SNAPSHOTS

THE SUMMER OF BEAUTIFUL HORSE

SUMMARY

The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse” is narrated by nine-year-old Aram Garoghlanian, a member of an Armenian community living among the lush fruit orchards and vineyards of California. One morning Aram is awakened before dawn by his older 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 has always wanted to ride a horse, but his family is too poor to afford one. However, the Garoghlanian family is noted not only for its poverty but also for its honesty, so it is unthinkable that Mourad would have stolen the horse. So, Aram felt that his brother couldn’t have stolen the horse. Aram was invited to ride on the horse with Mourad. Then the idea about Mourad stealing the horse drained away from Aram’s mind as he felt that it wouldn’t become stealing until they offer to sell the horse. They enjoyed their riding on the horse for a long time. Mourad roared and sang songs with joy. It was as if they were somewhere out of this world. This crazy behaviour of Mourad was considered to be a natural descent from their uncle Khosrove 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 and stop everyone from talking and say It is no harm, pay no attention to it. When his son once came and told them that their house was on fire, he silenced him by roaring “Enough. It is no harm”. After a long time Mourad wanted to ride alone on the horse. Aram also had the same longing and also wished to ride alone. However, when he sat on the horse and kicked its muscles it reared and snorted and raced forward dropping Aram off its back. That afternoon, an Assyrian farmer named John Byro, who was a friend of the Garoghlanians came to Aram’s house. He reported to Aram’s mother that his white horse which had been stolen a month ago was still missing. Hearing this Aram concludes that Mourad must have had the horse for a long time. Khosrove, who was at Aram’s house when Byro came, shouted his dialogue “its no harm” to such an extent that Byro was forced to sprint out to avoid responding.Aran to Mourad to inform him of Byro’s arrival. Aram also pleads to Mourad to not return the horse until the former could learn to ride. Mourad disagrees saying that Aram would take at least a year to learn but promises he would keep it for six months. And this becomes a routine. Mourad comes daily to pick Aram to ride and Aram continuously falls off the horse’s back after every attempt. Two weeks later when they were going to take the horse back to its hiding place, they met Byro on the way. The farmer is extremely surprised. He recognizes his horse but refuses to believe his eyes. He says “the horse is the twin of my horse” and “a suspicious man would believe his eyes instead of his heart”. Thus the Garoghlanian’s fame of honesty saves them.The following day they return the horse before everyone(except the dogs) is awake. None of the dogs bark since Mourad has “a way with dogs”. Mourad gets extremely sentimental when he parts with the horse. The next day Byro arrives at Aram’s house to show the horse to his mother and report that “the horse is stronger” and better tempered. The story ends with Khosrove shouting at Byro to “pay no attention to it