Serenity Valley Read Free

herdsman and get some fresh goat’s milk and
a few nursing bottles so this young fellow can get his first meal.”
Fulk looked at me totally different than he ever had before. I
actually thought I could see a bit of respect in his gaze. This
would be something totally new for Fulk, since, he thought he was
the best at everything. The only thing that kept him from trying to
push me around is that I was so much bigger than he was. Although
Fulk was tall for his age, I had always been taller and stout,
often mistaken for a grown man at my current age of 12 years. “What
say you, Fulk, can you help me out here?” I called out.
    “Oh, sure, sure, I’ll be back as soon
as I can.” Still staring at me like a curiosity, Fulk finally
closed his mouth, turned, and started running.
    With the excitement of
Fulk’s hasty departure, all the horses started their clamoring
again like a bunch of nosy old hens. I couldn’t help but chuckle,
which did not go unnoticed by the new foal. He looked up at me and let out a little choppy bellow
of his own. I smiled and said, “Well, young man, at least you have
already found humor—a most important thing, humor.” I started
tidying the stall, the young colt tagging along, bracing itself
against my side. He looked at my face and kept his ears trained on
my voice as if trying to remember everything I said.
    After cleaning the stall
the best I could, I took my charge into the stall directly across
from Siren’s. As soon as we came out of the stall and began
crossing the aisleway, the entire stable went silent. All horses
froze, their eyes on the new colt as if he were the most unusual
beast to walk the earth. With all ears and eyes trained on him, he
simply stopped and turned, looked down the double-lined row of
horse heads and gave out a shockingly loud and defiant bellow. It
was as if he was announcing his own arrival, the arrival of their
new king, king of all he surveyed. I thought to myself, What a handful this fellow is going to be. Perhaps he just doesn’t know that humility is a
virtue. We made it to the new stall
without event, but the stable remained silent for a long time.
Several minutes passed before any of the horses made small talk
again. Even then, it was very subdued, as if they were in some kind
of shock. I said, “Well, at least you make a lasting impression,
young man!”
    It was a very short time before Fulk
returned with feed bottles and fresh goat’s milk. He prepared a
bottle and secured the soft leather nipple on it. I placed the
nipple in the colt’s mouth and was quite pleased to see him take to
it right away. After about a minute, though, he refused to take any
more milk. Curling his upper lip back, he stuck his head straight
up in the air as if smelling something nasty. He lowered and turned
his head, which was level with my face, and coughed, spewing milk
directly into my face. Fulk immediately roared with laughter. The
warm milk dripped from my face onto all my clothes, mixing with
blood, birthing fluid, and any other foul material I managed to
pick up in the last couple of days. The colt nickered as if to say
'unacceptable, how dare you!' A laughing Fulk said, “It seems your
new colt has a sensitive, educated palate, Gamel.” Fulk’s
expression soon turned serious, no doubt remembering the morning’s
lesson in manners, and he said, “Gamel, I have an idea. I’ll be
right back.” Fulk returned with a small jug of something and
proceeded to pour some of the contents into the wooden milk bucket.
He then used a stick to mix the secret ingredient thoroughly. In no
time he had prepared a second bottle and handed it to
me.
    “If this is a trick, Fulk, there will
be hell to pay and then some!”
    “It’s no trick; just try it, and he
will like it. I guarantee it!”
    I took the bottle and tried to get the
colt to suckle it. He turned his head up in the air and rolled his
lips back, telling me once again that my offering was nasty. He
lowered his head and