THE MAGICAL HORSE

                                                                                                    THE  MAGICAL  HORSE



Once upon a time, in a small village, there lived a bonny brown horse named Bonbon. All the villagers loved the horse very dearly for it was not only strong and beautiful but also had a magical ability! Since years the villagers had used the horse to grant their wishes. They fed and played with the horse in return. As was customary, each day, the villagers would draw lots to select the person whose wish was to be granted by the horse that day. The customs further said that a circle of at 400m length had to be paved in the village and Bonbon would take a round on the paved path with any person as the rider. At the exact middle of the round, the person would have to make a wish. And all these years the trend of the wish coming true just as soon as the round was over has never been broken.

One fine morning however, when it was time to draw lots, the villagers were astonished on seeing that Bonbon was not there. There was panic in the streets, houses, shops and everywhere in the village. All the people including the elderly men with their walking sticks and small little crawling infants began searching for Bonbon. What a disgrace! They were unable to find it anywhere. Finally a child spoke out in her small, high pitched voice, “Why don’t we ask Dilsham uncle to do something? He helps me whenever I ask.”

After a bit of consideration, people thought that the child was right. Sometimes, children proved to be smarter than the elders, they knew. So, they called Dilsham, he was the wisest man in the village. As soon as he heard of the problem, he asked the crowd to clear the street. And, in peace he went to the stable and he found cud lying on the ground. He was certain it was Bonbon. He looked all over the stable and he found some more of it at the exit point. He stood at the exit point and ran his eyes around and found some more cuds a little distance away. In the same manner he kept following the cuds for he was sure Bonbon was dropping hints. After walking about a mile, he reached another village and to his surprise, he saw Bonbon. But, it was terrible! Those ruthless villagers, they were beating Bonbon up and he could almost see the pain in poor Bonbon’s eyes. Despite being desperate and angry at the same time, he decided to wait until it was night for all those people put together would definitely be stronger than him.

When the sun had finally set, he tip-toed to Bonbon’s new stable.

“Don’t be afraid,” he said, “I have come to save you.”

The horse seemed to nod in perfect understanding.

“Your hooves would cause trouble,” Dilsham placed a cart on the ground, “balance yourself on this until we are out of vicinity. I’ll drag the cart slowly so as to not wake those people up.”

As quick as they could, they gave action to his words and soon they managed to escape quietly.

“Now run as fast as you can, Bonbon.”

It ran as though it was running to heaven. And by midnight, they reached their village. The next morning all the people were so pleased with Dilsham that they decided to reward him by letting him make a wish that day. And hence when the round was completed and Dilsham got down from the horse’s back a miracle happened. Bonbon could speak.

“Thank you,” it said, “this is the best place on earth and you are the best person in this place. Thank you for saving my life and for spending your wish on me. I would always be in debt.”