Arsheesh

Arsheesh was a Calormene fisherman who lived by the sea in east-central Calormen in the time of the Narnian Golden Age. Though he never married, he adopted and raised a boy called Shasta.

Biography
Arsheesh's early history is unknown, but he was born in Calormen some time before NY 1000, and was a fisherman for all of his known life. One night in that year, Arsheesh was drinking alone in his hut. Stumbling out onto the beach, he came upon a small boat in the shallows. In it, he found a newly dead man and an infant boy, both dressed in fine foreign apparel. Arsheesh sold their fine clothes and adopted the boy, naming him Shasta. Arsheesh told Shasta he was his father, but used him like a slave, beating him when angry, drunk, or frustrated with the efforts of his workday, and forcing him to do much of the menial and domestic work.

In 1014, Arsheesh offered hospitality to a traveling Tarkaan called Anradin. The two men stayed up late and drank, and Anradin offered to buy Shasta—whom he could clearly see was not Arsheesh's natural son—as a slave. The two haggled over a price for some time, eventually settling on an unknown sum before going to sleep, and not realizing that Shasta had eavesdropped on their conversation.

When both woke the next day, they found that Anradin's horse had vanished, presumably stolen by Shasta. Arsheesh's life past this point is unknown.

Character
Arsheesh was an average Calormene peasant, poor and largely uneducated; though he was also was quite shrewd, and tended to quote maxims of "the poets," a habit practiced by many Calormenes of all social classes. However, he was also lazy, greedy, and even slightly cruel, with a tendency towards heavy alcohol consumption.

Appearances

 * The Horse and His Boy