Walking on the familiar winding lane, its heart was heavy. Today, it wasn’t in the mood to work for its boss. It found everything boring. It sat there in a daze, watching the small pieces of life passing by.
It felt this life had treated it unfairly.
After a brief reflection, it was startled to realize the sun had slept on its back without it noticing.
Its eyes filled with tears, it confided in him, “Hey, I’m so upset. I have worked for my boss for over 15 years. Every day, I carry passengers and goods from early morning until late at night. I’m unfazed by the sun, wind, or hardship, but he cut off my two meals. He even said that now he only feeds me one meal a day.”
The sun saw its dejection and consoled it, “Poor you! What was the reason for cutting off your meals? Did you do something wrong?”
It stared into space, sighing, “I don’t know. Lately, I’ve been drawing pictures with clay. I used the time after everyone in the house fell asleep to sketch. Those were funny-looking works of green, red, purple, and yellow.
I couldn’t wait to show them off to everyone, so I brought the paintings to my boss. I gave all the money from his wife, who had died, to him. I scratched my head. “Sir, I will give you all the money I have; please send someone to see the clay paintings I have stored in the warehouse. What are your thoughts on this?”
The boss said, “I see your paintings are not like anyone else’s. People draw with their hands. You mold them with your feet. But…anyway, I find it attractive. Let me search for the people to view it.”
He is a well-known person in the province. So, people flocked to see it through his introductory advertisement. Many people visited to view it; they complimented its paintings: scent-free, colorful, and evoking thoughts of a strange new world.
Every day, people gathered to see it. It felt so excited. It became more creative, creating more colorful paintings.
But then, all joy quickly passed. One afternoon, the boss called it into his room and said, “I will punish you. I’ve already announced… From today, no one will come to see your paintings anymore!”
When it heard him speak those words, it was stunned. “Why, sir? Could you please give me a reason? I paid you in full. I didn’t owe you a single penny.”
The boss was blunt: “It’s true you paid me in full, but you violated the rules of this house.”
After saying that, he left. No matter how it tried to explain, the boss would refute it. The problem was that it didn’t know where it had gone wrong. So, it felt sorrowful and without hope. It thought, “It’s over. From now on, no one can view my creations anymore.”
The sun had finished listening to the story; he gazed intently at its clay drawing of the sun. Suddenly, his eyes sparkled, and he praised the drawing as being incredibly creative, more beautiful than the sun. That made the little horse’s shoulders glow pink.
The sun looked at it lovingly. He patted it on the head. “Hey, little horse, you don’t need to get attention. You’re talented. Just a few people like me recognize you; you’ll feel delighted, right?
Anyway, thank your boss, because he brought many people to see your paintings!”
The little horse seemed to be revived. It was beaming. It turned out it still had the sun encouraging it.
While it was on the way home, it heard the sun echoing from above. He opened his arms wide to embrace its breath, whispering to it, “Recognition only comes from compassion, not from attention, and compassion is recognition.”
Thank you for reading.
Yoshiko Amemiya
December 6, 2025