C. S. Lewis


My favorite author, hands down is C. S. Lewis. Here is a tiny part of one of his stories called: The "Voyage of the Dawn Treader". Just to preface a bit. A boy has turned into a dragon. He is trying to remove his scales but finds he has to let the great lion, Aslan do it with his sharp claws.
Enjoy!!

"So, I started scratching myself and my scales began to fall off, all over the place. And then I scratched a little deeper and, instead of just scales coming off here and there, my whole skin began peeling off, beautifully, like it does after an illness, or as if I was a banana. In a minute or two I just stepped out of it. I could see it lying beside me, looking rather nasty. It was a most lovely feeling. So I started to go down into the well for my bathe.

But just as I was going to put my foot into the water, I looked down and saw that it was all hard and rough and wrinkled and scaly, just as it has been before.Oh, that's all right, said I, it only means that I had another smaller suit on underneath the first one, and I'll have to get out of it too. So, I scratched and tore again and this under skin peeled off beautifully and I stepped and left it laying beside the other one and went down to the well for my bathe.

Well, exactly the same thing happened again. And I thought to myself, Oh dear, how ever many skins must I have to take off? For I was longing to bathe my leg (injured leg). So, I scratched away for the third time and got off a third skin, just like the two others and stepped out of it. But as soon as I looked at myself in the water, I knew it was no good.

THEN THE LION SAID-but I don't know that it spoke: YOU WILL HAVE TO LET ME UNDRESS YOU. I was afraid of his claws, i can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now.So, I just lay flat down on my back and let him do it.
The very first tear that he made was so deep that I thought it has gone right through my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I have ever felt. The only thing that made me bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. You know-if you have ever picked a scab of a sore place. It hurts like ? but it is such fun to see it coming away.

...and there I was...as smooth and soft as a peeled switch and and smaller than I had been.THEN HE CAUGHT HOLD OF ME-I didn't like that much, for I was very tender underneath now that I had no skin on-AND HE THROUGH ME INTO THE WATER. It smarted like anything but only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that all the pain had gone. I had turned into a boy again.
After a bit, the lion took me out and dressed me with his paws.-IN NEW CLOTHES."