ADAM’S HORSE

Evening Star, Issue 21753, 22 June 1934, Page 10

ADAM’S HORSE

AN INDIAN STORY “ This story was told me by an old Indian agent,” says an American journalist in the course of recording recent observations and experiences in the Spanish-Indian region of New Mexico. “ Perhaps you will think me crazy,” said the agent. “Perhaps you will think me a liar. Bub lam not asking you to believe anything. T merely tell you what happened. It will make you understand why I do not know very much about Indians. “ An Indian named Adam came to me saying that he was going to sell one of his horses. I advised against it on the ground that he would break up his team. This had no effect on him. He said he would sell the horse and pay all his debts. His debts were small, and I was puzzled. Finally, however, he came out with the real reason for the business. He had dreamed that when snow fell he would die. “ Well, the winter came on, and with the first cold I was called to Adam’s house. He was ill. Days passed, and he grew no better. Then one day the clouds hung low over the mountains. Adam lay in his bed all but unconscious. ‘ Tell me,’ he said, ‘ when the snow falls.’ I assured him that there was no snow and that it was nonsense to talk like that. Just then the door Hew open with a gust of wind, and flakes of snow drifted into the room. ‘ There is the snow,’ said Adam, and he lay back and died. “ The next day I found his remaining horse. It had been, I thought, securely locked in its stable, but it had got out, wandered to an irrigation ditch m the rear of my place, and there it lay, legs upright, drowned. Somewhat embarrassed, I called on an old Indian, the executor of Adam’s will. He came to my place, and I told him what had happened, fie examined the horse, and could find no evidence of struggle, no marks of any sort. Then he examined the stable, and could find nothing. As near as we could tell the beast had committed suicide. . “ ‘ Do vou think while men did it. he asked,’’ and I said 1 did not. I Do you think Indians did it?’ he asked, and again I said I did not. ‘ You are wrong,’ he said. ‘ An Indian did do it. In the old times, you know, an Indian’s horse always went with him into the beyond. There are no tracks here. Plainly Adam came back for his horse.’ “ When the missionaries heard tins tale they were displeased. They said it was deplorable that such superstition should prevail, and they asked permission to talk about it with Adam’s family. I told them it would do no good, but arranged a meeting. The missionaries explained how impossible it was that Adam could have come back to deprive them of a horse worth £24. They talked long and earnestly to the silent group of Indians, When they stopped Adam’s oldest son spoke up. ‘We are glad,’ he said quietly, that my father got his horse. It was a good horse.’ ”, One who wants to understand Indians can make a beginning with this story. Whether you believe it or not, it is a beautiful story, I think.