The Sacrifice

Contest entry with the words 'Horse', 'Tree', and 'Brick'

King Rakshak’s son was dying. Priests and medicine men from all across the land could not help.


“My King, the rain gods look angry. Please do not go," his minister implored. Rakshak brushed him aside and walked on with an impatient nod.

The sky opened up, as if in a hurry to empty its contents but nothing could stop the king’s daily walk to the tree.

Today, a sense of peace enveloped him like a mother’s embrace. He wished the tree had the power to cure but it stood a silent specter, warm and comforting but not healing.

A small boy stood under the tree. Nothing but a white loin cloth adorned him. The king rushed over and put his thick cloak over the boy. “Find the white horned horse and sacrifice him by a fire the likes of which no one has seen," the boy said to the bewildered king. He walked away with the cloak draping his tiny frame.

Rejuvenated with the glimmer of hope, the king sent his men far and wide to find the horse. A prince from a distant kingdom claimed to have the horse but wanted a large slice of King Rakshak’s land.

The horse was brought in. It was horned and magnificent and the purest white the land had ever seen.
A great circular brick wall enclosed the horse. The horse remained unperturbed.

As the priest moved in to set ablaze the pyre, Rakshak stopped him. “I cannot let an innocent creature die,” he proclaimed.

The horse raised its head “You are indeed a great King. Your son will not die,” it rumbled.

With a poetic grace, it spread its wings and flew away.