The Shy Little Horse

4.8

Once upon a time there was a shy little horse. Every time 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, hung his head, moved his ears, and went to see who the visitor was. 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.

One day a visitor came. He was a tall man with a mustache.

The donkey saw him and ran to the fence, stuck forward his long ears, and rolled his big brown eyes. But the visitor didn't pay attention to the donkey. The old pig looked at the man, and the chickens ran up and down without fear. The visitor was looking at the shy little horse.

The shy little horse shook his head and galloped away.

Every time the man came near, the little horse ran across the field and disappeared. His mother stayed with him. But the tall man knew a lot about shy horses. He just went and stood near the fence, whistling to himself and not looking at the little horse.

The little horse heard the whistle, put his nose into the grass, and looked at the man secretly. The man didn't move; he only whistled. Then the shy little horse ate some grass closer to him. "What a funny man he is!" thought the horse.

"Why doesn't he try to catch me and put a halter on my head?" The man still didn't move, only whistled.

The little horse became very curious. He stood near the man, ready to gallop away, but the man stayed still. Then the man held up his hand with two lumps of sugar. The mother horse stepped closer, took the sugar, and the man didn't move. After a few minutes, he walked across the field and went away.

The next day he returned. He stood near the fence, whistled, and gave the mother horse another lump of sugar. On the third day, he put a halter on the mother horse and gave her sugar. The shy little horse followed his mother. They walked down a road to a small village lane and came to 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 horse. The tall man with the mustache was his father. The shy little horse was now on their farm. The boy's mother said, "What a beautiful young horse!" The boy said, "Some day I'll ride him."

Quite soon the boy taught the horse to eat sugar from his hand. The boy and the horse grew up together. After a year or two, the boy was big enough, and the horse was strong enough to carry him.

They rode all over the country. The boy and his horse were not shy anymore. They jumped over fences and galloped across the grassy fields.