"It is, then, my good fortune not to be a man"

Groundhog
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

While not normally one to get excited about theatrical releases, I must admit being all atwitter at the prospect of the latest Narnia movie coming out this weekend.

Like many folk, I have read the Narnia series several times. The first in the series (sort of) - The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - which was made into a movie a year or so ago, has been perhaps my least favorite of the stories. But this next one, Prince Caspian, IS one of favorites. And that is largely due to the introduction of one of my favorite characters in all of literature: Reepicheep, the Mouse.

Reepicheep is the leader of a band of two foot tall talking mice and is memorable for his unflinching loyalty to Aslan and his remarkable bravery and unrepentant pride. Being a small creature, a certain amount of pride and hubris is necessary, Reepicheep would tell us.

When a dragon needs to be faced, Reepicheep is the one who steps forward to deal with it.

When Caspian (in a later story) despairingly tells Reepicheep that they will never escape the dreaded Dark Island, he tells Reepicheep, "There are some things no man can face."

Reepicheep replies, "It is, then, my good fortune not to be a man."

Reepicheep is a Mouse above all mice and many humans and I can't wait to see how well he's portrayed in the movie.

A quote (from Voyage of the Dawn Treader:

While I can, I sail east in the Dawn Treader. When she fails me, I paddle east in my coracle. When she sinks, I shall swim east with my four paws. And when I can swim no longer, if I have not reached Aslan's country, or shot over the edge of the world in some vast cataract, I shall sink with my nose to the sunrise and Peepiceek will be head of the talking mice in Narnia.