The Shy Little Horse

4.8

Once upon a time there was a shy little horse. Every time when he heard anyone’s steps he ran away. The donkey was not like that, the pig was not like that.

The old gray donkey rolled his eyes and hung his head, moved his ears, and then went to see who the visitor was. And the old fat pig, if she wasn’t eating, came to the gate and grunted at the visitor. But the little horse was shy. He galloped away and his mother galloped with him to the far end of the field.

Then one day a visitor came. The visitor was a tall man with a mustache.

The donkey saw him and ran to the fence and stuck forward his long ears and rolled his big brown eyes. But the visitor didn’t pay any attention to the donkey. The old pig looked at the man and the chickens ran up and down and were not afraid. The visitor was looking at the shy little horse.

And that shy little horse just shook his head and galloped away.

This visitor came to see the shy little horse. But every time the man came near him, the little horse galloped across the field and disappeared. And his mother galloped after him and stayed by him.

But the tall man with the mustache knew a lot about shy little horses. So he just went and stood near the fence and whistled to himself and didn’t look at the shy little horse.

The funny little horse saw the man and he heard the man’s whistle. He put his nose into the grass and looked at the man secretly. The man didn’t move, he only whistled to himself. Then the shy little horse ate some grass nearer to the man. The man didn’t move, he only whistled. “What a funny man he is!” thought the shy little horse.

“Why doesn’t he try to catch me and try to put a halter over my head?” The man didn’t move, but he was still whistling.

By this time the little horse was so curious that he was afraid that he could burst. All the other men always chased him and caught him and put a halter over his head. He was quite near to the man now, and he stood there for a few seconds, but was ready to gallop to the far end of the field. The man didn’t move; he was whistling. The shy little horse moved nearer and nearer. The whistling tickled his ears and he liked the man; he stood very still and the shy little horse could see him very well.

Then the man moved just a little bit. He held up his hand and on his palm there were two lumps of sugar. The shy little horse’s mother stepped nearer to the man. The man didn’t move; he stood still and whistled. It was wonderful! The old mother horse stepped up to the man and put her nose in his hand, took one lump of sugar and stepped up and took the other lump of sugar. The man didn’t move. Then after a few minutes he walked across the field and went away.

On the next day he came back. He stood near the fence and whistled and he gave the mother horse another lump of sugar. On the third day the man walked up to the mother horse and put a halter over her head and gave her a lump of sugar. Then he led her out of the field, and the shy little horse followed close to his mother’s side. The man led the mother horse and the shy little horse down the road. The little horse did not know that road at all. But they went down that road until they came to a small village lane. At the end of the lane there was a white house with green doors and windows and a big white stable.

A shy little boy came out of the house and looked at the shy little horse.

The tall man with the mustache was the father of the shy little boy and the shy little horse was now on their farm. The little boy’s mother came out of the house and said, “What a beautiful young horse!” And the boy said, “Some day I’ll ride him.”

Quite soon the shy little boy taught the shy little horse to eat sugar out of his hand. And the shy little horse and the shy little boy grew up together, and it wasn’t long — maybe a year or two, for there was plenty of time — before the little boy grew big enough and little horse and the shy little horse grew large enough to carry the little boy on his back.

They rode all over the country, the boy and his horse, and after a while they weren’t even shy any more. They jumped over fences and galloped across the grassy fields.