The Mountain Pony

Once upon a time there was a little mountain pony called Benenair. He grew up in the wild with his mother, and she helped him learn how to follow all of the tricky mountain paths. Some were very steep, but soon he knew every inch confidently. He could climb up carefully between the boulders and walk on the sand through shallow water. He could dash across a grassy field and then through the light snow and kick it up with his heels. He knew how to thunder through the valleys and how to play among the daisies. In spring, he would charge at small bushes and frolic in between the tufts of grass.

There was a bushman named Peter, who lived in a shack in the woods with his wife and his son. One day Peter found Benenair and took him back to his bush abode. Most horses disdain being captured and tamed, but Benenair was different. He liked Peter, the bushman, his wife, and Ivan, his son, because they were very kind to him. They would often let him go back to the wild, where his brothers, sisters and mother were. On cold nights or whenever there was a fierce storm, they would cover him with a warm blanket and let him take shelter under the shed.

One day, Ivan was leading Benenair through a part of the land that belonged to the King, when suddenly Benenair seemed to want to lead Ivan. Ivan quickly got on the horse, and the horse took off in a gallop. They went over some hills and through valleys and across streams, until finally, they approached a young girl who was sitting on the ground. Ivan saw immediately that it was none other than the young Princess, who must have gotten lost in the wood. He quickly saw that she was in trouble, for right next to her there was a snake, with its head raised, as if about to strike the Princess.

Without hesitation, Benenair brought one of his strong hooves down onto the snake’s head, and in one moment had trampled it to death, and saved the young Princess’s life. Ivan took the child and lifted her onto Benenair’s back, telling Benenair that he must follow the path towards the castle. Benenair did as he was instructed. After Ivan had returned the Princess to the castle, and to the King, who had been distraught with worry, the Princess told her father the whole story about the snake and what Benenair and Ivan had done to save her. The King, who was profuse in his gratitude, rewarded Ivan with a bag of gold coins and a grant of a large amount of land to the north of the kingdom, near to the place where his family lived. Ivan thanked the King, took the bag of gold coins and returned back to the shack in the woods where his parents lived. He told his parents what had happened and they were very happy.

Source: Kyndeler*