Characters: Pawnee people/tribe, old woman, grandson
Setting time: Long ago
Setting place: Great plains
Plot: There was an old woman and her grandson. They were very poor and almost nobody noticed them.
Perspective: Third-person perspective
Gerne: Legend
Mystic Horse, written by Paul Goble, talks about a boy getting an old horse in the forest and riding it for the battle. The boy and his grandmother were poor and their lives were hard, but they worked hard and had a happy life. One day, the boy found a sickly worn-out horse in the middle of the forest. The boy kept the horse and took good care of it. The boy would like to join the buffalo hunt with the horse for animal skins and fresh meat. When seeing the horse, people laughed at the boy and used sarcasm “It was a great warhorse.” Enemies were approaching and the men came out to fight. The boy followed these men shyly but they said that the boy was going to leave them behind. Suddenly, the horse talked and told the boy what to do. The boy cut a long willow stick to hit the enemy, daubed mud all over the horse, and rode the horse out to attack the enemy, just like what he had been instructed. The horse warned the boy only to do it four times. Since the boy didn’t get hurt, he did once more. He almost did it but that very inch, the horse got pierced by an arrow and died. The boy was sad for the horse and for his behavior. In the night, there was a storm and god let the horse be back alive. Let’s discuss the boy and the human nature presented in the story.
The narration of the boy’s action explains that the boy has changed from an unnoticeable person with less confidence to a brave and useful person respected by others. Meeting the mystic horse and joining the army are the turning points to cause the boy to change. The boy was regarded as an unimportant person coming from a poor family. People mocked him about his sickly worn-out horse, saying mean words “You’ve got yourself a great warhorse!” When the war began, the boy rode this horse to attack the enemy under the horse’s instruction. The boy took good care of the sicky old horse because he thought one day the horse might be useful. But people are using sarcasm toward the boy, saying “You’ve got yourself a great warhorse!” which was not true. The reason why they are holding such an attitude is based on the boy’s poor family, so they see the boy is unnoticeable and unimportant, which makes the boy have no or little confidence about himself. Even when the boy wanted to join the army to fight against the enemy to protect his grandma and village, he got rejected by the people. Suddenly, the mystic horse told him what to do to attack the enemy. The boy, of course, grasped the chance because this was the chance showing he was a brave person and he was useful in fighting. The boy, at the end, proved that he was not a loser who would drag the army behind, and was respected by others. One’s transformation from negative to positive would happen as long as he is given a chance to prove himself.
The description of the boy reveals many human natures to be discussed, including being mocked, hurtful truth, and proving one’s ability. Human nature are the ways of people thinking, acting, and reacting that are common to most human beings in social situations. The boy got mocked by villagers because he came from a poor family. It is human nature that people tend to look down on the poor and mock them. People sometimes do or say something to hurt them. But being poor is not something the boy could choose. The boy has tried his best not to be bothered by others. The villagers have no right to mock him. No one likes to get mocked. The villagers pointed to the boy, saying “ You’ll be killed. Go back home” Truth sometimes is painful, hurting people’s feelings. This is human nature. People say the boy would get killed and that is the truth. Previously people were mocking the boy but this time people are telling the boy the truth. If people say something about you which is not true, of course you will feel sad. But if people say something about you which is true, you definitely feel even worse. The boy attacked the enemy 5 times, rather than 4 times as told by the horse. The boy lacks the feature of being useful. It is true that he is useless. He feels hurt about the truth. When people look down on us, we definitely want to prove that we are strong, we are useful, not useless, we are excellent, and we are better than someone. This is human nature. This is exactly the reason why the boy wants to do it one more time. “I would do it once more!” to prove he is useful in fighting against the enemy. He wants to get praised. Human nature can let a person have bad feelings and want to do the wrong thing even though they know it is wrong.
While others could provide different opinions and perspectives, people should judge themselves based on their own inner value and personal growth. In other words, what and how people think of ourselves matter most. It does not matter that much what the judgments are from the others. The boy was poor. People regarded him as an unnoticeable, unimportant person, even mocked him. The boy took those comments and opinions seriously, which in turn, thought himself as a useless person. If I were the boy who finds himself poor, unnoticeable, unimportant and gets mocked by others, I would definitely neglect their words completely. I would try not to be affected by their comments and judge myself based on my own inner values and beliefs. People’s opinions are influenced by their own feelings, experiences, and biases. Their opinions are just opinions, which are very subjective and cannot represent absolute truth. They have no right to judge me because I know myself better than anyone else. However, I could use their comments and opinions, if appropriate, as ways to motivate myself to become better and promote personal growth. Although people should not take others' opinions too seriously, opinions could be seen as opportunities for learning and self-improvement.
Overall, “Mystic Horse” is very striking, telling readers a simple but profound story. Through the story, we as readers can naturally connect to the boy and clearly see how the boy transformed himself from a shy, unconfident person to a brave, useful person. He was not happy at the beginning because of his poor family and being mocked by others, but he was happy at the end because of attacking the enemy and being respected by others. Importantly, this story presented many parts of human nature for the readers to think, reflect, and discuss, such as how people want to be treated, when people say something about you, and prove one’s ability. The story also points out how people handle other’s opinions and comments. I would try to pay no attention to their unkind words. I would try to focus on doing what is right and what is in the best interest of myself. I mean I cannot control what others would say, but I can control how I think and what I can do.
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