslan answers those who call.
Frank is therefore not just arbitrarily chosen to be king because he happened to be the best person to hand at the time, but because he was absolutely integral to the arrival of Aslan and to the creation of Narnia from the very beginning. For that reason, Narnia is 'a country for a man to be king of'.
Just one more to go. It's an eight-day week! :)