Page:Three stories by Vítězslav Hálek (1886).pdf/185

 Thus, for example. If some scavenger’s jade broke down, and its master half determined to take it to the knacker’s yard, it still 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 led out his troop into the courtyard 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 courtyard attracted plenty of spectators. First came the owners of the