The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse by William Saroyan for CBSE Class XI

The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse by William Saroyan

Synopsis of the Lesson

This is an interesting story about two boys. They belonged to a family, which was famous for its honesty. The boys had a craze for horse-riding. One day, the narrator’s cousin, Mourad, bought a beautiful white horse for riding. He had stolen it from some place. The narrator was shocked to think that Mourad had stolen the horse. Such a thing had never happened in their family. But the narrator also wanted to enjoy the ride. So he cooperated with his cousin in keeping the stealth a secret. They continued enjoy horse-riding for many days early in the morning. They used to hide the horse somewhere in a barn. One day, they came across the owner of that horse and he recognized it, but he could not blame the boys for the theft of his horse. It was because he knew that the boys belonged to a reputed family. The next morning, the narrator and his cousin left the horse at its usual place.

Main Points of the Story

One day, Mourad, the narrator’s cousin woke him up early in the morning at four o’clock. He was sitting on a beautiful horse. The narrator could not believe his eyes. He always longed for horse-riding. Mourad and the narrator belonged to a family that was very famous for its honesty. It was known as Garoghlanian family. They had been famous for the honesty for about eleven centuries. Every member of the family felt proud of being a Garoghlanian. They believed in the right and the wrong and never took advantage of anybody in the world.

The narrator could not believe that his cousin could steal the horse. But the reality was before his eyes, so he had to believe it. Then the narrator that stealing a horse only for a raiding was different from stealing money or for selling the horse for money. After that, the narrator jumped down on the yard from window of his room. He sat on the horse’s back behind Mourad, who was considered one of the craziest members of his family. He was considered the natural successor of the craziness found in his family.

His uncle Khosrove was also a crazy fellow. He was a big man with a big head and black hair on it. He had very long moustaches on his face. He was a man of irritable temple. He was also very impatient in his behaviour.  He would stop anybody by saying, “It is no harm; pay no attention to it.”

Once Khosrove’s own son, Arak, came running at a barber’s shop, where he was getting his moustaches trimmed. Arak told him that their house was on fire. Khosrove stood up at once and roared, “It’s no harm; pay no attention to it.

Thus Mourad was the natural descendant of Khosrove.

At present Mourad and his cousin were enjoying riding. Mourad was also singing while riding. After sometime, Mourad told the narrator to get down of the horse because he wanted to have the ride alone.

The narrator obyed and got down of the horse. He also told Mourad that he would also like to have a ride alone.

Mourad kicked the horse and it soon started galloping. The horse crossed a field of dry grass and then an irrigation ditch. He returned after five minutes.

Now it was the narrator’s turn to enjoy the ride alone.

He also leapt to the back of the horse and kicked it. The horse reared and snorted. Then it ran suddenly. Instead of running across the field and then to the irrigation ditch, it ran down road to the vineyard of Dikran Halabian. The horse threw the narrator on to the ground while jumping on the vines.

The narrator and Mourad made a search for it and after half an hour, Mourad came back with the horse. They thought of hiding the horse at a secret place.

The narrator also came to know that Mourad had been enjoying rides for the last many days. They went home and the narrator had his breakfast.

That afternoon, the narrator’s uncle Khosrove came to his house to sip coffee and smoke a cigarette.

Another visitor, named John Byro, also came there. He complained that his white horse had been missing for a month.

The narrator’s uncle Khosrov and John Byro had an argument on the loss of the horse. Khosrove advised John Byro to forget about the horse and not to give any importance to money.

John Byro got angry and went out of the house.

The narrator went to Mourad’s house and told him all about John Byro’s visit to his house. The narrator requested Mourad not to return the horse until he learnt how to ride. Mourad agreed not to return it for six months.

One morning, on the way, they came across John Byro, the owner of the white horse.

He recognized the horse and he knew that it was his own horse, but still, he could not make a claim over it because he knew the reputation of the narrator’s family. He just called the horse the twin of his horse.

Early next morning, the narrator and his cousin left the horse to John Byro’s barn.

That afternoon, John Byro came to the narrator’s house. He showed the horse to the narrator’s mother. He said that his horse had become stronger and better tempered than before. Then the narrator’s uncle became irritated. He shouted, “ Your horse has been returned. Pay no attention to it.”