Our Story
The King of the Wind is the fantastic book that we read. The book is about Sham, a great Arabian horse. This book won the Newbery Medal Award for excellence in children's literature. The gold seal that you see on the front of the book is the Newbery Medal.
Our story began in the country of Canada, at a very important horse race. This part of the story acts as an introduction to the horses that are ancestors of the great Godolphin Arabian horse named Sham, the King of the Wind. As the story is told of the great ancestry and line of the Godophin Arabians, the author takes you back to the original country of Sham, which is Morocco. It is in Meknes, Morocco that the wonderful story of our horse begins.
There was once a young boy named Agba who was a stable boy in the sultan's kingdom. One of the main horses that Agba took care of was a beautiful bay mare who had stolen his heart. She was described as being as sift as a gazelle. She also had eyes that watched him constantly, wherever he went. She was a very gentle horse, and Agba loved her very much.
As the story begins, the mare was ready to have a baby, or a foal. The mother horse died right after her foal was born, and Agba was very sad. Then, he began taking care of this little baby. The foal's coat was all one golden color, which represented the crown of sun rays. This golden coat is why Agba thought about giving his horse the name Sham, which is the Arabic name for sun.
Sham had a couple of distinct markings on him that made him stand out as a very important horse. One marking was a small, white, almond shaped spot on his hind heel. This spot meant that he would be as swift as the wind of the desert. The other marking was on the foal's chest, and it was called a wheat ear. A wheat ear marking is when a group of hairs looks like a ripened ear of wheat. This marking was a sign of evil, and it was a warning of the many bad things that would happen to Sham during his lifetime.
The people in this story practice the Islam faith. Many of the things that happened in the story are a result of their beliefs. Some of these things involve the way they respected the Arabian horses for their purebred status and their devotion to their owners.
Sham was sent as a present to the young King of France. Many other fine race horses were sent, also. Each horse had a special stable boy who went with it. The sultan put a purse around each horse's neck. Inside the purse, or pouch, was the pedigree of the horse and several amulets of good luck. The boys and their horses went by boat from Morocco to France. The captain of the boat was very greedy. The sultan had given him a lot of money to buy good food for the horses, but the captain spent the money on things for himself. Then, he only bought a little bit of hay to feed the horses. So when the horses arrived in France, they were very skinny. The King and his men could not read the Arabic writing that was on the pedigrees. They did not know that these horses were actually the fastest horses in the sultan's kingdom, and they were sent as prized gifts to the King. Since the horses were so small, all of the French men just laughed at the horses. The King sent some of the horses away to be army horses, while others were used as work horses. None of them were thought to be race horses, but they were all very fast racers.
The book tells about Sham's travels and the sad life that he had. Even though Sham was not treated well for most of the story, in the end, he was praised and praised for being a wonderful and fast Arabian horse. Agba was ordered by the sultan to stay with Sham and take care of him for his whole lifetime, so Agba stayed with Sham and traveled with him everywhere he went. Agba could not speak, so it was hard for him to tell people how wonderful of a horse Sham really was. Sham and Agba traveled all over Morocco and Europe, before they were taken to Canada to live.
We really enjoyed reading this book and learning about Sham and Agba, and we think you would like the book, too!
Our story began in the country of Canada, at a very important horse race. This part of the story acts as an introduction to the horses that are ancestors of the great Godolphin Arabian horse named Sham, the King of the Wind. As the story is told of the great ancestry and line of the Godophin Arabians, the author takes you back to the original country of Sham, which is Morocco. It is in Meknes, Morocco that the wonderful story of our horse begins.
There was once a young boy named Agba who was a stable boy in the sultan's kingdom. One of the main horses that Agba took care of was a beautiful bay mare who had stolen his heart. She was described as being as sift as a gazelle. She also had eyes that watched him constantly, wherever he went. She was a very gentle horse, and Agba loved her very much.
As the story begins, the mare was ready to have a baby, or a foal. The mother horse died right after her foal was born, and Agba was very sad. Then, he began taking care of this little baby. The foal's coat was all one golden color, which represented the crown of sun rays. This golden coat is why Agba thought about giving his horse the name Sham, which is the Arabic name for sun.
Sham had a couple of distinct markings on him that made him stand out as a very important horse. One marking was a small, white, almond shaped spot on his hind heel. This spot meant that he would be as swift as the wind of the desert. The other marking was on the foal's chest, and it was called a wheat ear. A wheat ear marking is when a group of hairs looks like a ripened ear of wheat. This marking was a sign of evil, and it was a warning of the many bad things that would happen to Sham during his lifetime.
The people in this story practice the Islam faith. Many of the things that happened in the story are a result of their beliefs. Some of these things involve the way they respected the Arabian horses for their purebred status and their devotion to their owners.
Sham was sent as a present to the young King of France. Many other fine race horses were sent, also. Each horse had a special stable boy who went with it. The sultan put a purse around each horse's neck. Inside the purse, or pouch, was the pedigree of the horse and several amulets of good luck. The boys and their horses went by boat from Morocco to France. The captain of the boat was very greedy. The sultan had given him a lot of money to buy good food for the horses, but the captain spent the money on things for himself. Then, he only bought a little bit of hay to feed the horses. So when the horses arrived in France, they were very skinny. The King and his men could not read the Arabic writing that was on the pedigrees. They did not know that these horses were actually the fastest horses in the sultan's kingdom, and they were sent as prized gifts to the King. Since the horses were so small, all of the French men just laughed at the horses. The King sent some of the horses away to be army horses, while others were used as work horses. None of them were thought to be race horses, but they were all very fast racers.
The book tells about Sham's travels and the sad life that he had. Even though Sham was not treated well for most of the story, in the end, he was praised and praised for being a wonderful and fast Arabian horse. Agba was ordered by the sultan to stay with Sham and take care of him for his whole lifetime, so Agba stayed with Sham and traveled with him everywhere he went. Agba could not speak, so it was hard for him to tell people how wonderful of a horse Sham really was. Sham and Agba traveled all over Morocco and Europe, before they were taken to Canada to live.
We really enjoyed reading this book and learning about Sham and Agba, and we think you would like the book, too!
