winter noons
`` But I love him well ; I will save him to-night . '' And save him the brave brute did . The grass was so sweet and so short , he longed to stop for a mouthful ; the brooks looked so clear , he longed to pause for a drink ; renewed force and reviving youth filled his loyal veins with their fire ; he could have thrown himself down on that mossy turf , and had a roll in its thyme and its lichens for sheer joy that his strength had come back . But he would yield to none of these longings ; he held on for his master 's sake , and tried to think , as he ran , that this was only a piece of play -- only a steeple-chase , for a silver vase and a lady 's smile , such as he and his rider had so often run for , and so often won , in those glad hours of the crisp winter noons of English Shires far away . He turned his eyes on the brown mare 's , and she turned hers on his ; they were good friends in the stables at home , and they understood one another now . `` If I were what I was yesterday , she would n't run even with me , '' thought the King ; but they were doing good work together , and he was too true a knight and too true a gentleman to be jealous of Mother o ' Pearl , so they raced neck-and-neck through the dawn ; with the noisy clatter of water-mill wheels , or the distant sound of a woodman 's ax , or the tolling bell of a convent clock , the only sound on the air save the beat of the flying hoofs . Away they went , mile on mile , league on league , till the stars faded out in the blaze of the sun , and the tall pines rose out of the gloom .