The Summer of Beautiful White Horse
“The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse” is a short story by William Saroyan, published within the collection My Name is Aram. It tells the story of two boys, Aram and Mourad, who belong to a very poor Armenian tribe.
“The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse” is narrated by a nine-year-old Armenian boy named Aram, a member of the Garoghlanian tribe, living among the lush fruit orchards and vineyards of the San Joaquin Valley in California.
The Summer of Beautiful White Horse by William Saroyan
One morning Aram is awakened at four in morning by his thirteen-year-old cousin Mourad, who is thought to be demented by everyone except Aram, and has a way with animals. Aram is astonished to see that Mourad is sitting on a beautiful white horse. Aram had always wanted to ride a white horse, but his family is too poor to afford one. However, in spite of being poor, the Garoghlanian tribe is noted for its honesty and trust, as a result, it is unthinkable that Mourad would have stolen the horse. Aram felt that his cousin couldn’t have stolen the horse.
Mourad’s crazy behavior was considered to be of natural descent from their uncle Khosrov, even though his father, Zorab, was a practical man. Uncle Khosrove was an enormous man who was always furious, impatient, and irritable. He would roar for everyone to stop talking and say It is no harm, pay no attention to it. In fact, one day, when his son came and told them that their house was on fire, Khosrov silenced him by roaring “Enough. It is no harm”.
Aram was invited to ride on the horse with Mourad. The idea of Mourad stealing the horse drained away from Aram’s mind as when he felt that it wouldn’t become stealing unless they offer to sell the horse. They enjoyed rides on the horse for a few hours.
After a short time of riding, Mourad wanted to ride alone on the horse. Aram had the same longing, but when he sat on the horse and kicked its muscles it reared and snorted and raced forward, eventually dropping Aram off its back. After half an hour they found the horse and hid it in the barn of a deserted vineyard of a farmer named Fetvajian which had once been his pride.
For more details download the The Summer of Beautiful White Horse PDF using the link given below.
