Page:Three stories by Vítězslav Hálek (1886).pdf/186

 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 foot 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 sometimes, on the other hand, he received every horse that came, paraded them about the courtyard