He strode a poney, lank and lean,
That looked as if astray ’t had been;
Dun was its hue, with flowing-mane;
The tail was black, and like a train--
Contrary to the custom of the Manx Fairies, it might be inferred, that
our Groom had just returned from the sanctuary of sportsmen, with a nag
of the native breed. But having already made considerable progress in
establishing the origin of the rider, we shall now take some pains in
proving to our readers the pedigree of the steed: and in asserting him
to be from the stock of the far-famed Sleipner, we hope to be borne out
by his performances, and confirmed by probability in our opinion. The
circumstance of that noted stallion having had eight legs, does not in
the least degree weaken our belief in the genuine descent of the
Goblin’s poney; for, reasoning by analogy, we have never yet heard of a
parent with a wooden-leg transmitting timber-toes to posterity.
To those sportsmen who confine their genealogical inquiries to the
general stud-book and racing-calendar, we present, in the words of the
Gothic Edda, the history of a horse, more famed than the Childer’s Barb,
or the Godolphin Arabian.--