English fiction -- 19th century; Short stories, English
Staveley departed, and I was left alone with Tiglath. I called him
Tiglath because he resembled a lathy pig. Later on I called him Pileser
on account of his shouk; but my coachwan, a strong, masterless man,
called him "_haramzada chor, shaitan ké bap_" and "_oont ki beta_."
He certainly was a powerful horse, being full fifteen-two at the
withers, with the girth of a waler, and at first the docility of an
Arab. There was something wrong with his feet--permanently--but he
was a considerate beast, and never had more than one leg in hospital
at a time. The other three were still movable, and Tiglath never
grudged them in my service. I write this in justice to his memory; the
creaking of the wheels of the municipal cart being still in my ears.
For a season--some twelve days--Tiglath was beyond reproach. He had
not a cheerful disposition, nor did his pendulous underlip add to
his personal beauty; but he made no complaints, and moved swiftly to
and from office. The hot weather gave place to the cool breezes of
October, and with the turn of the year the slumbering devil in the soul
of Tiglath spread its wings and crowed aloud. I fed him well, I had
aided his barsati, I had lapped his lame legs in thanda putties, and
adorned his sinful body with new harness. He rewarded me upon a day
with an exhibition so new and strange that I feared for the moment his
reason had been unhinged. Slowly, with a malevolent grin, Tiglath, the
pampered, turned at right angles to the carriage--a newly-varnished
one--and backed the front wheels up the verandah steps, letting them
down with a bump. He then wheeled round and round in the portico, and
all but brought the carriage over. The show lasted for ten minutes, at
the end of which time he trotted peacefully away.
I was pained and grieved--nothing more, upon my honour. I forbade
the sais to kick Tiglath in the stomach, for I was persuaded that
the harness galled him, and, in this belief, at the end of the day,
undressed him tenderly and fitted sheepskin all over the said harness.
Tiglath ate the sheepskin next day, and I did not renew it.
A week later I met the Judge. It was a purely accidental interview.
I would have avoided it, as the Judge and I did not love each other,
but the shafts of my carriage were through the circular front of his
brougham, and Tiglath was rubbing the boss of his headstall tenderly
against the newly-varnished panels of the same. The Judge complained
that he might have been impaled as he sat. My coachwan declared on oath
that the horse deliberately ran into the brougham. Tiglath tendered no
evidence, and I began to mistrust him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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