I do not mean that I could have stolen him, but that, regardless of his proper place, I would have bought him if I could.

I laid my hands on him, and stroked the protuberant bones that humped a hide smooth and thin, and shiny as satin--so shiny that the very shape of the moon was reflected in it; I fondled his sharp-pointed ears, whispered words in them, and breathed into his red nostrils the breath of a man's life.

He in return breathed into mine the breath of a horse's life, and we loved one another.

What eyes he had! Blue-filmy like the eyes of the dead, behind each was a glowing coal! The raven, with wings half extended, looked on pleased at my love-making to his magnificent horse.
"That is well! be friends with him," he said: "he will carry you all the better to-morrow!--Now we must hurry home!" My desire to ride the horse had grown passionate.
"May I not mount him at once, Mr.Raven ?" I cried.
"By all means!" he answered.

"Mount, and ride him home." The horse bent his head over my shoulder lovingly.