Fairy Tale Spotlight: After Ten Years [Short Story Review]

"After Ten Years" is a short story written by C. S. Lewis. It was published in 1966. Despite actually being published, it is completely unfinished and has no ending or resolution of any kind.

This story is actually about the Trojan War from the perspective of the King of Sparta. It starts at the point he is waiting inside the horse to be deployed. He is also there to get his wife back. That would be Helen of Troy, the daughter of Zeus. But when he finds her, she has aged, and he is stuck with an ugly woman that everyone expects him to remain married to.

Crazy stuff, but it doesn't really go much farther than that. The emotions are running high, and there is the weird possibility that it might not even be Helen after all. She might be some sort of eidolon or something. Either way, the saddest thing about this well-written story is that it just suddenly stops.

Apparently, C. S. Lewis just lost interest in it. He moved on to other things. It is said that he did not even know where he was going with it and was more into the setting and characters than he was with giving it any real plot. To my knowledge, it was never actually intended to be published, but was published anyhow.

What is here was very well written and interesting. Despite the truth, it does feel like it is going somewhere very mysterious. Sadly, it is left up to our imaginations to decide what that ultimate truth would have been. Despite it's unfinished state, it is interesting enough to read. I recommend it.

This blog was written on February 24, 2025.

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