The Horse
In a small, quaint village where farmers toiled tirelessly under the sun, there lived a peasant and his three sons. Among them, two embraced the farmer’s life with vigor, while the youngest, an incurable dreamer, reveled in the beauty of nature, much to the chagrin of his pragmatic family. This dreamer, nicknamed “The Idler,” would soon undertake an extraordinary journey that would transform him from a mere stargazer to a figure of legend.
The Idler and the Rice Fields
As dawn broke over the village one day, the peasant gathered his sons and declared it time to sow new life into the rice fields. The two elder brothers immediately set to work, their hands moving with practiced efficiency. Meanwhile, the Idler found his attention captured by the playful antics of some squirrels, perched enticingly on the branches of a nearby tree. As the sun dipped below the horizon, the fields were tilled, and the brothers trudged back home, weary yet satisfied.
The following morning, their routine was shattered when their father stormed into the room, vexed. Overnight, some creature had trampled the newly planted seedlings, necessitating hours of replanting. Despite their ordeal, the elder brothers sturdily faced the challenge, only to find the fields despoiled again by the night’s end.
A desperate solution was devised: each brother would take turns guarding the fields by night. The task fell first to the eldest, who despite his earnest efforts, succumbed to slumber, leaving the fields vulnerable once more.
A Night Watch of Wonders
The Idler, perhaps inspired by the serenity of night, volunteered for the next vigil. Bathed in moonlight, he settled beneath a tree, deciding to embrace the night rather than fight sleep. His gaze wandered to the heavens, counting stars in an attempt to stay awake, when a startling sight caught his eye—a large, white horse calmly traced through the field.
Leaping to his feet, the Idler pursued the majestic beast. Just as he reached out, the horse ascended into the air with a grace that belied its size. Determined, the Idler clung to its flowing tail as they soared over land, eventually alighting in an exquisite valley unknown to him.
There, the horse turned its wise eyes upon him and proposed a pact: release its tail in exchange for a promise to cease its nocturnal mischief, and in a month, it would offer him one of its foals. The Idler, his love for horses ignited, agreed at once, on the condition of being returned home.
The Gift and the King
The Idler kept his skyward exploits a secret from his family, yet each day he toiled in the forest, gathering timber to construct a stable that both intrigued and puzzled his kin. True to its word, the white horse returned with a golden foal, whose radiant beauty and peculiar twin humps rendered it a natural wonder.
The brothers, struck by the horse’s worth, urged its sale to the king, envisioning lives free from toil. Yet, when the horse was brought before the enamored monarch, his stable master hesitated, suggesting the Idler stay to tend to the exotic creature he clearly adored. This arrangement suited the Idler perfectly, although it soon embroiled him in the royal court’s intrigues.
A Royal Command and a Boiling Fate
The king summoned the Idler, commanding him to fetch the Princess of Sagar, whose beauty was renowned. Bewildered, the Idler confessed no knowledge of Sagar’s whereabouts, provoking the king’s fury. The Idler relayed this stark mandate to his wise steed, who devised a plan to secure the princess’s favor with gifts from the king’s treasures.
Carrying a casket of jewels, the Idler journeyed with his horse to the distant kingdom. There, the princess was duly enchanted by the trove and willingly accompanied them back, charmed by the journey and the tale unwound on the ride home.
Upon their arrival, the king, smitten by the princess’s beauty, hastened to propose marriage. She, however, set a peculiar condition: the Idler must bathe in boiling milk. The king, greedy for matrimony, eagerly agreed, leading to a public spectacle.
The Idler’s Triumph
Aided by his magical horse, who cooled the cauldron with its breath, the Idler survived the ordeal unscathed, much to the amazement of all who watched. The princess, however, demanded the king face the same trial before they wed.
Pressured by pride, the king met an untimely end in the cauldron, his ambitions consumed by the boiling fate he’d decreed for another. The princess, recognizing the Idler’s true spirit, offered her hand, elevating him from dreamer to Prince Idler. Thus, he traded a life of contemplation beneath the stars for an unexpected destiny beside a wise and perceptive princess.
And so, the once idle dreamer found his place in a world where dreams, when pursued with the courage to hold on to a horse’s tail, can lead to the most wondrous of realities.