THE YEAR GARGANTUA HAD WOODEN HORSES, AND WHAT USE HE MADE OF THEM.
[Illustration: GARGANTUA AT PLAY.]
From the time he was three years old to the time he had grown to be a
boy of five, Gargantua was brought up, by the strict command of his
father, just like all the other children of the Kingdom. His education
was very simple. It was:
Drinking, eating, and sleeping;
Eating, sleeping, and drinking;
Sleeping, drinking, and eating.
If he loved any one thing more than to play in the mud, that was to
roll and wallow about in the mire. He would go home with his shoes all
run down at the heels, and his face and clothes well streaked with
dirt. Gargantua, therefore, was not more favored than the other little
boys of the kingdom who were not so rich as he was; but there was one
advantage which he did have. From his earliest babyhood he saw so many
horses in the Royal Stables that he got to know a fine horse almost
as well as his father did. Whenever he saw a horse he would clap his
fat hands together, and shout at the top of his lungs. It was thought
that--being a Prince who was, in time, to become a King--he should be
taught to ride well. So they made him, when he was a little fellow of
four years, so fine, so strong, and so wonderful a wooden horse that
there had never been seen its like up to that date, and there never has
been found in any young prince's play-house or toy-shop since.
[Illustration: GARGANTUA'S HORSE.]
This surprising horse must have been a piece of rare workmanship,
because, whenever its young master wanted it to do anything, it was
bound to do it. He could make it leap forward, jump backward, rear
skyward, and waltz, all at one time. He could make it trot, gallop,
rack, pace, gambol, and amble, just as the humor took him. But this was
only half of what that horse could do. Gargantua, at a word, could make
it change the color of its hair. One day its hide would be milk-white;
the next day, bay; the next, black; the next, sorrel; the next,
dapple-gray; the next, mouse-color; the next, piebald; the next, a soft
brown deer-color.
But this was not all.
Gargantua learned to be so skilful that he thought that he might just
as well make a horse to suit himself as to have a horse bought for
him. So he sat knitting his great eyebrows till he finally found how
he could make a hunting-nag out of a big post; one for every day, out
of the beam of a wine-press; one with housings for his room, out of a
great oak-tree; and, out of different kinds of wood in his father's
kingdom, he made ten or twelve spare horses, and had seven for the mail.
[Illustration: GARGANTUA'S RIDING LESSONS.]
It was a rare sight to see all these wooden horses--bigger toys
than had ever been made before--lying piled up, side by side, near
Gargantua's bed, and the young Giant sleeping in their midst.
One day, Gargantua had a fine chance for having some sport of his own
making.
It was on the day a noble lord came on a visit to his old friend, King
Grandgousier. The Royal Stables proved rather small for such a number
of horses as came with the noble lord. The Chief Equerry of the Lord of
Breadinbag--which was the name of the great nobleman--was bothered out
of his head because he could not find stable-room for all the horses
brought with them. By good luck he and the Grand Steward happened to
meet Gargantua at the foot of the great staircase.
[Illustration: A NOBLE LORD CAME ON A VISIT.]
"Hello, youngster, what is thy name?"
"Prince Gargantua."
"Is that so?" they cried. "Then say, little Giant, tell us where we are
to put our horses. The stables of thy Royal Father are all full."
"Yes, I know they are," said Gargantua, slily; "all you have to do is
to follow me, and I will show you a beautiful stable, where there are
bigger horses than ever yours can grow to be. Where have you left your
horses?"
"Out in the court-yard, little Giant."
"Follow me, then, and I will show you the stables."
The Chief Equerry and the Grand Steward went after him, up the great
staircase of the palace, through the second hall, into a great stone
gallery, by which they entered into a huge stone tower, the steps to
which they mounted, along with the Prince, but breathing very heavily
indeed.
"I am afraid that big child is laughing at us," whispered the Grand
Steward, behind his hand, to the Chief Equerry. "Nobody ever puts a
stable at the top of a house."
"You are wrong there," whispered back the Chief Equerry; "because I
happen to know of places, in Lyons and elsewhere, where there are
stables in the attic. But, to make sure, let us ask him again."
Turning to Gargantua, he said:--
"My little Prince, art thou sure thou art taking us right?"
"Haven't I already told you? Isn't this my father's palace, and don't
I know the way to the stables of my big horses? Don't gasp so much,
gentlemen. Only three little steps and we are there!"
[Illustration: "ONLY THREE LITTLE STEPS."]
Once up the steps, which made the Chief Equerry and the Grand Steward
blow worse than ever, and passing through another great hall, the
mischievous Prince, opening wide a door,--that of his own room,--cried,
triumphantly:--
"Here are the finest horses, gentlemen, in the world. This one next the
door is my favorite riding-horse. That one near the fireplace is my
pacer,--a good one, I assure you. Now, just look at that one leaning
against yonder window. I rode it rather hard yesterday, and it is
tired. That's my hunting-nag. I had it at a great price from Frankfort;
but I am willing to make you a present of it. Don't refuse me, I beg.
Once on it, you can bag all the partridges and hares you may come
across for the whole winter. Now, choose; which of you will ride my
hunting-nag?"
The Chief Equerry and the Grand Steward, knowing that all these fine
names of "riding-horse," and "pacer," and "hunting-nag," were for mere
blocks of wood, were, for a moment, stupefied. They looked at each
other slily, and half ashamed; but the joke was too good when they
thought of the long stairs they had toiled up, and of their horses
below waiting all this time to be stabled and fed. They couldn't help
it; it was too rich; so they laughed till they were tired, and then
began to laugh again till they were tired again.
"A rare bird is this young scamp," panted the Chief Equerry, as he
lifted one end of the great beam which Gargantua called his hunting-nag.
"A prime joker is this young rogue, if he is a Prince," panted the
Grand Steward, in echo, as he stumbled along with the other end into
the hall.
There was no use in being mad at the trick young Gargantua had played
on them. So they left him stroking the fastest horses in the world,
while they went laughing all the way across the first hall, down the
small steps, across the other halls, along the corridors, past the
stone gallery, down the long stairway as far as the great arch, where
they let the famous hunting-nag roll to the bottom.
When they at last reached the great dining-room, where all their
friends were gathered, they made everybody laugh like a swarm of flies
at the trick played on them by the little Prince with his wooden
horses.