Thompson "The Mustang Mustang": a short summary of the book

Man is a child of nature, but very ungrateful. After becoming stronger, for many centuries he has been trying to destroy his creator and his smaller brothers. Today the media around the world are talking about this problem. However, in the XIX century. Few decided to raise this issue. Among such daredevils was the Canadian-American writer Ernest Seton-Thompson. In addition to his public activities aimed at preserving the wild nature, he wrote many interesting works about the animal world. Among them is the story "Mustang Mustang".

Ernest Seton-Thompson

A future writer was born in the UK in 1860. However, he spent most of his conscious life in Canada and the United States.

At the age of six, Seton-Thompsons moved to Canada. Because of the cruelty of his father, the young Ernest avoided his company and spent all his free time in a forest not far from home. The young man studied nature, made sketches of wild animals and birds. His talent as an artist, shown so early, helped him enter the Canadian College of Arts, which he graduated in 19 years. Soon after, Ernest broke ties with his family and changed his name to Thompson Seaton.

To earn his living, he began writing stories about nature. The first of his works - "The Life of the meadow grouse" - was published in 1883. Other stories appeared after him.

In the nineties of the XIX century. Ernest Seton-Thompson was able to publish several collections of works. These books have enjoyed tremendous success among readers in the United States and Canada, not only thanks to a simple but pleasant manner of writing, but also because of the amazing illustrations drawn by the author himself.

Becoming an acknowledged and well-paid writer, Seton-Thompson began writing stories not only about animals, but also about the customs of the Indian tribes, as well as the Eskimos.

This writer became one of the pioneers of the literary genre of works devoted to animals. In addition, his work influenced many animal writers who lived after him.

Ernest Seton-Thompson is also one of the founding ideologists of the scout movement. It is he who owns the idea of teaching schoolchildren survival in the wild. The detachment he created was named "Forest Indians". Based on his experience, Robert Baden-Powell founded the Scout Society, which exists to this day. For a long time, Seton-Thompson collaborated with Baden-Powell, but when he saw that the Scout movement was gaining more and more features of the military organization, he retired.

The writer died peacefully at the age of 86 and was cremated, and his ashes were scattered over the "Siton-Vilage" - a reserve organized on the writer's land.

Ernest Seton-Thompson "Mustang Mustang": a summary

This story is one of the most famous works of the writer, translated into Russian.

The action takes place in the Wild West, where cowboys notice a wild black foal with an innate ability to move with an amp.

A year later, returning to the same areas, they learn that the Mustang Mustang grew and became a real calamity for the shepherds: he took home mares behind him and soon founded his own herd. Several times he tried to catch him, but the black horse not only eluded his pursuers, but also led away his herd from them.

Soon for an unusual horse, moving only amble, was awarded a solid reward - $ 1000. Experienced cattleman Joe Kalon outfitted an entire expedition and began to pursue the mustang pacing purposefully.

In the end, Joe drove the best horse, lost a lot of money and time, but could not catch a black horse. More than once he repeated attempts to catch a mustang, but he could not. The only thing he achieved - he repulsed his horse from the horse and returned it to the owners for a fee.

Despite the failure of Kalon, many other cowboys wanted to snoop on the legendary horse, because it could bring out a unique offspring of horses. However, the Mustang Mustang was not given to anyone. It seemed that he sensed all the traps and walked around them.

Cook Thomas Bates, who was a greedy and arrogant man, also wanted to catch the cherished stallion. Watching the attempts of others, he realized that the pacer can be outwitted.

Taking a friend of the bay mare Solly, Tom used it as a bait and managed to catch the beard of a mustang. To quit before other cowboys who nicknamed him the Trail Trail (for a ridiculous stigma), Tom branded a tied mustang and tried to deliver to the nearest farm.

However, the Mustang Mustang resisted all the time. At the end of the story, he managed to escape. However, there was nowhere to run, and the horse jumped off the two hundred-foot cliff, breaking on the rocks, but retaining its freedom.

"Mustang Mustang": the main characters

The main hero of the work is, of course, a wild black stallion, able to move with an amble that never goes into gallop. While horses in the Wild West are "12 dollars a dozen", 1000 dollars are offered for catching a mustang. He attracts all pastoralists in the area not only with his unusual manner of moving, but also with beauty and unrestraint. Despite the many harm that he brings, no one risks killing him - after all, the beauty and courage of this horse is a delight even for seasoned cowboys.

Opponents of the beautiful horse are people who dream of using it for enrichment. In fact, they are the bearers of all the negative that there is in human nature in the story of a writer named Seton-Thompson. Mustang-pacer - on the contrary, the embodiment of nobility and purity.

Among those who want to catch the treasured horse, two stand out. The first of these is an experienced but poor shepherd Joe Kalon. The hero dreams of getting rich and starting his ranch and cattle, but he spends all the money he earns for drinking and entertainment in the city. Seeing in the Mustang Mustang potential, even when he was a colt, Joe tries to catch him, and acts relatively honestly. But time after time, the crow escapes from his pursuer and the cattleman surrenders.

The second hunter is the stingy chef Thomas Bates. He demands that others call him "Mr.", and go to the post office waiting for letters to just show off. He often boasts that he branded many animals, but in reality it is a lie of clean water. When Joe invites him to participate in the capture of the pacer as a partner, Thomas refuses because of greed, preferring to work for hire.

Unlike Kalon, Bates decides to outsmart the black and, playing on the solitude of the mustang, catches him with the help of a mare-bait. Immediately on the spot, Thomas puts a stigma on his horse. The man believes that he has enslaved a proud animal, but the pacer prefers death.

Minor characters

In addition to the above, other heroes appear in the story, although they are more for the background. This is a friend of Joe's drinking - Scrat. He is not as shrewd as Kalon, and for all it's clear he has long resigned himself to his position as a hired worker and does not dream about his business.

Also the author himself participates in the events of the story. He appears in one of the pursuit of a black horse, and when he has the opportunity to kill an animal, not only refuses to do so, but also prevents other cowboys from shooting a mustang.

Problems

In addition to the ardent criticism of the extermination of man by wildlife, raises other issues in this story, Ernest Seton-Thompson.

"Mustang-pacer" shows the pettiness of the person's nature, seeking to humiliate and trample something that can not be accepted. When the mares stolen by the blacks were returned to the owners, in fact the horse ceased to bring harm to the cattlemen of the district, and it could be left alone. All further hunting for a pacer is a tribute to excitement, not a necessity.

Of the two hunters on the crow more respect, of course, causes Joe Kalon, because he is trying to realize his dream. But is it possible to deprive another creature of freedom to be enriched? After all, in fact, Joe reminds slavers who sell their fellow humans for profit. And besides, if Kalon skips all the money he earned, instead of hoarding on a ranch, most likely, having earned a mustang, he would have drunk everything again.

Symbolism in the story

The work of Ernest Seton-Thompson is rather symbolic. So the mustang embodies the ideal of freedom and nobility. It is ideal both physically and morally. Unlike Joe, who shot a horse that has broken his leg, the pacer until the last takes care of his herd.

At the same time, hunters symbolize the greed and insatiability of human nature, as well as envy. If the author, seeing the crow, admires them, then Joe and Thomas only calculate the profits.

The theme of freedom in the Mustang Mustang

For Americans, the issue of freedom is a rather painful issue. The fact is that this young society had to fight for independence several times over its two-hundred-year history.

At first, they fought with the British for freedom, and after a slave for a long time sought the right to be recognized as full-fledged people. That's why the story of the wild mustang, who chose death instead of bondage, is so close to the Americans.

Screening

In the USSR, the story "Mustang-pacer" was very popular. The book was screened in 1976. Igor Negrescu became the director.

The script of the film was supplemented by a storyline about a friend of the black - the mare Solly. In addition, in the film they had a foal, which became the subject of a dispute between the local cattlemen.

In the rest, the picture retains elements of the plot of the original story Seton-Thompson.

Interesting facts

• Seton-Thompson was married twice. His daughter from the first marriage - Anya - also became a writer. However, her novels about history.
• One of the reasons why the mustang was so valuable is that he had an innate amble. This quality is very important for a riding horse, since a rider on such an animal is very comfortable to move around. That's only pony horses are not very manoeuvrable. They are inferior to ordinary horses in stamina.
• The amputation of horses is a genetic mutation.
• The first horses with a congenital amble appeared in Iceland and Britain around 850-900. Later they spread all over the world.
• Of ordinary horses, you can make pacers, but such an animal more tired and injures your legs.

Despite the sad finale, still many are captured by Ernest Seton-Thompson's narrative "The Mustang Mustang". The main idea of this work is that nature does not need to forcibly tame and make its slave, and it is important to try to find a common language with it and interact. This idea was the life credo of Seton-Thompson, to which he submitted all his life. I would like to hope that at least some modern successful writers will follow his example.