The Horse and The Boy

Hi. Sorry it has been a while since I last wrote, it has been one of those weeks.

Anyway, I was looking through some old files of mine for no particular reason, when I came across a short piece I had written in middle school. For some reason the piece has resonated with me for the past few days, even though as far as I can tell there was no intentional "deeper meaning".

You be the judge:

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Long ago there lived a horse and boy. Together they wandered life aimlessly, in no certain direction the horse led the boy, and to no certain destination did the boy give the horse. After walking a long day, the two would stop and sleep, only the next morning to continue walking.

Now the boy never rode the horse, because he considered them equals. He swore he would never ride the horse in his lifetime, unless he was willing to have the horse ride him.

And the horse never left the boy, because he considered them equals. He swore he would always keep at a steady pace so the boy could keep up, unless the boy felt like a run.

One day, after the two companions had walked a few miles, they stopped at a fork in the road.

“Why do we do this?” The boy asked his companion.

The horse looked at him curiously.

“Why do we do this?” The horse asked his companion.

The boy looked at him curiously.

The horse looked at one path, the boy looked to the other.

One path had footsteps, and a clear scent of life, that wafted through it.

The other path was unclear, and seemingly dangerous.

Nodding at the path that many others had treaded on, the horse started to make his way down it.

Pointing to the less traveled path that nobody had set foot on, the boy started to make his way down it.

Never looking back to see where their friend was, the two comrades made their way down their own path without so much as a goodbye.

Only years later, when the horse was fully-grown, and the boy a man, did the two realize they were missing each other.


The boy traveled back down his less-traveled path.

The horse traveled back down his.

And wordlessly, the two walked together at the same pace, side by side.