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| 1949 Newbery Medal winner, also 1990 movie |
April 13, 1902 is the birthday of Marguerite Henry whose 59 award-winning books about animals are primarily about horses. I confess, while I rode as a camp counselor, I'm not really a horse person. That doesn't keep me from appreciating horses and horsemanship. As a librarian, Henry's books show every sign of remaining classics among young horse-lovers.
Her books rightfully remain in copyright for her estate. Since they are unavailable here, I went looking for another horse-loving author. Leo Tolstoy's work comes close. I was tempted to post his "The Old Horse" and recommend it...maybe another time. In volume 12 of The Complete Works of Count Tolstoy that story precedes today's Tolstoy story of "How I Learned to Ride." Storytellers could easily tell both as a story of the start of beginning a life of horsemanship and how it can affect the rider's life..
HOW I LEARNED TO RIDE
When I was a little fellow, we used to study every day, and only on Sundays and holidays went out and played with our brothers. Once my father said:
"The children must learn to ride. Send them to the riding-school!"
I was the youngest of the brothers, and I asked:
"May I, too, learn to ride?"
My father said:
"You will fall down."
I began to beg him to let me learn, and almost cried. My father said:
"All right, you may go, too. Only look out! Don't cry when you fall off. He who does not once fall down from a horse will not learn to ride."
When Wednesday came, all three of us were taken to the riding-school. We entered by a large porch, and from the large porch went to a smaller one. Beyond the porch was a very large room: instead of a floor it had sand. And in this room were gentlemen and ladies and just such boys as we. That was the riding-school. The riding-school was not very light, and there was a smell of horses, and you could hear them snap whips and call to the horses, and the horses strike their hoofs against the wooden walls. At first I was frightened and could not see things well. Then our valet called the riding-master, and said:
"Give these boys some horses: they are going to learn how to ride."
The master said:
"All right!"
Then he looked at me, and said:
"He is very small, yet."
But the valet said:
"He promised not to cry when he falls down."
The master laughed and went away.
Then they brought three saddled horses, and we took off our cloaks and walked down a staircase to the riding-school. The master was holding a horse by a cord, and my brothers rode around him. At first they rode at a slow pace, and later at a trot. Then they brought a pony. It was a red horse, and his tail was cut off. He was called Ruddy. The master laughed, and said to me:
"Well, young gentleman, get on your horse!"
I was both happy and afraid, and tried to act in such a manner as not to be noticed by anybody. For a long time I tried to get my foot into the stirrup, but could not do it because I was too small. Then the master raised me up in his hands and put me on the saddle. He said:
"The young master is not heavy,—about two pounds in weight, that is all."
At first he held me by my hand, but I saw that my brothers were not held, and so I begged him to let go of me. He said:
"Are you not afraid?"
I was very much afraid, but I said that I was not. I was so much afraid because Ruddy kept dropping his ears. I thought he was angry at me. The master said:
"Look out, don't fall down!" and let go of me. At first Ruddy went at a slow pace, and I sat up straight. But the saddle was sleek, and I was afraid I would slip off. The master asked me:
"Well, are you fast in the saddle?"
I said:
"Yes, I am."
"If so, go at a slow trot!" and the master clicked his tongue.
Ruddy started at a slow trot, and began to jog me. But I kept silent, and tried not to slip to one side. The master praised me:
"Oh, a fine young gentleman, indeed!"
I was very glad to hear it.
Just then the master's friend went up to him and began to talk with him, and the master stopped looking at me.
Suddenly I felt that I had slipped a little to one side on my saddle. I wanted to straighten myself up, but was unable to do so. I wanted to call out to the master to stop the horse, but I thought it would be a disgrace if I did it, and so kept silence. The master was not looking at me and Ruddy ran at a trot, and I slipped still more to one side. I looked at the master and thought that he would help me, but he was still talking with his friend, and without looking at me kept repeating:
"Well done, young gentleman!"
I was now altogether to one side, and was very much frightened. I thought that I was lost; but I felt ashamed to cry. Ruddy shook me up once more, and I slipped off entirely and fell to the ground. Then Ruddy stopped, and the master looked at the horse and saw that I was not on him. He said:
"I declare, my young gentleman has dropped off!" and walked over to me.
When I told him that I was not hurt, he laughed and said:
"A child's body is soft."
I felt like crying. I asked him to put me again on the horse, and I was lifted on the horse. After that I did not fall down again.
Thus we rode twice a week in the riding-school, and I soon learned to ride well, and was not afraid of anything.
That 1904 version was translated from the original Russian and edited by Leo Wiener, Assistant Professor of Slavic Languages at Harvard University.
If in a live telling, I would pair the Tolstoy tales with a tale from India I've been unable to find in Public Domain. I recall several different titles given to it, The Hallowed Horse - the picture book by Demi, "The Wonderful Horse" or "A Horse Called Terror." Sudhin Ghose was my first author of the tale. My copy of it (titled "The Wonderful Horse") is in Folk Tales and Fairy Stories from India . Because Ghose died in 1965, publishing in Britain, his works entering Public Domain are based on that date and are unavailable until 1935. Do I tell stories in copyright? Yes, as my retelling is part of its oral tradition. To show you the power of the story, I was once in a hospital lying on a gurney, talking of course. The technician recognized my voice and proceeded to retell it in all its many complicated twists and turns. He had overheard me telling the story at a Festival of the Horse. The funny thing for me is that I could have sworn my audience was no bigger than a few relatives who also came. If you are fortunate enough to find it I'm sure you will enjoy and remember it, too.
UPDATE: Sharp-eyed reader and storyteller, Mary Garrett, noted my saying Sudhin Ghose's works don't become Public Domain until 1935. <GASP!> Guess all my historical programs set in the 20th century have me still thinking in the wrong century. Ghose's work becomes Public Domain in 2035. Getting my head straight is only part of the reason I hate copyrights based on the death date of the author. I could start a rant on the whole topic, but, for now, will correct my error and mumble to myself.
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This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, "Keeping the Public in Public Domain." The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated. I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20th century. My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them. I hope you enjoy discovering new stories.
At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience. Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week. This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here. (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.) Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it.
Other Public Domain story resources I recommend-
There are many online resources for Public Domain stories, maybe none for folklore is as ambitious as fellow storyteller, Yoel Perez's database, Yashpeh, the International Folktales Collection. I have long recommended it and continue to do so. He has loaded Stith Thompson's Motif Index into his server as a database so you can search the whole 6 volumes for whatever word or expression you like by pressing one key. http://folkmasa.org/motiv/motif.htm
You may have noticed I'm no longer certain Dr. Perez has the largest database, although his offering the Motif Index certainly qualifies for those of us seeking specific types of stories. There's another site, FairyTalez claiming to be the largest, with "over 2000 fairy tales, folktales, and fables" and they are "fully optimized for phones, tablets, and PCs", free and presented without ads.
Between those two sites, there is much for story-lovers, but as they say in infomercials, "Wait, there's more!"
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