Little Horse on His Own (4 page)
Read Little Horse on His Own Online
Authors: Betsy Byars
Little Horse came to a place where a tree had fallen into the water. He stopped.
Trees had been kind to him. A tree had fallen on his cage and set him free. Trees had given him shelter. The limbs of a tree had saved him from a terrible fall. He would trust this tree.
He climbed onto the trunk. He walked slowly forward.
His steps were small and careful, but his hooves slipped on the wet bark. He went as far as he could, until the trunk of the tree disappeared into the stream.
Little Horse took a deep breath and dropped into the water. He went under. He bobbed up. Little Horse swam for his life. At last his hooves touched ground. It was the low bank where the little horses came to drink.
Little Horse pulled himself up onto the familiar earth. His legs wobbled as if he were a newborn colt. But now he trembled with hope.
He shook himself. Water sprayed in arcs around him.
He neighed. He knew it was too soft for even a mother to hear.
Little Horse threw back his head. He let out another neigh. This time the sound was loud and clear. It echoed throughout the valley. Horses appeared at the top of the hill. They parted, and there was his mother.
With a heart bursting with joy, Little Horse ran up the hill to join her.
Betsy Byars,
a Newbery Medal winner for
The Summer of the Swans,
is the author of many revered and popular books for children. She and her husband live in South Carolina. You can sign up for email updates
here
.
David McPhail
published his first children's book,
The Bear's Toothache,
in 1972. Since then, he has written and/or illustrated more than fifty books including
No!
and
The Abandoned Lighthouse,
published by Roaring Brook Press. He lives in New Hampshire. You can sign up for email updates
here
.
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Contents
12. The Valley of Little Horses
Henry Holt and Company, LLC
Publishers since 1866
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Text copyright © 2004 by Betsy Byars
Illustrations copyright © 2004 by David McPhail
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First Editionâ2004
eISBN 9781250105332
First eBook edition: December 2015