The_Complete_Chronicles_of_Narnia_(volumes_1-7,_in_order_of_publication)

He turned and saw, pacing beside him, taller than the horse, a Lion. The horse did not
seem to be afraid of it or else could not see it. It was from the Lion that the light came.
No one ever saw anything more terrible or beautiful.
Luckily Shasta had lived all his life too far south in Calormen to have heard the tales that
were whispered in Tashbaan about a dreadful Narnian demon that appeared in the form of
a lion. And of course he knew none of the true stories about Aslan, the great Lion, the son
of the Emperor-over-the-sea, the King above all High Kings in Narnia. But after one
glance at the Lion's face he slipped out of the saddle and fell at its feet. He couldn't say
anything but then he didn't want to say anything, and he knew he needn't say anything.
The High King above all kings stooped towards him. Its mane, and some strange and
solemn perfume that hung about the mane, was all round him. It touched his forehead
with its tongue. He lifted his face and their eyes met. Then instantly the pale brightness of
the mist and the fiery brightness of the Lion rolled themselves together into a swirling
glory and gathered themselves up and disappeared. He was alone with the horse on a
grassy hillside under a blue sky. And there were birds singing.
CHAPTER TWELVE
SHASTA IN NARNIA
"WAS it all a dream?" wondered Shasta. But it couldn't have been a dream for there in
the grass before him he saw the deep, large print of the Lion's front right paw. It took
one's breath away to think of the weight that could make a footprint like that. But there
was something more remarkable than the size about it. As he looked at it, water had
already filled the bottom of it. Soon it was full to the brim, and then overflowing, and a
little stream was running downhill, past him, over the grass.
Shasta stooped and drank - a very long drink - and then dipped his face in and splashed
his head. It was extremely cold, and clear as glass, and refreshed him very much. After
that he stood up, shaking the water out of his ears and flinging the wet hair back from his
forehead, and began to take stock of his surroundings.
Apparently it was still very early morning. The sun had only just risen, and it had risen
out of the forests which he saw low down and far away on his right. The country j which
he was looking at was absolutely new to him. It was t a green valley-land dotted with
trees through which he caught the gleam of a river that wound away roughly to the North-
West. On the far side of the valley there were high and even rocky hills, but they were
lower than the mountains he had seen yesterday. Then he began to guess where he was.
He turned and looked behind him and saw that the slope on which he was standing
belonged to a range of far higher mountains.