Rubin and the lost horse of Merrithorpe

<p><strong>Rubin and the lost horse of Merrithorpe                                                       </strong></p><p>This story is about an orphan boy called Rubin who in his wanderings meets a runaway horse.<br />Before galloping away its prancing and posturing suggests that the horse is trying to convey a message.</p><p>Then Rubin finds the first and soon after the second of four curiously numbered golden horseshoes lying on the ground.<br />The crone (a wise woman) sees the boy picking up the first shoe. She explains that the horse had been acquired by the Grand Duke of Merrithorpe from a horse coper and it won’t stay with him because he doesn’t know its name.<br />From then on Rubin’s quest is to discover its name and return the horse.<br />In Merrithorpe village Rubin meets a signwriter later becoming his apprentice.<br />He finds the third horseshoe on the village green.<br />He is taught his alphabet numbers and MATH-ER-MAGICS at a Dame school.  (The Dame is the second wise woman).<br />He meets the smith who made the golden horseshoes and a tailor who makes him a suit<br />A third wise woman a clairvoyant who can translate horse language is consulted.<br />The translated horse message is a riddle which can solve the horse’s name. Rubin sets out on an exciting adventure to the Land-of-Un where he recovers the horse.</p><p>Chased by the unscrupulous horse coper and his men the effort brings both horse and boy close to death as they emerge from a perimeter hedge of poisonous thorns. There the combined efforts of the crone and the clairvoyant (who provides an appropriate riddle for the crone to solve) revive both horse and boy.</p><p>Rubin returns the named horse to the Grand Duke but decides to keep the three horseshoes until he finds the fourth. He is given a final riddle by the Clairvoyant and this leads him to a girl who keeps chicken the fourth horseshoe and of course to a happy conclusion for all concerned (except the horse coper).</p>