She was a little black mare, black all over, with just a splutter of white hair in the middle of her forehead. She had a black mane, a black tail, and black hoofs; but, because of the white splash on her brow, they called her Diamond.
She lived in Wales, and her master was a corn merchant. She pulled his yellow cart with red wheels through green lanes and over mountain roads, carrying sacks of barley-meal from the mill to the shop, and sacks of corn from the shop to the farmers" houses. A great many people knew Diamond, and children in the neighbourhood very often played at being Diamond. They would run about with their heads bent down to their chests and their shoulders pressed forward, pulling at the toy reins which the driver held very tightly, while he said, "Whoa, Diamond; steady, Diamond"; and then they would stand still, pretending that they were waiting while the cart was being filled, and would toss their heads up and down, just like Diamond.
But one cold, bitter winter day, poor Diamond slipped on some ice as she came rattling downhill, and fell with a great sickening thud on the road. The beautiful harness, with its red and white head-band and its shining brass, split like string; the shafts snapped like firewood; the driver was pitched on his head and lay unconscious on the road; poor Diamond, with her knees bleeding and her beautiful soft nose all scratched and dabbled with grit and blood, rolled and kicked and groaned on the hard road, while one of the broken shafts pressed its jagged edges into her heaving flank.
There was nothing for it but to put Diamond out to grass.
"She shall have a foal and live light for a couple of years," said the corn merchant. And Diamond was turned out to grass.
She had lived in this way for two or three months, when her master and a stranger entered the field one day. They had a good look at her, stroked her, felt her legs, ran their hands over her sides, examined her feet, and then walked slowly away, talking money.
Diamond wondered what was going to happen. She was not long kept waiting. The very next day the tworeturned, a bridle was pushed over her ears, a rope was fastened to it, and she was led out of the field. A cart was waiting in the road. The strange man got in this cart, and took the rope in his hand.
"She"s a good mare," said Diamond"s master, "and I"m sorry to lose her.""She"ll serve my purpose all right," said the other; and off went the cart with Diamond trotting behind.
They came presently to black and ugly country, with railway trucks and engines clanking over lines that stood up from the ground like furrows in a field, and then Diamond saw, in the open air, immense chimneys, and wheels with belting attached to them spinning round and round, and wooden huts, and piles of black coal and great banks of stones, and men, with faces like niggers and clothes like chimney-sweeps, going constantly to and fro.
She was taken to what looked like a wooden shed, and there the man in the cart was joined by three or four others, who looked her over, stroked her, and pulled her ears. The men with black faces looked at her as they passed, and one of them called out: "Take your last look at the sun, old girl!" Some of the others laughed; some looked sad, and passed on without speaking.
A bandage was tied over the eyes of Diamond. She could see only a dim and obscure light through this heavy covering. Some one patted her. "Come on, old lady," said a voice. She was led forward. She went nervously, feeling her way. Some one was patting her side; the man who was leading her stroked her neck. Suddenly her feet struck on wood, instead of the ground, and she started to one side. "Steady, old girl, steady!" said two or three voices.The hand on the bridle pulled steadily forward. Diamond went on a step or two, sniffing and trembling, her flesh twitching with nervousness. "Whoa, then," said the voices. And she stood still.
She heard a heavy door shut behind her, and jumped to one side, crouching down with her hind-quarters, her tail pressed between her legs. The man holding her bridle spoke to her and stroked her. Then he called out: "All right. Let her go."There was a pause; then the noise of a chain sounded, and Diamond felt herself falling through the earth. Down and down she went, and in her fear she plunged to this side and that side, blowing great clouds of steam through her trembling nostrils, while a thick sweat broke out from her heaving flanks.
"It"s all right, Diamond," said the voice of the man; and his hand pressed quietly over her neck and under her muzzle. When the bandage was taken off Diamond"s eyes, she found herself in a perfectly black world, which was without grass or sky. She could see nothing. She could scarcely breathe. Then, as her eyes got used to this underworld, she saw that the place was a black tunnel, with walls, roof, and floor, and that in the distance a light was shining from a lamp.
She was led forward, and soon the light of many lamps fell on her, and she saw men moving, and heard the sound of voices. Some one came forward, took the rope from the man who had brought her down, and led her away.
Diamond felt less frightened when she saw another horse pulling a truck full of coal through one of the tunnels. She felt almost quite safe when she came to a stable where there were three other horses. The stalls were clean. There was plenty of straw about. The horses were well groomed and looked fat. They neighed a welcome to Diamond, and Diamond answered them.
She was given a handful of corn, but she was afraid of the manger and would not eat. The man brought some hay for her rack, but she started away from it. Then theman said: "Diamond, my dear lady, a man and a horse can get used to anything. You"ll get as used to eating food underground as above ground; see if you don"t." He began to pass a hay-wisp over her, and, while he did so, he said : "Now, just you listen to me, my pretty. I"m called William-that"s the name you"ll have to call if you want anything; just you say "William", and I"ll be round in a second; my name"s William, and I"ve been here a matter of seven and thirty years, and I never yet handled a horse that didn"t get to love me. You"ve got to love me. I"m going to change your name to begin with, and call you Black Diamond, because you"ll be dealing in black diamonds for the rest of your days.
"Now it"s a bit stuffy down here, I admit; and the dark tries the eyes, and you can"t help missing the birds, and the trees, and the grass, and the skies, and the rivers, and the sight of children. But we can"t all have the best of things. Some must live in palaces, and others in coal mines. Some must sail ships across the sea, and others must look after poor men in prisons. Some must go fighting, and others must sell woollen stockings. If everybody had everything, there"d soon be nothing for anybody. And, come to think of it, my lass, you"re a deal better off down here with old William than you would bepulling a cab through the streets of London, or standing for an hour at a time in the rain outside Cardiff Station.
"Now isn"t that true? Come, taste these oats out of my hand, and see how good they are. You and I are going to be friends; we have to be friends, Black Diamond. So let"s begin at once, and enjoy ourselves."Black Diamond learned that the love of the miner does make up, in some measure, for the loss of sunlight and heaven"s sweet air. She grew to love her friend William. She pulled the coal trucks through the black mine, and scarcely noticed that she was going gradually, gradually blind. William brought her apples and carrots in his coat-pocket, and the other miners made a pet of her, and she was soon a favourite with the other horses in the stall. "A pit"s a poor place to live in," reflected Black Diamond; "but it"s wonderful what a little love will do."She worked grandly. She ate heartily. She slept soundly. But she was going gradually, gradually blind.
Then her foal was born, and the miners called it Little Diamond, and Black Diamond grew very happy, telling this black baby all about the wonderful world above the coal-mine. She had just sufficient sight to see her baby, and she would lick it for hours, with her poorfading eyes full of great tears.
"I like hearing your stories," said Little Diamond; "but, of course, I don"t believe they"re true. They are only fairy stories, aren"t they?"It is so difficult, when one is born in the dark, and lives in the dark, to believe that just a little way above there is a world bathed in sunshine and light.
And, years afterwards, even Black Diamond herself came to think that the green earth, where she had spent so many delightful days, must be only a dream.
From The Children"s Encyclopedia.
About the Author.-The editor of The Children"s Encyclopedia is Arthur Mee, an Englishman. The author of this particular story is not known.
About the.-What name do we give to a white splash on a horse"s brow? When a horse breaks its knees, what is done to it? Are there pit-ponies in Australia? What made things seem better to Black Diamond? Why did she go blind?
