Into the Wardrobe

I have two letters from C.S Lewis. He wrote them to Dr Margaret 'Peggy' Pollard in 1954. I intend to sell them soon, but this seems to be an appropriate place to share the contents for the first time.

Unfortunately C.S Lewis's handwriting is not the easiest to read, so there will be gaps. I haven't the foggiest what it all means, but maybe some scholars out there might.

Here is the first letter's contents:

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C.S. Lewis
Magdalen College
Oxford, England

May 22nd 54

Dear Mrs P______

Thank you very much for the cream; I ought to have thanked you before, but we have been having a political crisis in our Faculty and life has been a whirl. I should jolly well hope there were uncovenanted monies - after all Dante put R__? and Trajan in heaven - and I daresay Greene is getting it all right. Non-existent saints are a problem (for you if not for hum-drum little Profs like me) which I never thought of. But after all non-existent gods, if affected to --? good heart, probably have done quite a lot to : I mean, the real God, in His infinite courtesy, re-addresses the letters to Himself as they are dealt with like the ?-? of the mail. Balaam's ass, along with the ass of the flight into Egypt and the ass of the entry into Jerusalem all have a paddock and stables (prob. the Stable of the Nativity 'assumed' for that purpose) just outside the walls of the celestial city and hee-haw ad majorum. St Francis often looks in with some glorified thistles. They are famously snug. Only up there their braying is more melodious than the song of a nightingale. I hope we may meet there. Perhaps you will know me, though. Perhaps people like me, who hardly make the grade for ?-? heaven are turned into celestial deities. This would fit your definition of limbo, you see; a state of perfect narural happiness. I'll give you a ride willingly if all this comes off.

Yours
C.S Lewis

<picture of head of an ass> [/img]

He seems to be commenting on specific questions that Dr. Pollard had asked, perhaps about a work by Graham Greene.

Magdalen College
Oxford
April 20th 1954

Dear Mrs Pollard

I was extremely glad to hear from you again for I had lost your address and I believe that I was therefore unable to acknowledge your fine water colour study of the altruistic ungalate. But she no longer stands alone. Did you see in the paper the account of that dog who after a lifetime of honesty began to steal food daily! The change coincided with the disappearance of the two other dogs kept in the same house; and on investigation it was found that they were at at the bottom of a small mine shaft , alive, and that their noble colleague had been dropping food down it for them every day? I really begin to wonder if we have been quite wrong about the beasts all these centuries. Or have they changed? Perhaps St Francis has put through some little ?-? on their behalf.

Thanks for the kind things you say (my own words frighten me: I expect to be asked if you knew all this why didn;t you do it !) and for writing. I value your prayers very much. With all best wishes for Easter.

Yours sincerely

C.S Lewis

I didn't know I had this letter in the set. This is also from C.S.Lewis to Peggy Pollard, dated April 23 / 54.

I am not sure if I showed this one to Walter Hooper.

Can anyone read it?

side 1 :


side 2:


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Looks like:
Dear Mrs. Pollard,
What a nice and un _____ unbirthday present. The _________ are like those in a ______ sky. Thankyou so much indeed.
I'd like advice for a good ____ theologian about Greene's idea of laying down over _____.
Sounds fine in general ( ____ ___ to ___ sacrifice any moment) but I can feel that the more dearly we tried to define it the more un-contradictory it will be-come.
At any rate one will ____ have to acquire _____ with sacrificing; I add to your bid of beastly candidates for heaven Balaam's ass and Elijah's ravens.

Here's my best shot:

April 23/54

Dear Mrs. Pollard,

What a nice and unexpected un-birthday present. The gradations are like those in a mackerel sky. Thank you v. much indeed.

I'd like advice from a good (---) theologian about Greene's idea of laying down one's morals. Sounds fine in general (I cd. rise to that sacrifice any moment) but I suspect that the more clearly one tried to define it the more self-contradictory it wd. become. At any rate, one will first have to acquire morals worth sacrificing!

I add to your list of beastly candidates for heaven Balaam's ass and Elijah's ravens. His two (---) are perhaps more doubtful. Jonah's whale has rather a rum deal on earth, hasn't he? But I daresay he wouldn't feel happy in a place full of prophets, a species that wd. for him have purely emetic associations and ruin his appetite.

I'd quite forgotten Mr. Smith of Golder's Green but no doubt that's where I unconsciously got the name from.

All blessings: and thanks for your prayers, very much.

Yours sincerely,
C.S. Lewis

"His two she-bears are perhaps more doubtful."

Probably the bears that killed those children for making fun of the bald head of a prophet.

You're much faster at this than I am, Karen! Well done!

Sounds like a good idea for the games forum. Post images of originals of Lewis letters in his own handwriting and see who can decipher the most words:-)

--Stanley

Now that it's all translated....
Lewis has such a fun sense of humor. Only he would think of Jonah's whale getting a tummy ache in heaven from too many prophets!