The Reward of a Good Deed: Shasta

If you do one good deed your reward usually is to be set to do another and harder and better one. ("The Horse and His Boy," page 155)

“The Horse and His Boy,” tells the adventures of the boy Shasta and the talking horse Bree as they attempt to escape Calormen into Narnia. On their way, they learn of a plot of the Prince Rabadash of Calormen to conquer the northern kingdoms, Narnia and Archenland. They must warn Archenland’s king of the coming attack or find that the destination they hope to reach no longer exists. After weeks of travel through Calormen Shasta and his fellow travellers finally cross the desert into Archenland. Tired and worn, having just escaped a lion, Shasta’s cohorts are left with the Hermit of the Southern Marsh. Shasta, however, cannot take a moment’s rest, but is called upon to go with all speed and warn Archenland’s King Lune of the impending attack. “[Shasta] writhed with the cruelty and unfairness of the demand,” for he had not yet learned the lesson that the reward for a good deed is not the opportunity to rest on one’s laurels, but being offered the opportunity to do a harder one. 

Lewis’ description of the usual reward for a good deed echoes a statement in Ethics of Our Fathers (4:2):

Ben (the son of) Azai says: you should run to fulfill an easy command as a hard one, and flee from a transgression. For one command pulls with it another command, and a transgression pulls with it another transgression. For the reward of [fulfilling] a command is [fulfilling] another command, and the reward of [violating] a transgression is [violating] another transgression.   

The classical commentaries suggest a number of possible readings for this statement. R’ Ovadia of Bartenura (15th century Italy) reads as follows. When fulfilling a command of God (a mitzvah or good deed) one accustoms himself to follow the word of God. Thus, in the future it will be easier to continue following in His path. As a reward, God will provide further opportunities to fulfill others of His commands. An example of this is described by our Sages as an explanation of the juxtaposition of certain commands listed in Deuteronomy (22:6-12). The midrash states: if one performs the command of chasing away a mother bird before taking the eggs, one will be rewarded by being able to build a new house. When building that house the person now has the opportunity to fulfill another command, putting a fence around the roof of the house (assuming a flat roof, or a balcony). If one fulfills that command one will be rewarded by being able to plant a vineyard and will now have the opportunity to fulfill the commands related to that endeavor (such as not mixing the vines with seeds of another species of plant), and so forth. 

This chain of good deeds arising from the fulfillment of one, partially parallels Shasta’s experience. He has performed the good deed of escaping, and helping others to escape, Calormen in hopes of a more fulfilling life in Narnia. Now, he can perform another good deed by warning the King of Archenland of an impending attack. While somewhat satisfactory, the suggestion that one good deed leads to another, seems too weak as an interpretation of Lewis’ assertion. According to Lewis Shasta's reward is not merely the opportunity to perform additional good deeds, but to perform “harder and better” ones. Why is this true? I will address this point in the next post.

In the meantime, I pray that starting this blog may be considered a good deed and will lead to the performance of additional good deeds.