Day 1 – The Goose and Her Goslings
My first attempt at participating in the Pharao Equus Pharao photo contest. Not only did I create an image but also a short story to accompany it:
On a village farm, where dust glowed golden in the sunset, a foal named Savier—a dark-coated Pharao with bluish veins visible beneath his skin—cautiously approached the pond. His frill, folded around his neck, shimmered with turquoise patterns, while his tail, tipped with a venomous stinger, quivered with curiosity. By the water’s edge, a goose with a double-crested beak resembling a crown strutted proudly, trailed by two ash-gray goslings. Their down was speckled with dark stripes, typical of her breed.
Savier puffed up his frill—the leathery folds unfurling with a soft rustle—causing the goslings to scramble to their mother. But the foal lowered his head and nudged a ripe pear toward them with his hoof. The goose clacked her beak, permitting her young to peck at the treat. Thus began their silent friendship.
Days on the farm passed leisurely: Savier galloped across meadows, his muscular legs kicking up clouds of dust, while the goslings slapped their webbed feet, attempting to mimic his leaps. When he paused, one gosling plucked burrs from his mane, and the other clambered onto his hindquarters, clinging to the scales at the base of his tail.
One day, a gosling tumbled into a deep ditch while chasing a dragonfly. The goose flapped frantically above the pit as Savier, his frill flushed violet, lowered his stinger-tipped tail. With a careful flick, he hooked the gosling’s feathers and lifted it to safety.
From then on, the goose stopped hissing at Savier. Each evening, she led her goslings to nestle against his warm side as he nibbled treats, his unfurled frill shielding them from the chill. Auntie, watching them, shook her head:
“A peculiar friendship. Like a desert wind befriending the ripples of a lake.”
And at night, under a moonlit sky, they slept in the barn: the foal with his tail curled like a ring, the goslings nestled against his neck, and the goose standing guard, her double crest raised proudly toward the stars.