Beans: The Country Formerly Known as England

As our bedtime "story" tonight, I was reading to the boys "Prince Caspian," the fourth book in C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. At our point of literary departure, the four young heroes of the novel had found themselves suddenly, magically whisked away from a train station in England to the land of Narnia, and the narrator extensively drew out the many contrasts between life in predictable-old England and Narnia's world of surprises and extremes. The mention of "England" elicited from the boys the same kind of subjective reaction most people have when they hear that mysterious word.

Daniel spoke up: "When I hear the word 'England', it reminds me of beans."

Ian had a more vivid association with this fluid category: "It reminds me of the colors green, yellow, and white. It also reminds me of a bowl of soup."

The beauty of England is that it has an entirely unique meaning for each person who hears it mentioned.

(July 13, 2011)