One day, our neighbor Keno Carter rode his horse over to our house. Hehad another horse with him. He rode to me and said: "You have helpedme a lot during the year. You've been a good boy. Now, here is thehorse I promised. It is yours."At first, I just stood with my mouth open and looked. The horse was awhite female. A mare with brown spots. I have never seen anything sobeautiful and she was mine, all mine.
"What's wrong?" asked Keno Carter, "Don't you like her. She is as fastand brave as a wild horse. And she has a sense of fun."I did not hear a word he said. The only thing I could say was, "Gee!
Thanks, thanks." Keno Carter got down from his horse. My new horsejumped and lifted her front feet high in the air. Then she put hernose into his coat pocket and took a piece of sugar.
"She knows me," Said Keno Carter with a wide smile, "I am the onlyperson who has touched her. She is a kind animal. Remember this, boy.
You can lose her love easily. If you become angry, if you hurt her,she will never obey or love you. You should teach her very gently. Itis your job to feed her, clean her and give her water. Put her at theend of a long rope and let her play. Call her name and gently pull onthe rope. She will soon learn to come to you when she wants water orfood." He talked for half an hour telling me how to train my horse.
When he finished, I said: "Can I have her now? I want to begin rightaway."He left me and went to town with my father. I walked away with myhorse. The first thing I did was to give her a name. She was so proudand carried her head so high. I named her Queen. She liked me, I knewit because she obeyed me and seemed to enjoy it.
Later, when Keno Carter came home with my father, he asked me aboutQueen. "You should not train her hard today," He warned, "She haswalked all the way from my farm and (/she) is tired. You must thinkfor her. Be kind to her as kind as you are to your sisters."Sisters, I thought, and felt guilty. I never tried to be especiallykind to my sisters. I did not like girls very much. I did not saythat. But Keno Carter laughed as if he knew what I was thinking. Hetold me that the horse and I had to be like one animal. I was thebrains and the horse was the body. I liked that. Queen and metogether.
From then on, I was with my horse every day. I taught her to runaround in a circle, to go one way then turn around and go another. Ibroke a piece of wood from a tree and used it as my training stick. Mysmall sisters wanted to help me. I let them do some little things butI gave the orders. One sister put the rope around Queen's neck and ledher around and around. When I lifted the stick, Queen turned and wentthe other way. She was a quick horse and learned fast.
A week later, I started to teach her to carry me. This was slow work.
I began by gently putting my arm on her back. If she did not like it,I slowly moved my arm away. When she let me leave my arm there, Iplaced the cloth on her back. I slowly got up and sat on the cloth,then got down again. I did this hundreds of times. I wanted to hurryand ride her, but I remembered what Keno Carter said about being slowand gentle. I learned how to wait. At last, she let me ride her, justfor a few minutes at first, then for a longer time. When she got tiredand started to jump, I got off. One thing about Queen, she was myhorse and she did not let my sisters or anyone else ride her. It wasalways like that, just Queen and me.
One day, the circus came to town. Day and night, we could hear thehappy circus music. There were many things to see: elephants, lions,men who flew through the air on swinging bars and funny men calledclowns. I wanted to see only one thing, the horses. I went to the tentwhere the trainer lived. I talked to him. He let me watch him trainthe circus horses. I learned a lot. I trained Queen until she wasbetter than all of them. She could soon stand up on her back legs, godown on her front legs and even lie down and roll over.
The big day came at last when I rode Queen into town. The circus mantold me that horses liked to look pretty. So I put a colored blanketon Queen's back and a red flower behind her ear. She loved it. She didnot walk. She danced to the circus music. Everyone stopped to look andsmile at us. We were happy, my horse and me. It was a day we wouldnever forget.
I started to teach Queen another trick, a difficult and dangeroustrick. But I was sure I could do it. I saw the circus horse do itfirst. He stepped over a clown who lay on the ground. He ran back andforth and did not touch the clown with his feet. The trainer told mehow to teach Queen. First, I got pieces of wood and put them on theground. I led Queen over them. If she touched one of them, I told herit was wrong and did not give her any sugar. When she learned how todo this, I was ready to let her step over a clown. I did not have aclown. But I did have two sisters. They were happy to be part of mycircus act. They lay down on the ground and let Queen step over them.
My Queen did it like the circus horses.
This act was our secret. We did not tell anyone about it, not even mymother. It would be a surprise. We decided to show my parents thatSaturday night. I cleaned Queen until she shone. I fixed her hair likethey do in the circus with the bright blanket across her back and aflower behind her ear. Queen was ready. My sisters put on their bestdresses. We were all ready.
Saturday evening, when dad came home from work, we showed him ourtrick. A soft summer wind blew the circus music over to our farm. Whendad saw the act, he stopped and looked. His eyes grew wide, his faceturned white. My mare was running back and forth, her head highjumping over the bodies of my two sisters lying on the ground. I wasstanding proudly, nearby was the trainer stick in my hand. I thoughtthe look on my father's face was surprise, but it was not. It was fearand anger.
"Stop," he shouted, "stop that."He ran to me and pulled the stick from my hand. He hit me on the seatof my pants. The girls got up and brushed the dirt from their dresses.
We tried to tell him how we had trained the horse. But dad was tooangry to listen.
"Don't you know that is dangerous?" He said breathing fast, "You mighthave killed your sisters." And he hit my bottom good and hard.
I learned something useful from the punishment I got for that horsetrick. I learned about the pain in my heart when people did notunderstand me. I learned that some mothers and fathers do not traintheir boys as carefully as I trained my horse. Perhaps, they do nothave the time. Perhaps, they do not have any reasons.
When dad finished hitting me, he explained to mother why he hadpunished me. Then, I told my story. I told both of them how long andcarefully I had taught my horse to walk over the girls. I showed myfather that I could really control Queen. Then, I said something thathurt him very much.
"I taught my mare that trick," I said, "I have taught her all sheknows and I never hit her, not once."Mother gave dad one of her special looks. There was a long silence. Istood there in the middle of the yard gently touching the seat of mypants. I wondered why my dad suddenly looked like a small boy.
You have just heard "Lessons from a pony" written by Lincoln Steffens.
The story is from the book "My favorite stories" published by * andCompany in 1957. It was read for you in Special English by ShepO'Neal. The Voice Of America will bring you another American storynext week. This is Susan Clark.
林肯·斯蒂芬斯（Lincoln Steffens，1866－1936）美国作家, 黑幕揭发运动的代表人物。曾经担任《麦可卢尔》、《美国》、《人人》等杂志的记者与编辑，他系统地揭露市、州一级政府的腐败行为，其代表作为《城市的耻辱》(Shameof the Cities）。 |