Sleipnir's Horse-Shoes

Now, the little kids can come back for the next story! Jackson, would you mind helping the little kids pick up the chalk? Thank you!

I saw you guys hopscotching out there! It looked really fun! Did everyone have fun? Yes!! Good, I am glad that everyone is enjoying themselves! Now it is time for the next story! The next story is about a magical horse named Sleipnir! Sleipnir looks like a normal horse except….. Does anyone know what is special about Sleipnir? No guesses…. OK, I’ll tell you! Sleipnir is a magical horse with EIGHT legs! Sleipnir is super fast and incredibly strong!

On a warm spring day, Sleipnir is playing soccer with some of his horse friends. It’s been raining all week, so Sleipnir has not been able to get out and run. The ground is still very wet and slippery! All of a sudden, Sleipnir’s friend accidentally kicks the ball down into the creek. Sleipnir says that he will try to reach the ball, but the ball is too far out and he cannot reach. They all decide that someone has to get in the mud in order to get the ball back. Sleipnir is the bravest and best horse, so he raises his voice and says “I will go in and get the ball -no big deal.” Sleipnir goes down into the nasty mud; the mud is so deep that it covers his entire back. Sleipnir gets the ball back, and everything seems fine at first. Sleipnir gets cleaned up, and goes back to meet up with the group. Everyone is still playing soccer; Sleipnir joins back in the game. He is running super fast down the field; suddenly, he notices something does not feel right with his back foot furthest to the left. He stops to look at his foot and notices that he is missing a horse-shoe! The shoe must have fallen off when he went in the mud. The mud is super thick and has an incredible suction! “Shoot!” says Sleipnir. “I guess I will have to go into town now.”

Sleipnir hurries to tell his master, Odin, about his hoof. Odin tells Sleipnir to go into town to get it fixed right way; tomorrow Sleipnir has to take Odin for a long horseback ride. If Sleipnir does not get a new shoe it will make his legs very sore. So Sleipnir heads for town, where there is the only horse-shoer for miles around. Once Sleipnir gets to town, he asks if the horse-shoer can replace his missing shoe. The horse-shoer says that he can replace it, but it might take a bit of time. Sleipnir agrees to wait; he does not have any other options.

            A couple of hours pass, now it is finally Sleipnir’s turn to get shod. Sleipnir is telling the story of how he lost his shoe in the mud. All of a sudden, someone runs by yelling, “The kids are coming for horseback riding!” Sleipnir loves children. His favorite thing to do is give rides on his back! Sleipnir is so excited; he forgets that the horse-shoer has his foot, fitting it with a shoe! Sleipnir rears up on his back four legs, and then bucks wildly! When he bucks, he kicks so hard that all four of his back shoes, even the newest shoe, fly off his hooves! Sleipnir kicks the shoes so hard that they fly across the street and stick into the rock wall of the church! Can you guys imagine how hard he must have kicked?!

            The horse-shoes remain in the church wall to this day. The church says that the horse-shoes symbolize the magical horse and his miraculous strength!

 

Author’s Notes:

I changed a couple of aspects about this story. This story was super short, so most of the differences that I made where creative additions. I thought his appearance would make the children be some what standoffish. I thought that by making Sleipnir get excited about giving horseback rides, I could keep the kid’s attention spans. Also, I thought this would help the children understand that he is a nice horse, even though he might look a little scary. The original story says that Sleipnir horses-shoe is put on the door of the church instead of the rock wall. Additionally, in the original story a person hangs the shoe on the door, instead of it being kicked there by Sleipnir. The story does state that the horse-shoe remains there to this day. However, in the original story only one shoe was kicked off and in my version of the story, four shoes are kicked off. I also changed the sound that startles Sleipnir, which is when he kicks the shoes off. In the original text Sleipnir does not talk to the humans or to Odin. I changed Sleipnir's character by having him possess this ability. I definitely wanted this story to help the children forget about the scary Kelpie story. I wanted this story to be very upbeat. After the Kelpie story the mood might have been gloomy. This story is definitely the opposite of gloomy. I do not want the kids going home and having nightmares.

Coverpage

Introduction

Pegasus Great Adventure

Living On the Edge: With the Kelpies