the squire came in to look at me, and seemed pleased.

"John," he said, "I meant to have tried the new horse this morning,
but I have other business. You may as well take him around after breakfast;

go by the common and the Highwood, and back by the watermill and the river;
that will show his paces."

"I will, sir," said John. After breakfast he came and fitted me
with a bridle. He was very particular in letting out and taking in

the straps, to fit my head comfortably; then he brought a saddle,
but it was not broad enough for my back; he saw it in a minute

and went for another, which fitted nicely. He rode me first slowly,
then a trot, then a canter, and when we were on the common

he gave me a light touch with his whip, and we had a splendid gallop.
"Ho, ho! my boy," he said, as he pulled me up, "you would like

to follow the hounds, I think."
As we came back through the park we met the Squire and Mrs. Gordon walking;

they stopped, and John jumped off.
"Well, John, how does he go?"

"First-rate, sir," answered John; "he is as fleet as a deer,
and has a fine spirit too; but the lightest touch of the rein will guide him.

Down at the end of the common we met one of those traveling carts
hung all over with baskets, rugs, and such like; you know, sir, many horses

will not pass those carts quietly; he just took a good look at it,
and then went on as quiet and pleasant as could be.

They were shooting rabbits near the Highwood, and a gun went off close by;
he pulled up a little and looked, but did not stir a step to right or left.

I just held the rein steady and did not hurry him, and it's my opinion
he has not been frightened or ill-used while he was young."

"That's well," said the squire, "I will try him myself to-morrow."
The next day I was brought up for my master. I remembered

my mother's counsel and my good old master's, and I tried to do exactly
what he wanted me to do. I found he was a very good rider,

and thoughtful for his horse too. When he came home
the lady was at the hall door as he rode up.

"Well, my dear," she said, "how do you like him?"
"He is exactly what John said," he replied; "a pleasanter creature

I never wish to mount. What shall we call him?"
"Would you like Ebony?" said she; "he is as black as ebony."

"No, not Ebony."
"Will you call him Blackbird, like your uncle's old horse?"

"No, he is far handsomer than old Blackbird ever was."
"Yes," she said, "he is really quite a beauty, and he has such a sweet,

good-tempered face, and such a fine, intelligent eye -- what do you say
to calling him Black Beauty?"

"Black Beauty -- why, yes, I think that is a very good name.
If you like it shall be his name;" and so it was.

When John went into the stable he told James that master and mistress
had chosen a good, sensible English name for me, that meant something;

not like Marengo, or Pegasus, or Abdallah. They both laughed,
and James said, "If it was not for bringing back the past,

I should have named him Rob Roy, for I never saw two horses more alike."
"That's no wonder," said John; "didn't you know that Farmer Grey's

old Duchess was the mother of them both?"
I had never heard that before; and so poor Rob Roy

who was killed at that hunt was my brother! I did not wonder
that my mother was so troubled. It seems that horses have no relations;

at least they never know each other after they are sold.
John seemed very proud of me; he used to make my mane and tail

almost as smooth as a lady's hair, and he would talk to me a great deal;
of course I did not understand all he said, but I learned more and more

to know what he meant, and what he wanted me to do. I grew very fond of him,
he was so gentle and kind; he seemed to know just how a horse feels,

and when he cleaned me he knew the tender places and the ticklish places;
when he brushed my head he went as carefully over my eyes

as if they were his own, and never stirred up any ill-temper.
James Howard, the stable boy, was just as gentle and pleasant in his way,

so I thought myself well off. There was another man who helped in the yard,
but he had very little to do with Ginger and me.

A few days after this I had to go out with Ginger in the carriage.
I wondered how we should get on together; but except laying her ears back

when I was led up to her, she behaved very well. She did her work honestly,
and did her full share, and I never wish to have a better partner

in double harness. When we came to a hill, instead of slackening her pace,
she would throw her weight right into the collar, and pull away straight up.

We had both the same sort of courage at our work, and John had oftener
to hold us in than to urge us forward; he never had to use the whip

with either of us; then our paces were much the same,
and I found it very easy to keep step with her when trotting,

which made it pleasant, and master always liked it when we kept step well,
and so did John. After we had been out two or three times together

we grew quite friendly and sociable, which made me feel very much at home.
As for Merrylegs, he and I soon became great friends; he was such a cheerful,

plucky, good-tempered little fellow that he was a favorite with every one,
and especially with Miss Jessie and Flora, who used to ride him about

in the orchard, and have fine games with him and their little dog Frisky.
Our master had two other horses that stood in another stable.

One was Justice, a roan cob, used for riding or for the luggage cart;
the other was an old brown hunter, named Sir Oliver; he was past work now,

but was a great favorite with the master, who gave him the run of the park;
he sometimes did a little light carting on the estate,

or carried one of the young ladies when they rode out with their father,
for he was very gentle and could be trusted with a child

as well as Merrylegs. The cob was a strong, well-made, good-tempered horse,
and we sometimes had a little chat in the paddock,

but of course I could not be so intimate with him as with Ginger,
who stood in the same stable.

06 Liberty
I was quite happy in my new place, and if there was one thing that I missed

it must not be thought I was discontented; all who had to do with me
were good and I had a light airy stable and the best of food.

What more could I want? Why, liberty! For three years and a half of my life
I had had all the liberty I could wish for; but now, week after week,

month after month, and no doubt year after year, I must stand up in a stable
night and day except when I am wanted, and then I must be

just as steady and quiet as any old horse who has worked twenty years.
Straps here and straps there, a bit in my mouth, and blinkers over my eyes.

Now, I am not complaining, for I know it must be so. I only mean to say
that for a young horse full of strength and spirits,

who has been used to some large field or plain where he can fling up his head
and toss up his tail and gallop away at full speed, then round and back again

with a snort to his companions -- I say it is hard never to have
a bit more liberty to do as you like. Sometimes, when I have had

less exercise than usual, I have felt so full of life and spring
that when John has taken me out to exercise I really could not keep quiet;

do what I would, it seemed as if I must jump, or dance, or prance,
and many a good shake I know I must have given him, especially at the first;

but he was always good and patient.
"Steady, steady, my boy," he would say; "wait a bit,

and we will have a good swing, and soon get the tickle out of your feet."
Then as soon as we were out of the village, he would give me a few miles

at a spanking trot, and then bring me back as fresh as before,
only clear of the fidgets, as he called them. Spirited horses,

when not enough exercised, are often called skittish, when it is only play;
and some grooms will punish them, but our John did not;

he knew it was only high spirits. Still, he had his own ways
of making me understand by the tone of his voice or the touch of the rein.

If he was very serious and quite determined, I always knew it by his voice,
and that had more power with me than anything else,

for I was very fond of him.
I ought to say that sometimes we had our liberty for a few hours;

this used to be on fine Sundays in the summer-time.
The carriage never went out on Sundays, because the church was not far off.

It was a great treat to us to be turned out into the home paddock
or the old orchard; the grass was so cool and soft to our feet,

the air so sweet, and the freedom to do as we liked was so pleasant --
to gallop, to lie down, and roll over on our backs,

or to nibble the sweet grass. Then it was a very good time for talking,
as we stood together under the shade of the large chestnut tree.

07 Ginger
One day when Ginger and I were standing alone in the shade,

we had a great deal of talk; she wanted to know all about my bringing up
and breaking in, and I told her.

"Well," said she, "if I had had your bringing up I might have had
as good a temper as you, but now I don't believe I ever shall."

"Why not?" I said.
"Because it has been all so different with me," she replied.

"I never had any one, horse or man, that was kind to me,
or that I cared to please, for in the first place I was taken from my mother

as soon as I was weaned, and put with a lot of other young colts;
none of them cared for me, and I cared for none of them.

There was no kind master like yours to look after me, and talk to me,
and bring me nice things to eat. The man that had the care of us

never gave me a kind word in my life. I do not mean that he ill-used me,
but he did not care for us one bit further than to see that we had

plenty to eat, and shelter in the winter. A footpath ran through our field,
and very often the great boys passing through would fling stones

to make us gallop. I was never hit, but one fine young colt
was badly cut in the face, and I should think it would be a scar for life.

We did not care for them, but of course it made us more wild,
and we settled it in our minds that boys were our enemies.

We had very good fun in the free meadows, galloping up and down
and chasing each other round and round the field; then standing still

under the shade of the trees. But when it came to breaking in,
that was a bad time for me; several men came to catch me,

and when at last they closed me in at one corner of the field,
one caught me by the forelock, another caught me by the nose

and held it so tight I could hardly draw my breath;
then another took my under jaw in his hard hand and wrenched my mouth open,

and so by force they got on the halter and the bar into my mouth;
then one dragged me along by the halter, another flogging behind,

and this was the first experience I had of men's kindness; it was all force.
They did not give me a chance to know what they wanted.

I was high bred and had a great deal of spirit, and was very wild, no doubt,
and gave them, I dare say, plenty of trouble, but then it was dreadful

to be shut up in a stall day after day instead of having my liberty,
and I fretted and pined and wanted to get loose. You know yourself

it's bad enough when you have a kind master and plenty of coaxing,
but there was nothing of that sort for me.

"There was one -- the old master, Mr. Ryder -- who, I think,
could soon have brought me round, and could have done anything with me;

but he had given up all the hard part of the trade to his son
and to another experienced man, and he only came at times to oversee.

His son was a strong, tall, bold man; they called him Samson,
and he used to boast that he had never found a horse that could throw him.

There was no gentleness in him, as there was in his father,
but only hardness, a hard voice, a hard eye, a hard hand; and I felt

from the first that what he wanted was to wear all the spirit out of me,
and just make me into a quiet, humble, obedient piece of horseflesh.

`Horseflesh'! Yes, that is all that he thought about,"
and Ginger stamped her foot as if the very thought of him made her angry.

Then she went on:
"If I did not do exactly what he wanted he would get put out,

and make me run round with that long rein in the training field
till he had tired me out. I think he drank a good deal,

and I am quite sure that the oftener he drank the worse it was for me.
One day he had worked me hard in every way he could,

and when I lay down I was tired, and miserable, and angry;
it all seemed so hard. The next morning he came for me early,

and ran me round again for a long time. I had scarcely had an hour's rest,
when he came again for me with a saddle and bridle and a new kind of bit.

I could never quite tell how it came about; he had only just mounted me
on the training ground, when something I did put him out of temper,

• squire [skwaiə] n.护卫，侍从；乡绅 (初中英语单词)
• nicely [naisli] ad.恰好地；谨慎地 (初中英语单词)
• counsel [´kaunsəl] n.商议；劝告；律师 (初中英语单词)
• intelligent [in´telidʒənt] a.聪明的；理智的 (初中英语单词)
• stable [´steibəl] n.马棚 a.稳固的 (初中英语单词)
• sensible [´sensəbəl] a.感觉得到的 (初中英语单词)
• harness [´hɑ:nis] vt.上马具 n.马具 (初中英语单词)
• collar [´kɔlə] n.衣领；(狗等的)项圈 (初中英语单词)
• orchard [´ɔ:tʃəd] n.果园 (初中英语单词)
• hunter [´hʌntə] n.猎人；猎狗；猎马 (初中英语单词)
• intimate [´intimit] a.亲密的 n.知己 (初中英语单词)
• gallop [´gæləp] n.&v.奔驰；急速行进 (初中英语单词)
• punish [´pʌniʃ] vt.(惩)罚；痛击；折磨 (初中英语单词)
• carriage [´kæridʒ] n.马车；客车；货运 (初中英语单词)
• standing [´stændiŋ] n.持续 a.直立的 (初中英语单词)
• temper [´tempə] n.韧度 v.锻炼；调和 (初中英语单词)
• humble [´hʌmbəl] a.谦卑的 vt.贬抑 (初中英语单词)
• miserable [´mizərəbəl] a.悲惨的；可怜的 (初中英语单词)
• saddle [´sædl] n.鞍子 v.装鞍(于) (初中英语单词)
• bridle [´braidl] n.(马)笼头；束缚 (高中英语单词)
• comfortably [´kʌmfətəbli] ad.舒适地 (高中英语单词)
• thoughtful [´θɔ:tfəl] a.深思的；体贴的 (高中英语单词)
• duchess [´dʌtʃis] n.公爵夫人；女公爵 (高中英语单词)
• learned [´lə:nid] a.有学问的，博学的 (高中英语单词)
• ginger [´dʒindʒə] n.姜；精神，元气 (高中英语单词)
• luggage [´lʌgidʒ] n.行李；皮箱 (高中英语单词)
• tickle [´tikəl] v.&n.(搔)痒；逗笑 (高中英语单词)
• chestnut [´tʃesnʌt] n.栗子；栗树；栗色(马) (高中英语单词)
• blackbird [´blækbə:d] n.画眉，燕八哥 (英语四级单词)
• spanking [´spæŋkiŋ] n.打屁股 a.急速的 (英语四级单词)
• nibble [´nibəl] v.啃 n.轻咬，啃 (英语四级单词)
• experienced [ik´spiəriənst] a.有经验的；熟练的 (英语四级单词)
• gentleness [´dʒentlnis] n.温和，温柔 (英语四级单词)
• hardness [´hɑ:dnis] n.坚硬；严厉；难度 (英语四级单词)
• obedient [ə´bi:djənt] a.服从的，恭顺的 (英语四级单词)
• taking [´teikiŋ] a.迷人的 n.捕获物 (英语六级单词)
• calling [´kɔ:liŋ] n.点名；职业；欲望 (英语六级单词)
• discontented [,diskən´tentid] a.不平的；不满的 (英语六级单词)
• halter [´hɔ:ltə] n.缰绳，绞索 (英语六级单词)