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The Hallowed Horse: A Folktale from India

Demi

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Nov 16, 2011 Ronyell rated it it was amazing

Shelves: animal-books, india-books, demi, fairy-tales-folktales

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I have read many books by Demi and I have always enjoyed her impressive storytelling techniques. Now, I have recently read this rare gem, “The Hallowed Horse,” which is a folktale from India and it is about how a spirited white horse is destined to be India’s savior from the evil Kaliya, the Multi-Headed Snake. “The Hallowed Horse” is a truly memorable folktale about friendship and destinies that children will love!

Many years ago, there lived a king in India who needed a Hallowed Horse to defeat I have read many books by Demi and I have always enjoyed her impressive storytelling techniques. Now, I have recently read this rare gem, “The Hallowed Horse,” which is a folktale from India and it is about how a spirited white horse is destined to be India’s savior from the evil Kaliya, the Multi-Headed Snake. “The Hallowed Horse” is a truly memorable folktale about friendship and destinies that children will love!

Many years ago, there lived a king in India who needed a Hallowed Horse to defeat a horrible snake monster named Kaliya, the Multi-Headed Snake from destroying his kingdom. Over in the country far away from the palace, a spirited young white foal was born and a poor potter ended up taking care of the young foal. Later on in the king’s palace, a dozen astrologers were searching for the white horse until they found the white horse with the potter and asked him if he would give the horse to them so they could give it to the king.

Wow! This book was so amazing to read! Demi has done an excellent job at both writing and illustrating this ancient Indian folktale about friendship and following your destiny. Demi’s writing is both heartwarming and dramatic at the same time as I really felt the true friendship between the white horse and the potter as they were truly close to each other and I was on the edge of my seat when I saw the great battle between Kaliya, the Multi-Headed Snake and the Hallowed Horse. It was also interesting to see where Demi got the inspiration to make this story and I loved the information she gives out at the end of the story about how the first kings in Indian legends were heavenly. Demi’s illustrations are extremely beautiful as the borders on each page are filed with tiny horses galloping behind each other which make the borders look extremely beautiful. I also loved the images of all the flowers in the background as they look truly beautiful and fit the calming mood of the story perfectly. I also loved the image of the white horse itself as it is truly beautiful and is always seen jumping around the pages.

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

The only thing that slightly bothered me in this book was how the potter seems to have forgotten about the white horse once the astrologers took the horse away. It is like the moment they gave the potter new horses, he seem to not notice the white horse being taken away. I mean, I know that the white horse was destined to belong to the king, but I guess I was hoping for the potter to come with the white horse to the palace to be near him and that would have made their friendship seem genuine.

All in all, “The Hallowed Horse” is a wonderful tale about true friendship that everyone will enjoy! I would recommend this book to children ages five and up due to the length of the story being a bit too long for smaller children.

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