Fanny and Little Brother
One day, Elizabeth came with her mother to spend the day in the country with Mrs. Jones and the little boys. The children had enjoyed themselves very much, playing all the morning. Just before lunch they ran down to the field where Fanny and Tim, the carriage horse, were, to pick some wild flowers for the table. Little Brother was with them, and while the others were gathering the flowers, he toddled away, and lay down in the tall grass.
The two mothers were sitting under the trees near the house. From where they sat they could see the children in the field.
"Aren't you afraid to let the children play there where the horses are?" Elizabeth's mother asked Mrs. Jones.
"No indeed," she answered. "Tim and Fanny love them too well to hurt them."
But just then Tim and Fanny began to play "Tag," as they often did, for they were great friends. Fanny pretended to bite Tim, and came galloping up the field as fast as ever she could. She did not see Little Brother, lying directly in front of her, hidden by the tall grass. On she came, galloping rapidly towards him.
Mother saw her, and was so frightened she could hardly stand, for she thought the baby would be trampled down by the pony. She started to run, but of course she could not run as fast as Fanny, and besides, she was much further away.
Fanny rushed on until she was within a few feet of the baby. Then she saw him! She tried to stop, but was moving too rapidly. Being a wise little pony, she saw there was but one thing to do, and she did it. She jumped and landed on the other side of the baby without touching him, though her foot just did miss his head.
Mother caught Little Brother up in her arms, and examined him carefully. She could scarcely believe he had escaped without any injury, and was very happy indeed, when she found that such was the case.
"I don't believe any other pony would have had so much sense," she said.
That evening, when Father had heard of Little Brother's narrow escape, he told Mother and Johnnie Jones about an experience he had had when a baby.
His father had owned a wise old horse whose name was Charley. One day Charley was eating the grass in the yard, and Johnnie Jones's father, who was then only a baby three years old, was lying on the ground, playing with the leaves After a while old Charley had eaten all the grass near by, except the very long delicious blades underneath the baby. He couldn't ask the little boy to move away, because he couldn't talk. So, very carefully, he took hold of the baby's dress with his teeth, lifted him up, and set him down on the other side of the yard. He did not even frighten him, but the mother, who was looking out of the window, was very much frightened, until she saw that the baby had not been harmed.
Mother and Johnnie Jones agreed that Charley had shown almost as much sense as Fanny, but that it wasn't very safe to leave little children alone when there were horses and ponies about.