The Red Pony

About The Red Pony

" is a novella by American author John Steinbeck in 1933. The stories in the book are tales of Steinbeck's childhood recounted by a ten-year-old boy named Jody Tiflin. The book has four different stories about Jody and his life on his father's California ranch. Other main characters include Carl Tiflin - Jody's father; Billy Buck - an expert in horses and a worker on the ranch; Mrs. Tiflin - Jody's mother; and Jody's grandfather - Mrs. Tiflin's father, who has a history of crossing the Oregon Trail, and enjoys telling stories about his experiences; Gitano - an old man who came to die at the Tiflin ranch. Along with these stories, there is a short story at the end of the book titled "Junius Maltby." However, in the edition published by Penguin Books, there is no short story at the end of the book.

The book's action begins when Mr. Tiflin gives his son Jody a red pony colt. Overjoyed, Jody quickly agrees to all of the conditions his father places on the gift (to feed the pony, to clean his stall). Jody is so awed at the pony's magnificence that he decides to name him Gabilan, after the majestic Gabilan Mountains. After several weeks of training and getting to know Gabilan, Jody is told by his father that he will be allowed to ride the horse by Thanksgiving. One day the pony is caught in a downpour and catches what appears to be a cold. Billy tries to cure the horse of its illness to no avail. and finally diagnoses the illness as strangles, places a steaming wet bag over the pony's muzzle and entrusts Jody to watch the pony. In the night, Jody becomes sleepy in spite of his constant worry and drifts off to sleep, forgetting about the open barn door. By the time he awakens, the pony has wandered out of the barn. When Billy arrives, he deems it necessary to cut a hole in the horse's windpipe so he can breathe. Jody stays by his side, constantly swabbing out the mucus that clogged the windpipe. After falling asleep, Jody dreams of increasingly powerful winds and wakes up to see that the pony is gone again. Following the pony's trail he then notices a cloud of buzzards circling over a nearby spot. Unable to reach the horse in time, he arrives while a buzzard is eating the horse's eye. In his rage, Jody strikes the feasting buzzard it repeatedly with a piece of white quartz until it is dead. Mr. Tiflin and Billy arrive at the scene and attempt to comfort Jody.

Jody is bored. He looks with longing at the great mountains, wishing he could explore them. Suddenly, an old Mexican man named Gitano appears, claiming he was born on the ranch. Gitano requests to stay on the farm until he dies. Carl Tiflin refuses, although he does allow him to stay the night. That night, Jody secretly visits Gitano. He is polishing his old rapier. Jody asks if he has ever been to the great mountains, and Gitano says he has but remembers little. The next morning Gitano is gone. A neighbor reports seeing him riding into the mountains on Easter, Mr. Tiflin's 30 year old horse, with something in hand—the rapier, Jody assumes. Jody is filled with longing at the thought.