C. S. Lewis, in The Voyage of the Dawntreader, part of The Chronicles of Narnia series, tells the story of Eustace, a boy who happens upon a hidden treasure which is guarded by a dragon. He has become alienated from his friends and their values by his own churlishness, and when he finds the treasure unguarded for the moment, he claims it all as his own. He places a gold bracelet around his wrist and fills his pockets with diamonds, and then falls asleep on the pile of gold and jewels, crowns and coins. When he awakens he discovers that he has become a dragon himself. He looks like the devil himself, breathing fire and dragging a long tail. The only cure was if he would submit to Aslan — the giant lion in the story representing Christ. Eustace had tried somewhat successfully to peal off a layer of dragon hide, only to find there was another skin just like it underneath. Try as he might, he could not relieve himself of his dragon skin. The only choice was to lay still and let Aslan do his work. Describing what the great lion did, Eustace told a friend, “The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt
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