Idries Shah / Freeman

The Magic Horse

The Magic Horse
Written by Idries Shah
Illustrated by Julie Freeman
 Text copyright © 1998 by The Estate of Idries Shah

Illustrations copyright © 1968 by Julie Freeman

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

The
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form

Magic Horse
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recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as
may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from
the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed in writing to
Hoopoe Books, 171 Main St. #140, Los Altos. CA 94022, USA

First Edition 1998

Second Impression 2001,
Third Impression 2005
English Paperback Edition 2001, 2008, 2012, 2015

www.hoopoekids.com

Published by Hoopoe Books,

a division of The Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge

The original version of The Magic Horse was published in 1968

in Caravan of Dreams by Idries Shah
published by ISF Publishing, http://isf-publishing.org

ISBN 978-1-883536-11-4

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Shah, Idries, 1924-

The magic horse / by Idries Shah; illustrated by Julie Freeman.
p. cm.
Summary: A teaching tale in which two very different princes find their hearts’
desires: one in a wondrous, mechanical fish, the other in a magical wooden horse.
ISBN-1-883536-11-1 (hdbk.)
[1. Folklore.} I. Freeman, Julie, ill. II. Title.
PZ8.1.S47Mag 1997
[398.22]–dc21
97-5086
CIP

AC
 The

Magic Horse
THE TEACHING STORY
The Magic Horse is one of the hundreds of stories
collected by Idries Shah.

In the Sufi tradition there is a continuum between the

children’s story, the entertainment or folklore story, and
the instructional or instrumental story. A story can help Written by Idries Shah
children deal with difficult situations and give them
something to hold on to. It can, at the same time, Illustrated by Julie Freeman
stimulate a deeper understanding in adults.

Through the instrumental function of this rich body

of oral and written material, we and our children can
now learn to develop the capacity to be more flexible
and to understand many more things
about ourselves and about life.

For Idries Shah’s titles for younger readers visit:

www.hoopoekids.com
For the complete works of Idries Shah visit:
www.idriesshahfoundation.org
 Once upon a time - not so very long ago - there
was a land in which the people were very prosperous.
They had made all kinds of discoveries in the growing
of plants, in harvesting and preserving fruits, in making
objects for sale to other countries, and in many other
practical arts.

He had two sons, Tambal and Hoshyar. Hoshyar

was expert in using strange devices. Tambal was a
dreamer who seemed interested only in things which
were of little value in the eyes of the citizens.

Their ruler was unusually enlightened, and

he encouraged new discoveries and activities
because he knew they would help his people.
 Now there were two men of that country, an ironsmith and
From time to time the king, whose
a woodworker, who were great rivals in most things, and each
name was King Mumkin, would
delighted in making strange contraptions. When they heard
make this announcement:
this announcement one day, they agreed to compete for an
“Let all those who have interesting award so that their relative merits could be decided once and
and useful devices present them to for all, and recognized in public by the king.
the palace for examination so that
they may be rewarded.”
 The woodworker took his simple tools and went into a
forest where, after long and solitary reflection, he prepared
his own masterpiece.
News of the rivalry spread, and people thought that the
ironsmith would easily win, for his cunning works had been
seen before, and while the woodworker’s products were
admired, they were not very useful.
When both were ready, the king received them in court.

The ironsmith worked

day and night on a mighty
engine with the help of many
talented specialists. And he
surrounded his workshop
with high walls to keep his
work secret.
 He gave the ironsmith great honors, a special rank, and
the title “Benefactor of the Community.”
Prince Hoshyar was placed in charge of making more of
the wondrous fishes and making them available to everyone.
The people blessed the ironsmith and Hoshyar, as well as
the kind and wise monarch whom they loved so much.
In the excitement, the humble carpenter had been all
but forgotten. Then one day someone said, “But what
about the contest? Where is the entry of the woodworker?
We all know him to be a clever man. Perhaps he has
produced something useful.”
“How could anything be as useful as the wondrous
fishes?” asked Hoshyar. And many of the people agreed
with him.

The ironsmith produced an immense metallic fish

which, he said, could swim in and under the water,
carry freight over the land, burrow into the earth,
and even fly slowly through the air. At first the court
found it hard to believe that there could be such a
wonder made by man, but when the ironsmith and his
assistants demonstrated it, the king was overjoyed.
 But one day the king was bored. He had grown tired
of the fishes and the reports of their wonders which they
so regularly performed. He said, “Call the woodcarver,
for I would now like to see what he has made.”
The simple woodcarver came into the throne-room,
carrying a parcel wrapped in coarse cloth. As the whole
court craned forward to see what he had, he took off the
covering to reveal - a wooden horse. It was beautifully
carved and decorated with colored paints, but the king
snapped, “It’s a mere plaything!”
“But, Father,” said Prince Tambal, “let us ask the man
what it is for.”
“Very well,” said the king. “What is it for?”
“Your Majesty,” stammered the woodcarver, “it is a
magic horse. It does not look impressive, but it has
its own inner senses. Unlike the fish, which has to be
directed, this horse can interpret the desires of the rider
and carry him wherever he needs to go.”
 “Such a silly thing is fit only for Tambal,” murmured
the chief minister at the king’s elbow. “It cannot compare
to the wondrous fish.”
The woodcarver was preparing sadly to depart when
Tambal said, “Father, let me have the wooden horse.”
“All right,” said the king, “give it to him. Take the
woodcarver away and tie him to a tree so that he will
realize that our time is valuable. Let him think about
how rich the wondrous fish has made us, and perhaps
when he has had time to think about how to really work,
we shall let him go free to practice what he has learnt.”
The woodcarver was taken away, and Prince Tambal
left the court carrying the magic horse.

Tambal took the horse to his rooms, and he

discovered that it had several knobs, cleverly
concealed in the carved designs. When these were
turned in a certain manner, the horse - and anyone
mounted on it - rose into the air and sped to
whatever place was in the mind of the person who
moved the knobs.
In this way, day after day, Tambal flew to
places he had never visited before, and he came to
know a great many things. He took the horse with
him everywhere.
 One day he met Hoshyar, who said to him, “Carrying
a wooden horse is just the thing for someone like you.
As for me, I am working for the good of all, towards my
heart’s desire!”
Tambal thought, “I wish I knew what the good of all
is. And I wish I could know what my heart’s desire is.”
When he was next in his room, he sat upon the
horse, turned the knobs, and thought, “I would like to
find my heart’s desire.”

The king, whose name was Kahana, had a

beautiful daughter called Precious Pearl. In order to
protect her, he had imprisoned her in a palace that
wheeled in the sky, higher than any mortal could
reach. As Tambal was approaching the magic land,
More swiftly than light, the he saw the glittering palace in the heavens, and he
horse rose into the air and carried alighted there.
the prince a thousand ordinary
days away to a far kingdom that
was ruled by a magician-king.
 The princess and the young horseman met and fell
in love.
“My father will never allow us to marry,” she said, “for Tambal went to a quiet place where he willed the
he has commanded that I must marry the son of another horse to carry him to the king’s private apartment. “I
magician-king who lives across the cold desert to the east will approach him in his own home,” he thought to
of our homeland. He wants to unify the two kingdoms by himself, “for if I go to the Whirling Palace without his
this marriage, and no one dares to disobey him.” permission, he may be angry.”

“I will go to him and try to reason with him,” said When he got to the king’s apartment, he hid behind
Tambal, mounting the magic horse. some curtains and lay down to sleep.

But when he descended into the magic land, there

were so many new and exciting things to see that he
did not hurry to the palace. When he finally arrived, the
drum at the gate was beating, which meant that the king
was absent. Tambal asked when the king would return.
“He has gone to visit his daughter in the Whirling
Palace,” said a man on the street, “and he usually spends
several hours with her.”
 Meanwhile, unable to keep her secret, Princess
Precious Pearl had confessed to her father that a man on
a flying horse had visited her and wanted to marry her.
King Kahana was furious.
He placed sentries around the Whirling Palace and
returned to his own apartment to think things over. As
soon as he entered his bedchamber, one of his tongueless
magic servants guarding it pointed to the wooden horse
lying in a corner. “Aha!” exclaimed the magician-king.
“Now I have him. Let us look at this horse and see what
manner of thing it may be.”
As he and his servants were examining the horse, the
prince slipped away and hid in another part of the palace.
The king twisted the knobs, tapped the horse, and tried
to understand how it worked, but he was baffled. “Take
that thing away,” he said. “It has no use now, if it ever had
any. It is just a toy, fit only for children.”
And so the horse was put into a cupboard.
 So saying, he set off. Never was
a man worse equipped for such a
journey. An alien, traveling on foot,
Now King Kahana thought that he should arrange his without any kind of provisions,
daughter’s wedding without delay in case the man with facing pitiless heat, freezing nights,
the horse had other ways to win her. So he called her and sandstorms, he soon became
to his palace and sent a message to the other magician- hopelessly lost in the desert.
king, whose son was to marry Princess Precious Pearl,
asking that the prince be sent to claim his bride.
Meanwhile, Prince Tambal escaped from the palace
when the guards were asleep and decided to return to
his own country. His quest for his heart’s desire now
seemed almost hopeless, but he said to himself, “If Delirious, Tambal blamed
it takes the rest of my life, I shall return with troops himself, his father, the
to take this kingdom by force. I can do that only by magician-king, the woodcarver,
convincing my father that I must have his help to attain even the princess and the
my heart’s desire.” magic horse itself. Sometimes
he thought he saw water ahead
of him, sometimes fair cities.
Sometimes he felt elated,
sometimes incomparably sad.
Sometimes he thought
he had companions in his
difficulties, but when he shook
himself he saw that he was
quite alone.
 He felt that he had been traveling for an eternity.
Suddenly, when he had given up and started again several
times, he saw something right in front of him that at first
looked like a mirage. It was a garden full of delicious
fruits that sparkled and beckoned him to come closer.
At first Tambal did not take much notice and continued
walking, but soon he realized that he was passing through
such a garden. He gathered some of the fruits and tasted
them cautiously. They were delicious. They took away his
fear as well as his hunger and thirst. When he was full,
he lay down in the shade of a huge, welcoming tree and
fell asleep.
When he woke up he felt well enough, but something
seemed to be wrong. Running to a nearby pool, he looked
at his reflection in the water. Staring up at him was a
horrible sight. He saw a long beard, curved horns, and
ears a foot long. He looked down at his hands. They were
covered with fur.
Was it a nightmare? Pinching and beating himself, he
tried to wake up. But it was no use. Beside himself with
fear and horror, screaming and sobbing, he threw himself
on the ground. “Whether I live or die,” he thought, “these
fruits have ruined me. Even with the greatest army of all
time, conquest will not help me. Nobody would marry me
now, especially not Princess Precious Pearl. Even beasts
would be terrified at the sight of me, and my heart’s desire
would surely reject me!” And he lost consciousness.
 “My son,” said the man to Tambal, “you have been
When he woke again, in the dark, he saw a light affected by the influences of this place. If I had not come
approaching through the groves of silent trees. Fear and along, you would have remained just another beast of this
hope struggled in him. As the light came closer, he saw enchanted grove, for there are many more like you. But I
that it was a lamp enclosed in a brilliant starlike shape. can help you.”
The lamp was carried by a bearded man who walked in Tambal wondered whether this man was a fiend in
the pool of brightness that it cast around. disguise, perhaps the very owner of the evil trees. But, as
his sense returned, he realized that he had nothing to lose.
“Help me, Father,” he said.
“If you really want your heart’s desire,” said the wise
man, “you have only to fix this desire firmly in your mind,
not thinking of the fresh, delicious fruit. You must then
take up some of the dried fruits that are lying at the foot
of all these trees and eat them. Then follow your destiny.”
So saying, he walked away.
As the sage’s light disappeared into the darkness,
Tambal saw that the moon was rising, and in its pale light
he could see that there were indeed piles of dried fruits
under every tree.

He gathered some and ate them

as quickly as he could.
Slowly the fur disappeared from
his hands and arms. The horns
shrank, then vanished. The beard
fell away. He was himself again.
 By now it was first light, and in the dawn he heard the Now the prince himself came down from his carriage
tinkling of camel bells. A grand procession was coming and said, “I am Jadugarzada, son of the magician-king of
through the enchanted forest. the East. Here is a bag of gold, oaf. I am having some of
As Tambal stood there, two riders pulled away from your fruit, because I am desirous of it. I am in a hurry
the glittering line of people and animals and galloped up to claim my bride, Princess Precious Pearl, daughter of
to him. Kahana, magician-king of the West.”
“In the name of the prince, our lord, we demand some At these words Tambal’s heart turned over. But realizing
of your fruit. His celestial highness is thirsty and has a that this must be the destiny which the sage had told him
desire for some of these strange apricots,” said an officer. to follow, he offered the prince as much of the fruit as he
Tambal did not move, still numb from his recent could eat.
experiences. When the prince had eaten, he began to fall asleep. As
he did so, horns, fur and huge ears started to grow out of
him. When the soldiers shook him, the prince began to
behave in a strange way. He claimed that he was normal,
and that they were deformed.
The prince’s councilors restrained him and held a
hurried debate. Tambal claimed that all would have been
well if the prince had not fallen asleep. Finally it was
decided to put Tambal in the carriage and have him play
the part of the prince. The horned Jadugarzada was tied
to a horse with a veil thrown over his face, disguised as a
servant woman.
“He may recover his wits eventually,” said the councilors,
“and, in any case, he is still our prince. Tambal shall marry
the girl. Then, as soon as possible, we shall carry them all
back to our own country for our king to solve the problem.”
Tambal, biding his time and following his destiny,
agreed to his own part in the masquerade.
 When the party arrived at the capital of the West, the
king himself came out to meet them, and Tambal was
taken to the princess as her bridegroom. She was so
astonished that she nearly fainted, but Tambal whispered
quickly what had happened. And so they were married,
and the people had a great celebration.
In the meantime the horned prince had half recovered
his wits, but not his human form, and his escort still
kept him under cover. As soon as the feasting was over,
the chief of the horned prince’s party (who had been
keeping Tambal and the princess under a very close
watch) presented himself to the court. He said, “O Just
and Glorious Monarch, Fountain of Wisdom, the time
has now come, according to the pronouncements of our
astrologers and soothsayers, to conduct the bridal pair
back to our own land, so that they may be established in
their new home under the most felicitous circumstances
and influences.”
The princess turned to Tambal in alarm, for she knew
that as soon as they were on the open road, Jadugarzada
would claim her and make an end of Tambal.
Tambal whispered to her, “Fear nothing. We must act
as best we can, following our destiny. Agree to go, but say
that you will not travel without the wooden horse.”
 At first the magician-king was annoyed at this wish of his
daughter’s. He realized that she wanted the horse because
it was connected with her first suitor. But the chief minister
of the horned prince said, “Majesty, this is just the desire for
a toy, such as any young girl might have. Let her have her
plaything so that we may make haste homeward.”

So the magician-king agreed, and soon the splendid

procession was on its way. After the king’s escort had
withdrawn, and before the party stopped for the night, the
hideous Jadugarzada threw off his veil and cried out to
Tambal, “Miserable author of my misfortunes! I will bind
you hand and foot and take you back to my own land. Then
you must tell me how to remove this enchantment, or I
will have you flayed alive, inch by inch. Now, give me the
Princess Precious Pearl!”
 When King Mumkin was gathered to
his fathers, Princess Precious Pearl and
Prince Tambal succeeded him. Prince
Hoshyar was pleased, too, because he
was still entranced by the wondrous fish.
“I am glad for your own sakes, if you
are happy,” he said to them, “but I think
there is nothing more rewarding than my
work with the wondrous fish.”

Tambal ran to the princess and, in front of the astonished

party, rose into the sky on the wooden horse with Precious
Pearl mounted behind him.
In minutes the couple alighted at the palace of King
Mumkin. They related everything that had happened to
them, and the king was almost overcome with delight at
their safe return. He at once gave orders for the woodcarver
to be released, rewarded, and applauded by all the citizens.
 Other Hoopoe titles by Idries Shah:

The Man and the Fox

The Boy Without a Name
The Old Woman and the Eagle
The Man with Bad Manners
The Lion Who Saw Himself in the Water
The Clever Boy and the Terrible, Dangerous
Animal
The Farmer’s Wife
And this story is the origin of a strange
saying among the people of that land, The Silly Chicken
although they have forgotten its beginnings. Neem the Half-Boy
The saying is: “Those who want fish can Fatima The Spinner and the Tent
achieve much through fish, and those who
do not know their heart’s desire may first “These Teaching-Stories can be experienced on many
have to hear the story of the wooden horse.” levels. A child may simply enjoy hearing them, an
adult may analyze them in a more sophisticated way.
Both may eventually benefit from the lessons within.”
—Lynn Neary, All Things Considered,
NPR News, Washington
New from Hoopoe Books:
two titles by Palwasha Bazger Salam:
The Stranger’s Farewell
The Wisdom of Ahmad Shah

for these and other titles please visit:

www.hoopoekids.com