Now and then Old Jack will tell me a story about the people who lived around here before the Age of Machines, and I always enjoy hearing these stories because they ring truer for me than today’s two-dimensional attempt at myth-making. We were walking through a crow-infested field (I told you about how they follow him) in mid-fall, and we saw a couple of horses running. I didn’t think much of it until he said, “There goes Miss Sandish and Kitty. A bit early this year if you ask me. Better leave extra hay out.”
And it goes like this:
There was a young widow named Sandish who had a little daughter named
Kitty. They were both sweet and kind
people who had fallen on some very hard times when Sandish’s husband died
unexpectedly. Sandish’s family lived
very far away and she had nowhere to go when her husband died. They had only recently traveled to these
parts and didn’t know many people. Their
plan had been to start a homestead, raise a family, and start a new clan here
in the North. All of those plans came to
a crashing halt when Sandish’s husband died.
Sandish and her husband kept many fine horses--some said
they were the finest in the land. They
were just beginning to build a very good reputation with their horses, and
through that reputation they would make the money and friends they needed to
start their life in their new home. Now
that Sandish’s husband was dead, she was not sure what to do and didn’t trust
her ability to do it without him. Mind
you, she was the one who had a way with horses and not him, but she didn’t have
the courage to do it alone. Add to that
the sheer weight of grief over the loss of a loved one, and you can imagine how
things stood idle for much longer than they should have.
Now there was a very shrewd and wealthy merchant who lived
several towns away and he had heard of the beautiful horses that Sandish and
her husband were selling. He had also
heard of her husband’s death and decided he would come and try to get the
horses before Sandish got any ideas of raising them on her own. He was fiercely competitive and more than a
little jealous of their newfound success.
Oh, he swept into town like a prince! He came to see Sandish, lavished her with
gifts and praise, gave constant condolences to her on her loss, and generally
just slid right in like a snake. Since
she was still overwrought with sorrow over her loss, she was not paying as much
attention to this charlatan as she should have.
It felt good to have someone lavish her with so much attention, so she ignored
any warning signs she might have seen and became fast friends with this
merchant.
One very cold and wintry day, he suggested to Sandish that
she should take a small holiday. He
promised to care for her horses, and he offered to pay for her trip. At first she said no, but the idea of getting
away from her problems was so alluring that before long she found herself
saying yes. In no time at all, he had
everything arranged. One of his men would
come for her and her daughter in a fine carriage and bring them to the sea. There they would sail away for a warmer
climate and then return in the spring.
Sandish and her daughter packed quickly, and within a day they were
saying their goodbyes to the merchant.
They could not know what fate awaited them, and I’m sorry to
say it was not a sunny and warm climate.
The carriage driver took them far away from the village and then off
onto a lonely road. The light of the day
was beginning to fade when he abruptly stopped the carriage, opened the door,
and forced Sandish and Kitty out. He
kept all their possessions and gave them nothing at all, and then he urged the
horses on quickly so that he might return to Sandish’s home.
But that was not the worst of it. Back at her home, the evil merchant had
rounded up all of Sandish’s horses in the stables. He brought plenty of skilled horsemen with
him to help him get the horses back to his home. Even with all their experience, though, the
horsemen were having trouble because these horses were not quite trained as
ordinary horses. They responded best to
Sandish, who seemed to know their language, and they were very edgy and jumpy
with these new men. Still, they were
finally able to get all the horses out and ready to go. The merchant was very pleased with this and
bid them to fly like the wind through the night back to his home.
Just as they were leaving, the carriage driver
returned. He was driving his horses
mercilessly because he wanted to return before complete nightfall. As he rounded the bend, he spooked the
waiting horses and two of them escaped, running quickly off into the
meadow. The merchant watched them and
decided they were the most beautiful of all the horses, and he wanted to get
them back. It was not enough that he had
all the other horses, which were now leaving peaceably enough with his
men. He became even greedier than usual
and insisted upon having the two horses that had gotten away, now obsessing on
their beauty.
In the meantime, Sandish and her daughter began to try to
walk home. They weren’t certain where they
were and they were freezing. The moon
was full, so at least they could see and they trudged on. Ah, The Fates are strange at times, though, and
they sent a terrible snowstorm to Sandish and Kitty. The two tried to shelter under some trees,
but Sandish knew that they would die.
She wept bitterly at her stupidity but tried to hide it from her
daughter. She held her tight and began
to croon to her almost as she did to her horses. Imagine her surprise when two of her prized
horses came trotting up to her! There
the four of them stayed under the shelter of the trees, and Sandish could see
that the horses were terrified as well.
Now the sprites of the woods were all active on this night because
the moon was full, and they were so very attracted to all the emotion coming
from the trees. They giggled with
delight when they learned of Sandish’s predicament and offered to help. They told Sandish that only two of them might
leave alive. In this way, they would
save Sandish but on the condition that she would teach them how to speak to the
horses. Imagine their surprise when
Sandish immediately said to let the horses live and not her and Kitty! Oh, they were livid! Now she’d gone and ruined everything! They expected her to be selfish and
self-serving as most humans were! Now
they were in a predicament for sure because the Moon Magic required them to
fulfill their word or forfeit their powers.
At last they admitted they were outfoxed and they consulted
The Gump, who was amused to no end.
Sandish, her daughter, and the two horses were given a strange drink,
and then the two women each got up on a horse.
“Fly like the wind!” The Gump said, and the horses took off at
incredible speed. As they ran, Sandish
and her daughter felt very strange, indeed, almost as if they were running
themselves! Through the night the
transition took place, and by morning Sandish and her daughter had each merged
with their horse. This fulfilled the
sprites’ deal: Only two could leave
alive.
As they neared their home, who should they run into but the
evil merchant himself and his carriage man.
The snowstorm had hit them as well, and their carriage had overturned in
the snow. Two of their horses had gone
lame, and the other two had died of cold.
The merchant was so very relieved to see the two beautiful horses trot
up, looking as fresh as they might have on a fine spring morning. He immediately called the horses to him, and
to his surprise, they obediently came.
Even more surprising, each horse allowed a man to climb atop it as if it
were the most natural thing in the world.
The merchant breathed a sigh of relief and urged the horses
forward. Before he could think another
thought, however, they took off at breakneck speed for the woods! No amount of slapping, yelling, or kicking
had any effect on the horses whatsoever.
They flew as if they were bewitched, and if truth be told, they were,
indeed. On and on they went until they
came to deep, snow-laden ravine. There
the horses stopped abruptly and threw their riders off into the deep snow. The two men screamed and yelled, but the
horses backed quickly away. Then the two
men begged, and the horses just snorted and ran off.
I probably don’t need to tell you that the merchant and his
carriage man froze to death there. The
sprites were patient and waited by their sides until each breathed their last
breath, trying to enlist the help of these odd fairies, who despise the
selfishness of humans. When they died, the
sprites took all of the merchant’s gold coins, and he had a great many of
them! They melted them down and made two
little gold horses from them, which they placed on a boulder that marked the
entrance to their woodland homes. They
were patient sprites, if not a bit odd, and somehow they decided that
eventually the gold horses made from the gold of a horse thief would teach them
the language of horses.
Old Jack says that as long as the gold horses are still
there and the sprites are still waiting for their secrets, Sandish and Kitty
will be running through the meadows.
