The Wooden Horse-2

The carpenter came with a wooden horse slung over his shoulder. When he saw it, the king

pulled a long face, "Surely this is a child's toy? How can it compare with the iron fish?"

"Oh, it's even better than the iron fish," said the carpenter. "It has twenty-six screws on

it. When you loosen the first screw, the wooden horse will fly into the sky; when you loosen

the second screw, it will accelerate. If you loosen all the twenty-six screws, it will fly

more quickly than any bird and take you around the world."

The young prince happened to be present while they were talking about this. His curiosity

was GREatly aroused when he heard that the wooden horse could fly. How he wished he could

fly up into the sky and have a look at the world! He turned to the king and asked him to let


him have a ride. The king said, "No, it's out of the question. Are you even sure that it can

really fly? What if it rises into the sky and then falls to the ground?"

"Don't worry," said the carpenter. "There is no chance of that ever happening."

The little prince kept pestering his father. Since the king doted on him and had never

refused him anything, he got his way in the end. "But you can only try it out," said the

king. "You must fly slowly and only loosen the first screw." AGREeing to this, the little

prince mounted the horse. He loosened the first screw, and sure enough, the wooden horse

rose into the air. He looked down and saw everything beneath him moving further away: the

mountains, the rivers, the trees, the towns, the crowds of people. He was so delighted that

he loosened one screw after another. The wooden horse flew faster and faster and soon

crowds, trees, towns were all out of sight. As he flew, the little prince became hungry. He

looked down and saw another city beneath him. He tightened the screws one by one. The wooden

horse slowed down and gradually landed. The little prince had a meal and put up for the

night at an inn. What fun! To arrive like this, in the twinkling of an eye, in a new town, a

town he had never seen before!

The next day the little prince went sight-seeing. Having strolled along several streets, he

found himself in a square filled with people gazing up into the sky. "There must be

something fascinating up there in the sky," he thought. He elbowed his way into the crowd

and looked up, but there was nothing to be seen.