Page:Halek's Stories and Evensongs.pdf/241

 occurred to him, “Suppose I let Poldik try his hand with her.” From Poldik’s then two paths led, either the jade was converted into a passable mare, in which case the owner reclaimed his property; or she failed to mend, and the knacker came for her. Poldik generally “mended” his horses at daybreak or evening, when his day’s work was over; and on Sunday, when he had the whole day to himself, he let out his troop into the court-yard in order to make up his mind what further he should do with them.

That troop of horses was a wonderful spectacle, and would have suited Falstaff’s ragged battalion to a nicety, if, that is to say, it had been required to turn his ragged infantry into cavalry of the same kidney. One horse would, perhaps, be altogether swaddled in blankets, another would have all one side encrusted with a kind of tetter or scab, another only the shoulders thus encrusted, a third only its fore-feet, another only one foot. It was just as if a sculptor had formed model horses of clay and these horses had been transformed into living samples: it was hard to decide whether there was more clay or more horseflesh as yet in their composition.

This Sunday parade in the court-yard attracted plenty of spectators. First came the owners of the animals whose lives and, perhaps, sufferings Poldik prolonged: after them came plenty of a second public-the true spectators. Poldik paraded his invalids in the court-yard, just as a circus master parades his trained stud in the arena. It must not be supposed that these convalescents performed, at Poldik’s bidding, wonders comparable with the wondrous feats of strength performed in the arena by their fellows of the circus. But still, relatively, they performed wonders, and perhaps in this respect even much greater ones. For, if in the previous week a horse had scarcely limped hither, and if, the week after, that is on the second Sunday’s parade, it could go a certain pace, sometimes at a brisk pace, although you could still see on which it limped, it had in that week relatively done a great deal; so much so that even then it found a public who were disposed to admire its agility.

But this occupation of Poldik’s was quite a secondary one. Like a true artist, he only devoted himself to it when the fit was on him. And thus also it came to pass that the owner of some jade might lead her to Poldik, but afterwards drive her off again straight to the knacker’s yard, and for this reason-because Poldik would not receive the horse. “I don’t take in horses”, he would say. “Pray, who would think of taking in horses to cure?” And