When the Horses Fell

In the time before our ancestors, when animals still ruled the world, islands floated far above the land, hidden by a sea of clouds. The clouds prevented the animals below from knowing what lies above them. Even the did not know what secrets the clouds hid, for they dare not fly that high. On the islands lived many herds of magnificent piebald and skewbald horses. They were kept by the wind spirit, who loved to watch them play. One afternoon had gotten much too rough. They ran up and down the islands in such an unruly manner that they started teetering back and forth. The wind spirit tried to get the horses to settle down, but his efforts only made them more rambunctious.

And so, more and more, the islands wavered. Some of the horses started slipping on the edges. Yet they ran faster and faster. Their hoofbeats growing louder and louder. The islands finally reached their limit and tilted so steeply that every last horse slipped and tumbled to the land below. Dazed and confused, the horses looked around themselves wondering where they were; when the wind spirit yelled out,“Look out, below!” all of the animals looked up. The islands were dropping from the sky! Fearing the islands falling on them, everyone started to run. Animals ran to the east. Animals ran to the west. The islands landed between them.

The animals to the west were separated from the animals to the east, and that is how it was until men explored that far. All the while the horses stayed where they stood. The animals that ran to the east stared at the strange creatures that came from the sky. Some were confident enough to walk forward. The horses were confident that the animals were trying to kill them, so they ran further into the east— as fast as their legs could carry them. Eventually, they were forced to stop. A raging river’s rushing rapids rushed towards the south. What was there to do? Be swept away by the river or face the dangerous animals.

Just then one of the horses heard rustling in some bushes. Curious, the little horse walked forward to investigate, when a man plunged a rope into its mouth and lunged onto its back. The horse started to rear and buck— alarming the other horses. More men lunged onto backs and plunged ropes into mouths until a good part of the herd was taken away. The rest of the lived by the raging river. Slowly but surely they spread to other parts of the land and eventually spread to some “mountains” in the west. To this day you can still see some of their descendants near the fallen islands.

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