The Beautiful Horses Alexander, Dudley Horse Stories - All Others

Undated Circa 1950's, hardcover white leatherette with a gilt title, moderate soil, and a few wrinkles on front board. Head of spine is chipped, has a slight forward lean, tips brushed. Top edge dusted. 57pp glossy text is vintage smelling (Only smellable with nose against spine.) End pps foxed with surface soil and fingerprints from page turning. Spine cracked but all pages tight and holding. Frontispiece in color and B/W illustrations. Original dj is unclipped and has some loss but 85% there, is chipped with some color loss, 2 medium tears, displays okay in new mylar. I don't quite know how I first found my way to them. I think it was one night when I had been reading "Black Beauty" again, a book which I had not read for a great many years. I sat up rather late, and when I did go to bed, I fell asleep almost at once. Then I found myself wading ashore on a sandy beach, the sea was blue and calm, and the sun was shinning. Ahead of me were cliffs, but to my left, these sloped down to a valley which ran far inland. I wandered up this valley, but I had not gone far when I saw two Horses coming towards me. As they got closer I saw that one was a beautiful black mare with two white socks, while her companion was a bright chestnut. They looked at me with interest, and I waited for them to come up to me. They did so, and, to my surprise, the black mare said: "Well, Little Spirit, where do you come from?" I explained my presence, asked where I was. "You are in the Happy Lands," She replied, "I'm Paula and this" she turned to the Chestnut, "Is Aurian" This is where we live when we leave the earth. I wonder how you found your way here!" She continued, looking intently at me. "I don't know," I replied. "But I love horses, so perhaps that helped." "It would," answered Aurian. "You would never have got here otherwise. But you must be good and give no trouble, for this is our Land, and we will not allow anyone to spoil it."