by Leslie » March 21st, 2005, 12:43 am
I don't think you can consider the story in the Judeo-Christian paradigm at all; you have to try to get inside the mind of a pre-Christian pagan. Think of it as a dream, perhaps - one of the good dreams that Lewis believed God sent to pagan cultures.
In these dreams, there would be mysterious hints of something beyond what ordinary, daily life offered, which would be made into tales and songs. You would not expect the dreamers to get a clear picture of God; even we, with thousands of years of God revealing himself to Israel, and with the Incarnation a fact of our history, still see only dimly.
Appearing as a god of the mountain seems at least as realistic as appearing in a burning bush.
"What are you laughing at?"
"At myself. My little puny self," said Phillipa.
--Rumer Godden, In This House of Brede