The Hermit’s Enclosure

The Hermit’s Enclosure is a secluded, carefully provisioned refuge in the Southern March, where the Hermit shelters the fugitives after a lion pursues them. Its high green wall and open gate mark a passage from immediate danger to temporary care; from within it, however, the Hermit sends Shasta straight back into danger to warn King Lune. The enclosure therefore offers safety without treating safety as the end of the travelers’ obligations.

Setting and Design

The enclosure is a wide, perfectly circular space surrounded by a high wall of green turf. Its gate stands in the middle of the wall, and the Hermit is there as the exhausted party arrives, leaning on a straight staff and dressed in a robe the color of autumn leaves. The green barrier is a practical defense, but in the chase it also becomes a threshold the fugitives must reach before the pursuing lion overtakes them.

Inside, still water fills a pool almost level with the ground. A huge, beautiful tree overshadows it; a small stone house with a deep, ancient thatched roof stands beyond. Goats bleat at the far side, and fine grass covers the level ground. The pool, tree, house, animals, and grass make the enclosure a place of shelter and sustenance, set apart from the urgent flight beyond its walls.

Shelter After the Lion Attack

The enclosure becomes a refuge when Shasta sees the pursuing lion close behind Hwin and Aravis. Ahead, he notices the green wall and its open gate, with the Hermit standing in the gateway, but the immediate danger pulls his attention back to the horses. When he realizes the lion is snapping at Hwin’s hind legs and Aravis has no hope of escape by continuing forward, he tells Bree to stop and turns back to help.

Hwin enters the gate stumbling and nearly fainting. Aravis remains in the saddle, her back covered with blood, as the Hermit welcomes her and Shasta inside and closes the gate behind them. The enclosure’s protection is therefore reached through Shasta’s decision to turn toward the danger rather than simply flee it; once inside, the Hermit is already helping Aravis down from her horse.

Care and the Warning

The Hermit tends to Aravis after she loses consciousness. She wakes on her face on a low, exceptionally soft bed in a cool, bare room with walls of undressed stone. The bed is made of heather, a plant she has never seen or heard of. When the burning pain in her back reminds her why she has been laid face down, the enclosure’s hospitality is shown in practical care adapted to her wounds rather than in comfort alone.

The refuge does not delay the message that must reach King Lune. The Hermit tells Shasta that Aravis is wounded and the horses are spent, but that Rabadash is at that moment finding a ford over the Winding Arrow. Shasta must run without resting if he is to warn the king in time. Although the demand feels cruel to him after the journey, the Hermit makes the enclosure a point from which the warning can still be carried onward.

Narrative Significance

The enclosure places two kinds of need side by side: the wounded require shelter, while the approaching danger requires action. Its wall protects the party from the lion, and its house provides a place for Aravis to recover; yet the Hermit does not let temporary safety become an excuse to abandon the larger task. The refuge thus marks a turning point in the fugitives’ journey: care is given where it is needed, and the warning is entrusted to Shasta, who must leave again before the horses can recover.