Stories of the Scholar Mohammad Amin Sheikho by Mohammad Amin Sheikho - HTML preview

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Episodes in His Noble Young LifeHis Incredible Ability with Animals

since his early childhood, Mohammad Amin was passionately fond of horsemanship. However, his father was afraid that his son – who was still only five years old at the time of this incident – might fall off the horse. Therefore, he employed a stableman and told him that his son was not allowed to ride.

However, given the brilliance of that little boy, this tactic presented no obstacle!

Amin went to the groom and sat with him, and set about chatting to him in his lively, entertaining way. From time to time the little boy would yawn and pretend to be sleepy, in the hope that the groom would fall asleep so that he could carry out his intentions. Eventually, the man was overcome by drowsiness and fell fast asleep. Then the child approached him quietly and, with his small hand, slowly took the keys from the groom’s belt. He then opened the gate of the stable.

He took care that the groom was not woken up by the sound of the horse’s hoofs while he brought her out of the stable, by dressing them with pieces of cloth which he tied to the hoofs. He then led the mare out of the stable, leaving the sleeping man totally unaware of what was going on around him. Then with the help of a low wall he mounted her and galloped off, racing with the wind.

He spent some time racing all around, and then, having fulfilled his wishes, he returned and led her back into the stable in the same way he had led her out of it. Then he closed the gate, so it would seem as if he had done nothing, and put the keys in the sleeping man’s sash.

However, strange sounds coming from inside the stable roused the stableman from his sleep and he was deeply concerned when he opened the gate and saw that the horse was wet with perspiration! He realised that the little boy had taken the horse out for a ride because he, too, was dripping with sweat. His worry increased when he noticed that the mare was about to give birth and, clearly, due to her state of exhaustion, her delivery was not going to be normal. He was afraid that the child’s father would reprimand him, for his son, a mere child, had been able to take advantage of him, the grown man!

Indeed, the delivery soon became difficult when a part of the foal came into view, but then the labour stopped due to the mare’s exhaustion from the recent exercise with the young boy.

Not sure what to do and driven by panic and fear, the man decided to drag the partly born foal out of its mother’s belly, although this action would certainly have killed both the mare and the foal.

At that moment, he heard a sudden shout: ‘Stop that! Wait a minute.’

It was the boy. He shouted at the groom, and then ran away, but soon returned with some old worn-out cloths. He twisted them into a narrow rope, and then tied one of its two ends to the foal; attaching a heavy stone to the other end he let it hang down towards the ground.

That light weight helped the foal to descend normally without being hurt and without injuring its mother.

Thus the mare delivered her foal safely.

Yet another action of that little boy that fills one’s mind with wonder!

Mohammad Amin’s father continued to worry that his son would fall off the horse’s back, so he gave strict orders to his groom not to let the little boy ride the horse. Not to be outdone, the creative child used his imagination and took his compliant bulldog off to the saddler!

He stood in front of the saddler and asked him to make a saddle for the dog.

When the saddler heard the child’s request he burst out laughing, ‘Oh son! It’s a dog, not a horse! Can a dog be saddled?’

Yet the boy stood his ground and answered him firmly, ‘Don’t you want to earn some money?’ Amin then paid him a generous amount, and there and then the man saddled the dog for him, just as a horse would be saddled.

After that the little boy was able to train the agile dog so that it could be mounted, and he set about coaching it to run quickly until it could leave behind even the leanest and fastest coursers. By taking this course of action he upset the horse owners and, needless to say, it was not long until they took revenge.

They shot Mohammad Amin’s dog in the eyes with a hunting rifle, causing it to go blind.