Mikaela Martinez Dettinger: Eustace the Dragon and the moral element of Fairy-Stories.

 In Tolkien's On Fairy-Stories  he mentions the required moral element in Fairy-Stories particularly in association with Beast Fables. Rereading this section after reading The Chronicles of Narnia the story of Eustace's jaunt as a dragon came to mind. In Lewis' The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Eustace, a nasty little bugger (as the English might say), was humbled and transformed into a kinder person after being trapped in the form of a Dragon. The experience of being a dragon was so transformative because he had to experience intense loneliness and shame in his form. These feelings give him a sort of crash course in valuing people and caring for them. 

        Lewis' story of Eustace the dragon falls in line with Tolkien's explanation of Beast Fables. Specifically, the line of Tolkien's which argues that the works of Beast Fables partly derive "from the desire of men to hold communion with other living things". This is very appropriate to the story of Eustace because the lesson of desiring to be around people is the lesson he learns. In fact, he learns this lesson as a consequence of ditching the people trying to help him in order to nap alone and come back when all of the work was done. This is very on the nose with what Tolkien was talking about.  Lewis' books are rife with Beast Fable's but it was striking how on the nose and applicable this one was. This is probably why Lewis' novels are so great for children, the lessons of his stories are very clear and direct in the message they are trying to deliver through the fantasy of the Narnia Universe. 

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