The problem posed by the disbelieving dwarfs reappears in Lewis's next piece of fiction, Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold. The myth in question is that of Cupid and Psyche, classically told by Apuleius in his Metamorphoses (or The Golden Ass). Lewis's retelling of the myth transforms it in several ways. The action described is presented as historical fact, which in the course of the narrative becomes myth. The turning point of the narrative comes when Psyche's sister, Orual, the narrator and central character, stumbles across a secluded temple dedicated to Psyche, and hears a priest recite the myth of Cupid and Psyche. This retelling as myth of ‘the facts’ in which Orual had been a major participant many years before enrages her. A significant difference between the myth and ‘what really happened’ lies in their diverging accounts of what led Psyche to disobey Cupid's command never to see his face – a disobedience which causes Psyche to lose her divine lover. In the myth, Psyche's disobedience is prompted by her jealous sisters, whereas ‘in fact’ Orual was never, she insists, motivated by jealousy of Psyche's lover and grand palace. Orual claims only ever to have acted out of love for Psyche. The crucial ‘fact ’ which the myth misses out is that Psyche's palace was invisible to Orual, who therefore believed that Psyche needed to be rescued from madness. This omission from ‘the sacred story’ wipes out ‘the very meaning, the pith, the central knot, of the whole tale’, says Orual (TWHF 252). She therefore resolves to retell the myth ‘as it really happened’, and this retelling forms the bulk of Till We Have Faces. And, since Orual holds the gods responsible for the false myth of Cupid and Psyche, her retelling is also an indictment of the gods. Orual's account is thus the opposite of theodicy; it attacks the divine injustice. It could also be seen as written ‘in defence of the dwarfs’ – that is, in defence of those who do not, or will not, see the reality of magical palaces, or ‘real Narnias’, or perfect islands.

As we shall see, it is really Orual who is being put on trial by Lewis and his collaborator on Till We Have Faces, Joy Davidman, to whom the book is dedicated.