The_Complete_Chronicles_of_Narnia_(volumes_1-7,_in_order_of_publication)

"Your royal Highness," he said. "I am most truly sorry that things have come to this
extremity. Your Highness will bear witness that it was none of our doing. And of course
we shall be delighted to provide your Highness with shipping back to Tashbaan for the -
er - treatment which Aslan has prescribed. You shall have every comfort which your
Highness's situation allows: the best of the cattleboats - the freshest carrots and thistles -"
But a deafening bray from the Donkey and a well-aimed kick at one of the guards made it
clear that these kindly offers were ungratefully received.
And here, to get him out of the way, I'd better finish off the story of Rabadash. He (or it)
was duly sent back by boat to Tashbaan and brought into the temple of Tash at the great
Autumn Festival, and then he became a man again. But of course four or five thousand
people had seen the transformation and the affair could not possibly be hushed up. And
after the old Tisroc's death when Rabadash became Tisroc in his place he turned out the
most peaceable Tisroc Calormen had ever known. This was because, not daring to go
more than ten miles from Tashbaan, he could never go on a war himself: and he didn't
want his Tarkaans to win fame in the wars at his expense, for that is the way Tisrocs get
overthrown. But though his reasons were selfish, it made things much more comfortable
for all the smaller countries round Calormen. His own people never forgot that he had
been a donkey. During his reign, and to his face, he was called Rabadash the Peacemaker,
but after his death and behind his back he was called Rabadash the Ridiculous, and if you
look him up in a good History of Calormen (try the local library) you will find him under
that name. And to this day in Calormene schools, if you do anything unusually stupid,
you are very likely to be called "a second Rabadash".
Meanwhile at Anvard everyone was very glad that he had been disposed of before the
real fun began, which was a grand feast held that evening on the lawn before the castle,
with dozens of lanterns to help the moonlight. And the wine flowed and tales were told
and jokes were cracked, and then silence was made and the King's poet with two fiddlers
stepped out into the middle of the circle. Aravis and Cor prepared themselves to be bored,
for the only poetry they knew was the Calormene kind, and you know now what that was
like. But at the very first scrape of the fiddles a rocket seemed to go up inside their heads,
and the poet sang the great old lay of Fair Olvin and how he fought the Giant Pire and
turned him into stone (and that is the origin of Mount Pire - it was a two-headed Giant)
and won the Lady Liln for his bride; and when it was over they wished it was going to
begin again. And though Bree couldn't sing he told the story of the fight at Zalindreh.
And Lucy told again (they had all, except Aravis and Cor, heard it many times but they
all wanted it again) the tale of the Wardrobe and how she and King Edmund and Queen
Susan and Peter the High King had first come into Narnia.
And presently, as was certain to happen sooner or later, King Lune said if was time for
young people to be in bed. "And tomorrow, Cor," he added, "shalt come over all the
castle with me and see the estres and mark all its strength and weakness: for it will be
thine to guard when I'm gone."