A touch of Spring

Icy Rain, Squalls, snow, now Hot sun, hail, snow, sunshine, rain - we think Spring is on the way.  We wait patiently.  We know it is coming.  When the sun comes life is good.  The cold time is nearly over.  The wind is sleeping - just for now.

I am Coinneach.  I tell a story of how time passes us these last 3 days.  Today I am serious.  Only today, for I see things are changing and I know I must remember.  I must remember for the herd mother.

Saturday, is mans weekend. Man rests on the weekend.  Manfriendsherd do not rest.  They always serve us.  

 

For us free ponies everyday is free.  We do as we please and we are pleased at what we do.

Saturday the sun shone hot.  As our Manfriend toiled in the day to serve us in answer to our prayers to the Creator, for him to lead us to green pastures, we watched his face grow red from from far up on the smallhill.  Manfriend is far from us but our eyes are good and we see what he does and we hear his thoughts.  We know he makes a new place for us to feed and rest..  ManfriendsShe makes it safe for us too.  She walks up and down.  She knows what is bad for us, even though we do not know.  She thinks about us.  This She thinks loud.  We hear her always as She thinks of us.

We wondered what we would look like so red in the face from the hot sun and giggled to ourselves.  But this is a good Manfriend and She and they serves us well.  

Sunday is the day of rest.  Our Manfriend serves us still.   He and his herd went to see the Creator last night in their tradition, so now Manfriendsherd get to serve us the whole day.  Do they rest and play?  We do not know.  They think sad thoughts but they serve us well.  He brings us good things to eat.  Manfriend is a curious beast.  He suffers the foul weather to care for us, for as long as we have known him.   We have not known him too long but a good servant he is.  We hear his thoughts.  He thinks loudly too this Manfriend.  His face is still red.

The weather in the darkness was very cold, even for a horse.  You may think we are ponies but we think we are horses.  It has been floating fluffy white ice from the sky, these last days.  It made us filled with energy and we played and ran about.  It was good and we felt strong.  The darkness came and small balls of ice came.  We hid behind the rocks and laughed at them.   They sneaked up behind us and stung us and we turned around.  We turned our backs on the icy balls and we went to sleep.

The Creator tells us, ask and you shall find.  We asked for greener pastures and we will get greener pastures we know.

We awoke to hot sun.  It is good.  Cold and then sun.  Spring comes to us.  We had a good day.  We remember good days before back to the mists of time.  We see our pastures the many pastures of our great herd mothers and see all the good days. 

Darkness is not far.  Our Manfriends Littleones they come to  me with strangers.  They come to take us.  We wait for our Manfriend and She.  Littleones tell us to come but we are not sure.  We play with Littleones but we wait.  We know Manfriend and She come.  There are two more Littleones and Newone.  I have seen Newone before.  Newone is good too.  Sobhrag talks to Newone.

I talk to Littleones and Littleones.

Manfriend and She come and we go with them.  Even Siubhal lets Manfriend take her with the face.  She knows that today Manfriend takes us to greener pastures.  The Creator tells us always as we sleep.

We travel along a black road for a time.  Each horse has a Manfriend.  We listen to their language.  They are tired.  Then after the Dog we see our new field.  It is good.  We pull them in with us and we eat, eat, and eat.  It is good.  We are happy.

Manfriend makes a noise with his big horsewheels.  Then we are out again.  Us boys.  We are thinking.  Manfriend takes us on the big horsewheels.  Tallisker said he was not coming with so they take him back to the girls.  He is like a chicken horse, we laugh to ourselves, Shadow and I we are the lion horses.  We are brave. 

 

Manfriend takes us slow, slow, and slow down the icy road.  We know we are safe with Manfriend.  We think to ourselves.  We smell the air.  Shadow does not know.  I think I know the smell.  Then we stop.  The hill is steep.  I think hard.  We think to ourselves.  We do not know.  Then the horsewheels opens.  In comes the cold air.  Inside the horsebox is warm.  I think we stay inside?  Oh, Man friend says we go outside.  Hmmm.  I think we stay inside.  I am happy inside.  Shadow is happy inside.  Manfriend wants us outside.  We think. 

 

Ah, here comes She.  I see, we are going outside.  Littleones again.  They want to take us out but She says no.  She takes Shadow and Newone takes me.  We go and we are not sure. We go with them.  We have not been to this place.  There are manhouses here.  We go past the manhouse and there, yes we stop we eat, eat, eat. Yes this place is good.  They say we must go more.  We go.  We stop, eat, eat, and eat.   They say we go more.  We go.  This place is different, the grass is good but we do not know this place.  There is a steep place, very steep then more good grass and then we can hear water running.  It is a running water.  The fence is there.  No matter, we eat.

 

Some go.  We stay. We eat.  A herdfathers scream.  No, it cant be.  It is a long time since we heard a herdfathers scream. We eat. 

 

A herdfathers scream.  We look.  There is a herdfather, looking at us.  He is really close.  He is two fields away.  We are not girls we do not care for herdfathers. He has one boy.  We laugh.  We eat.  Herdfather thinks we are girls.  We are not, we are boys.  We face the other way and we eat.  We do not listen to him.  He runs and screams.  He is the king.  This is what he thinks.  If I were a herdfather I would be a better king, but alas I am not.  He demands to know Who are we?  We say nothing.  We eat.  Shadow looks at me, we giggle.  Life is good.  We look.  There is Manfriend and She.  They are too quiet we thought they were gone.  They make us laugh.  They still serve us.  They find running waters for us and put it in a bucket for us.  They come to us and rub us.  We like them.  We rub them back.

 

She thinks Shadow is not so well.  Shadow thinks he is ok.  He thinks he is not very well but he thinks he is ok.  I think Shadow is not so well. She tells Manfriend that Shadowsmanmother will bring the manvet in the morning.  Shadow thinks and now he feels worried.  Is he not well?  He thinks.  I think Shadow is not well.  Shadow does not know manvet.

 

I know manvet as I come from far way.  I was born in this place but then I was taken by horsewheels far away.  I did not want to go.  I wanted my mother and my home.  I went far away.  It was different, first bad, then not so bad.  Then Manfriend came to fetch me with my mothersmanmother.  I did not know.  His horsewheels are big.  He drives very slow.  I fall asleep.  He drives so slow.  I laugh.  This Manfriend thinks like a horse.  It is good for Men to drive slow.  It is very good for Manfriend to think like a horse.

 

I am back in my home where I was born.  Shadow was born in the motherherdhome.  He thinks of the motherherdhome all the time.  He thinks.  Shadow knows Tallisker, they grew and played together and he knows Siubhal and Sobhrag and they come from motherherdhome.  I did not come from motherherdhome.  I feel sad.  They have happy memories that I do not share.  I miss my mother.  I know my mother.  Where is my mother?  Does my mother live?  I eat.  Darkness comes.  Manfriendsherd is gone in the horsewheels.  We eat, sleep, and eat.  The creator knew we wanted greener pastures.  Our memories do not know these times.  The times are changing.  These manfriends know us and we know them but we do not know them.  They are different from other Man that we knew. 

 

Still that herdfather runs and scream.  He says he is Killiene and boyhorse is Finnbarr.  He says he comes from motherherdhome.  We do not know him.  But I know him.  I was with him and Finbarr for a short time when I came back to this place of my homeborn.  Does Shadow know Killiene?  Shadow does not know.  Did Killiene herdfather came to Barra and then Shadow was born?  We do not know.  Too many things that are different make it difficult for us to think.  We need big space to think and dream our memories.  We sleep.