Calormene Poetry: On Prosperity

Application to business is the root of prosperity, but those who ask questions that do not concern them are steering the ship of folly towards the rock of indigence

The first piece of Calormene poetry introduced to readers of The Chronicles of Narnia comes at the beginning of The Horse and His Boy. Shasta (the protagonist of this story) often wonders what lies to the north of his home deep in Calormen. Occasionally he formulates his wonder into a question for his step-father Arsheesh. However, Arsheesh "had a very practical mind" and, as what lay to the north in no way affected him, he neither knew, nor cared. If he was in a good mood Arsheesh would discourage Shasta’s curiosity and questions by quoting the above, or some similar, verse of poetry.

We should note that Arsheesh's practical mind, does not appear to be very much appreciated by Lewis. We will have to return to this in a future post.

As we have seen from our previous explorations of Calormene poetry, the poet seems reasonable and practical. If one were to spend all of their time wondering about what was unimportant and irrational rather than concentrating on their work, they would indeed fail. In fact, the bible says something similar:

From all toil there is some gain, but idle chatter is pure loss. (Proverbs 14:23)

Similarly,

He who tills his land shall have food in plenty, but he who pursues vanities is devoid of sense. (Proverbs 12:11) 

From these verses, and others, we see the importance of work, not wasting time on trivialities, and paying attention to what one is doing. The poet seems to have gotten at least the first part of the verse correct: without application to business there will not be prosperity.

However, the poet, or Arsheesh, only tells half of the story. Hard work and diligence are necessary for prosperity, but they are not sufficient for prosperity.

Other verses in Proverbs describe the requisite component:

Fear of God is a fountain of life, enabling one to avoid deadly snares. (Proverbs 14:27)

And,

Entrust your affairs to God, and your plans will succeed. (Proverbs 16:3)

Arsheesh does well to encourage Shasta to pay attention to his work, and not to chase fantasies. However, this alone is insufficient to guarantee prosperity. One cannot succeed without God. Trust and reliance on God are necessary. The importance of God is not conveyed to Shasta at all. It is up to Shasta to learn it on his own.

In the next part of the verse, Arsheesh encourages Shasta not to ask questions. In the godless environment of Asheesh's hut questions, imagination, and dreams are at best irrelevant and at worst dangerous. We will explore in a future post.