He afterwards showed me a wisp of hay, and a fetlock full of
oats; but I shook my head, to signify that neither of these were food for me.
On the other side was comparatively level ground, thickly covered with wild
oats. As we emerged from the chaparral Morgan was but a few yards in advance.
I had of course long been used to a halter and a headstall, and to be led about in the fields and lanes quietly, but now I was to have a bit and bridle; my master gave me some
oats as usual, and after a good deal of coaxing he got the bit into my mouth, and the bridle fixed, but it was a nasty thing!
"Five are making compote (which meant compost), "four are shifting the
oats for fear of a touch of mildew, Konstantin Dmitrievitch."
"But a real horse is alive, and trots and prances and eats
oats, while this is nothing more than a dead horse, made of wood, and used to saw logs upon."
I am within bounds when I tell you that he was stuffed with
oats until one of those old ladies who leave their dishes unwashed at home and go about having expressmen arrested, would have smiled--yes, smiled--to have seen him.
A GROOM used to spend whole days in currycombing and rubbing down his Horse, but at the same time stole his
oats and sold them for his own profit.
For wheat, barley, and
oats, they ask too much labor; but with pease and beans you may begin, both because they ask less labor, and because they serve for meat, as well as for bread.
"Well, my Highness would like some
oats," declared the horse.
Yes, go to the yard and fetch a fowl, please, a cock, and you, Misha, bring me some
oats."
There was yet a fertile strip of time wherein to sow my last handful of the wild
oats of youth.
"If it snowed in August it would spoil the corn and the
oats and the wheat; and then Uncle Henry wouldn't have any crops; and that would make him poor; and--"