The Mud Pony

There was once a poor boy in an Indian camp who longed for a pony more than anything. So he dug the wet earth and shaped a pony out of mud. He loved his mud pony and took care of it as though it were real. One day, when his village broke camp for a buffalo hunt, the boy was left behind. "My people!" he cried out. "I will never find you! I am all alone!" That night he dreamed that his pony was alive and speaking to him. "You are not alone," the pony said. "Mother Earth has given me to you." And when he awoke, remarkably, his mud pony had indeed come to life.