I Do Not Mean For You To Fight

"Susan, Eve's Daughter," said Father Christmas. "These are for you," and he handed her a bow and a quiver full of arrows and a little ivory horn. "You must use the bow only in great need," he said, "for I do not mean for you to fight in the battle. It does not easily miss. And when you put this horn to your lips and blow it, then, wherever you are, I think help of some kind will come to you."

Last of all he said,"Lucy, Eve's Daugher," and Lucy came forward. He gave her a little bottle of what looked like glass (but people said afterwards that it was made of diamond) and a small dagger. "In this bottle," he said,"there is a cordial made of the juice of one of the fire-flowers that grow in the mountains of the sun. If you or any of your friends are hurt, a few drops of this will restore you. And the dagger is to defend yourself at great need. For you also are not to be in the battle."

"Why, sir?" said Lucy. "I think-I don't know- but I think I could be brave enough."

"That is not the point," he said. "But battles are ugly when women fight."

~C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

*The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is coming out in theaters this December and it excites me! So I had to post something about it.