The Forge in the Forest  by Padraic Colum
[Illustration]

As soon as his brother had said, "Wet its hoofs in the sea," the one who was to tell the story about Water thought that his turn had come; but it was not yet. The King took out of the fire the red iron. He hammered it on the anvil; he shaped it upon the horn of the anvil. Then one of the brothers lifted up the horse's foot, and the King came over and put the iron against the hoof, searing it and measuring the shoe. He went back to the anvil, and he hammered off bits of iron. Again he put it into the fire. Then the brothers, standing by the horse, said to one another: "Soon the horseshoe will be in the cauldron of water, and the one who is ready with the story will then begin." And one of the brothers said, "In the stories that have been told of the Fire, horses have appeared. Whoever tells the stories of the Water should bring horses into them, too. This will make it appear that we are story-tellers indeed." And the brothers said that they would have horses in the stories of the Earth and Air also.


The King fitted again the iron to the horse's hoof. Then he plunged it into the cauldron. The story-teller was ready; he came forward, and he told: