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The Little Gray Pony

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By Staff Middle Land

December 28, 2023
4:47 pm
Los Angeles, CA

The Little Gray Pony MAUD LINDSAY THERE was once a man who owned a little gray pony. Every morning, when the birds were singing, the man would jump on his pony and ride away, clippety, clippety, clap! The man rode to town and to country, to church and to market, up hill and down hill; and, one day, he heard some-thing fall with a clang on a stone in the road. Looking back, he saw a horseshoe lying there. And when he saw it, he cried: “What shall I do? What shall I do, If my little gray pony has lost a shoe?” Then down he jumped in a great hurry and looked at one of the pony’s forefeet, but nothing was wrong. He lifted the other forefoot, but

The Little Gray Pony

MAUD LINDSAY

THERE was once a man who owned a little gray pony. Every morning, when the birds were singing, the man
would jump on his pony and ride away, clippety, clippety, clap! The man rode to town and to country, to church and to
market, up hill and down hill; and, one day, he heard some-thing fall with a clang on a stone in the road. Looking back,
he saw a horseshoe lying there. And when he saw it, he cried:

“What shall I do? What shall I do,
If my little gray pony has lost a shoe?”

Then down he jumped in a great hurry and looked at one of the pony’s forefeet, but nothing was wrong.

He lifted the other forefoot, but the shoe was still there. He examined

one of the hindfeet, and began to think that he was mistaken; but, when he looked at the last foot, he cried again:

“What shall I do? What shall I do?
My little gray pony has lost a shoe!”

Then he made haste to go to the blacksmith, and he called:

“Blacksmith! Blacksmith! I’ve come to you;
My little gray pony has lost a shoe!”

But the blacksmith answered and said:

“How can I shoe your pony’s feet,’ Without some coal the iron to heat?”

So the man left the blacksmith’s, hurried here and there to buy the coal.

First of all he went to the store, and he said:

“Storekeeper! Storekeeper! I’ve come to you;
My little gray pony has lost a shoe!
And I want some coal the iron to heat,
That the blacksmith may shoe my pony’s feet

But the storekeeper answered and said:

“Now I have apples and candy to sell,
And more nice things than I can tell;
But I’ve no coal the iron to heat,
That the blacksmith may shoe your pony’s feet.”

Then the man went away sighing, and saying:

“What shall I do? What shall I do?
My little gray pony has lost a shoe!”

By and by he met a farmer with a wagon, and he said:

“Farmer! Farmer! I’ve come to you;
My little gray pony has lost a shoe!
And I want some coal the iron to heat,
That the blacksmith may shoe my pony’s feet.”
But then the farmer answered and said:

“I’ve bushels of corn, and hay, and wheat,
Something for you and your pony to eat;
But I’ve no coal the iron to heat,
That the blacksmith may shoe your pony’s feet.”

So the farmer drove away and left the man sighing:

“What shall I do? What shall I do?
My little gray pony has lost a shoe!”
But, in the farmer’s wagon, the man had seen corn, which made him think of the mill; so he ran to the mill, and called:

“Miller! Miller! I’ve come to you;
My little gray pony has lost a shoe,
And I want some coal the iron to heat,
That the blacksmith may shoe my pony’s feet.”

The miller came to the door in surprise, and he said:

“I have wheels that go round and round,
And stones to turn till the grain is ground;
But I’ve no coal the iron to heat,
That the blacksmith may shoe your pony’s feet.”
Then the man turned away sorrowfully, and sat down on a rock near the roadside, sighing and saying:

“What shall I do? What shall I do? My little gray pony has lost a shoe!”

After a while a very old woman came down the road, driv¬ing a flock of geese to market; and, when she came near the man,

she stopped to ask him his trouble. He told her all about it; and, when she had heard it all, she laughed till her geese joined in with a cackle and she said:

“If you would know where the coal is found,
You must go to the miner, who works in the ground.”

Then the man sprang to his feet, and, thanking the old woman, he ran to the miner. Now the miner had been working many a long day down in the mine,

under the ground where it was so dark that he had to wear a lamp on the front of his cap to light him at his work.

He had plenty of black coal ready and gave great lumps of it to the man, who took them in haste to the blacksmith.

The blacksmith lighted his great, red fire, and hammered out four, fine new shoes, with a cling and a clang. And fas-tened them on with a rap and a tap!

Then away rode the man on his little gray pony—clippety, clippety, clap!