How horses got their tails

Once upon a time, there was a herd of talking horses with stubby tails in the middle of the grasslands. There were a lot of flies and bugs everywhere, and the bugs would land on the horses and start nibbling at them. 

The horses thought of many different ways to try to get the bugs and flies off of them. Some ideas they had were to shake wildly (but that didn’t work), to roll around on the grass (but that also didn’t work, and it attracted more bugs), and so on. None of the horses’ ideas were working, and everyone got super annoyed and frustrated. 

One day, the leader of all the horses said, “Stop all of you, and listen to me, if you want another idea to get some or all of the bugs off of you.” All of the horses stopped what they were doing and looked intensely at the leader. While all was still and quiet, one young horse said, “We are all quiet now, leader, please, please tell us what your brilliant idea is!”

The leader said, “My idea is that we all can step on each other to kill the bugs!” There was silence, and then they all started to cheer. 

They all broke up into groups of two, and one of the horses lay on the ground, and the other began to step on the one that was lying on the ground. The next day, the leader admitted his idea was a bad one and apologized to everyone. The horses had suffered bruises all over their bodies, and some had even broken bones. The next day, the leader said that he had an even better idea, and his idea was to bite each other. After a few hours, all the horses were so happy that they congratulated the leader because his idea had worked. Although most of the horses were bleeding, they were still pleased.

One day, a foal was born and had almost no tail at all. One hour later, the foal was standing and was shaking all over to try to get all of the bugs and flies off of her. Then, to her great surprise, her mother started to bite her! She began to squeal in pain, and she also started to run around like crazy. A week later, she had bruises and teeth marks that made cuts all over her body.

One day, when the foal was all grown up (she only had a foot-long tail, and her name was Buttercup), she decided that it was time to stop the bug and fly situation, so she decided to see the horse wizard Melvan. When she got there, he was expecting her. He said, “I have been expecting you. What happened to you?”

She responded, “Oh, Melven, you have to help my herd and me. There are so many bugs and flies, and the leader of all the horses suggested that we bite each other to try to get all of the bugs and flies off of us! I came here in hopes that you could help me with this problem. Well, can you???”

He said, “Oh my, it sounds as if you are in a pickle!”

“Yes, we all are!”

“And you want me to help you?”

“Yes, please.”

“Do you have any ideas on how I can help you?” She sat down on her rump with a loud bump, and said, “Hmm, oh, I know!! You can make all of the bugs and flies go away!!!! Oh wait,” she said sadly, “I forgot that you cannot make anything disappear. I have no idea how you can help us.”

“I’ll tell you what,” he said, “if you go back to your herd, and you tell them just to ignore all of the bugs and flies until noon tomorrow, then you can handle your bug and fly problem.”

Buttercup jumped up with joy, and said, “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!” So cheerfully. So, she went home and told everyone what she had done. By noon the next day, they all had their magnificent long tails to swat the bugs and flies away.

The whole herd thanked Buttercup for her brilliant idea. Later that night, she saw a meteor shower, and she said that was the best thing she could ever ask for.

Thanks to Buttercup, all horses now have long tails to swat away all the bugs and flies!!