Prince Caspian: Chapter 14: How All Were Very Busy Summary & Analysis

The hour appointed for combat arrives. The field marshals are Glozelle, Sopespian, and one more Telmarine lord on Miraz’s side; Wimbleweather, Glenstorm, and the eldest Bulgy Bear on Peter’s. Peter shakes hands with Edmund and Doctor Cornelius, then enters the lists (a field for fighting). Trumpkin wishes that Aslan had showed up before it came to this, and Trufflehunter agrees—but then points out the thousands of dryads and silvans whom Aslan awakened and who surge toward the challenge field. In the center of the lists, Peter and Miraz bow to each other and briefly speak, although no one can hear their words. Then their swords flash in the sunlight and both sides break into cheers. Peter gains the early advantage, but Miraz soon rebounds and begins to use his superior height and weight to gain the upper hand.

After their initially fierce volleys, a winded Peter and Miraz both fall back momentarily before resuming their fight, but more carefully this time. Each tests the other’s defenses and weaknesses. Peter draws first blood, but it soon becomes apparent that his left arm—his shield arm—is injured and hanging uselessly at his side. After a little while longer, Miraz and Peter agree to a rest, allowing Edmund and Doctor Cornelius to bind Peter’s sprained wrist. Peter confesses that he only has one shot at winning: outlasting Miraz until the older man tires. But he’s not hopeful on this count, and just before the fight resumes, he asks Edmund to give their family (and Trumpkin) his love if he dies. 

But with his shield arm back in play, Peter does surprisingly well in the next round. He seems to play a game of tag with Miraz, dancing ever out of his reach and forcing him to follow him around the ring. The Telmarines begin to jeer and heckle Peter for “dancing,” but Edmund knows that his brother won’t heed them. Then, Miraz lands a heavy blow on Peter’s helmet and Peter stumbles. But before Miraz can strike a fatal blow, Peter grabs Miraz’s arm, uses it as leverage to regain his feet, and rejoins the fight. Miraz grows angry and the fighting grows fiercer.

Then, suddenly, Miraz trips and falls facedown to the ground. Peter stands back and chivalrously waits for Miraz to regain his feet—but Glozelle and Sopespian don’t. They instantly rush into the ring claiming that Peter has stabbed Miraz in the back. Peter shouts to the Old Narnians for backup and, as Glozelle stabs Miraz deeply and fatally in the back, the Telmarines and Old Narnian forces spring into all-out battle. Reepicheep and the mice fight as bravely as anyone, skewering Telmarine soldiers’ feet and killing those who fall. Then the Telmarine forces retreat, shrieking “The Wood!” The awakened trees plunge into the fray like a rising tempest. The remnants of the Telmarine army retreat in disorder toward Beruna. But when they arrive at the river, they find the bridge gone.

To understand what happened to the bridge, the story turns back to earlier in the day. After letting Susan and Lucy sleep for a few hours, Aslan wakes them up with the promise that they will “make holiday” together with Bacchus, Silenus, and the Maenads (Bacchus’s troupe of wild girls) remain. The girls climb onto Aslan’s back for a ride around Narnia. They start at the bridge, where Bacchus’s grapevines squeeze the bridge into dust, freeing the giant, bearded river-god whom the bridge has imprisoned for generations.  

In the nearby town, people flee in terror at the company’s approach. They liberate a little girl named Gwendolen from her strict and mean teacher, Miss Prizzle, who screams and flees when she sees Aslan. Most of her class follows her, but Gwendolen begs to join Aslan, and he welcomes her. Then, in the countryside, Bacchus turns an old man who is cruelly beating a boy into a tree and the boy joins them. Near Beaversdam, they find a school where a tired teacher faces a roomful of pig-like little boys. She’s reluctant to abandon her post, but when the boys flee, she happily joins the group. Legends say the boys were never seen again, but that a group of very fine pigs lived in the area ever afterward.

Near Beaversdam, they find a sad little girl worrying about her dying aunt. Aslan goes to the door of the aunt’s cottage, tossing it from its foundations when he can’t fit inside. A little old woman (who looks like she may have some Dwarf blood in her ancestry) lies in bed. She instantly and joyfully recognizes Aslan. As he speaks to her, the color and life return to her face and soon, she’s sitting up and asking for breakfast. Bacchus dips a pitcher into her well and hands it to her, and she discovers, much to her surprise, that it’s filled with rich wine instead of water. Lucy and Susan yield their places on Aslan’s back to the old woman, and the troupe dances all the way back to where Miraz’s army has surrendered to Peter’s. The old woman slips from Aslan’s back and runs to embrace Caspian—she is his faithful old Nurse.