Reading And Walking: King Of The Wind

Today I’m starting a new series on the blog called Reading and Walking. I stole this idea from Booktuber Jen Campbell. She filmed herself listening to an audiobook and walking around London. Along the way, she stopped to tell YouTube about the book and about London. I thought I’d try to replicate this in blog form. I can’t show you London because it’s 4,683 miles (I Googled it) away from where I live, so you’ll have to be content with looking at the frozen, desolate middle-of-nowhere that I call home:

Snow, cattails, and cottonwood trees. Those are your only choices of things to look at.

The book I chose to listen to is King of the Wind: The Story of the Godolphin Arabian by Marguerite Henry. I chose it because it’s a Newbery winner (from 1949), and because the audiobook is 3 hours, 19 minutes. I knew I could walk for that long. I’d be able to listen to the whole thing in one afternoon. 

King of the Wind: The Story of the Godolphin Arabian by Marguerite Henry

Genre: Middlegrade historical fiction

Pages: 176 (3hr 19min audiobook)

Publication date: 1948

Content warning: Slavery, animal abuse, homelessness, jail

He was named “Sham” for the sun, this golden red stallion born in the Sultan of Morocco’s stone stables. Upon his heel was a small white spot, the symbol of speed. But on his chest was the symbol of misfortune. Although he was as swift as the desert winds, Sham’s proud pedigree would be scorned all his life by cruel masters and owners.

This is the classic story of Sham and his friend, the stable boy Agba. Their adventures take them from the sands of the Sahara to the royal courts of France and, finally, to the green pastures and stately homes of England. For Sham was the renowned “Godolphin Arabian” whose blood flows through the veins of almost every superior Thoroughbred. Sham’s speed–like his story–has become legendary.

While listening, I walked north on the Cherry Creek Regional Trail. It was pretty dead out there. Probably because it was muddy, snowy, icy, and around 50°F (10°C). I lost count of how many times I almost slipped and broke my ass because my genius self wore running shoes instead of hiking boots. There weren’t many animals around. I saw crows, geese, and hawks. The tracks in the snow all belonged to humans, dogs, rabbits, and squirrels.

King of the Wind was probably an odd book choice because the first half of it takes place in sunny Morocco. The audiobook even has Moroccan music that plays at the beginning of each chapter. The main character, Agba, is a mute slave boy who works in the Sultan’s stables. Agba seems to have an easier time connecting to animals than to humans. He especially loves a small, feisty horse named Sham. The Sultan decides to gift Sham and Agba to King Louis XV of France, and that’s where things get tricky. Compared to the European horses, Sham looks sick and scrawny. King Louis doesn’t want him. As Sham is passed from owner to owner, Agba does everything he can to protect him and find him good homes.

The structure of this novel reminds me of Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty. Sham is constantly being passed around to new owners. Some of them are cruel and some are kind. Some accept Agba and others want nothing to do with him.

There are many child-appropriate themes in this book. It’s a story about kindness. Agba empathizes with animals and protects them when they can’t protect themselves. Many of the characters speak up when they see something wrong. One of the most powerful scenes in the book is when a man sees Sham being abused and offers to buy him, even though Sham is near death. This story is also about luck and how it doesn’t last forever. Just because life is bad (or good) right now doesn’t mean it’ll always be that way.

The author blends fact and fiction. Agba is a product of the author’s imagination, but The Godolphin Arabian was a real horse that lived from 1724-1753. He was a gift to King Louis XV, who promptly sold him as a cart horse. Today, the ancestry of most thoroughbreds in North America can be traced to The Godolphin Arabian.

These are rabbit tracks, I swear. 😏

Squirrel tracks.

Human tracks (including me-tracks).

King of the Wind is a short, sweet novel, but I have a few issues with it. First, many of the plot events rely entirely on coincidence. Second, the structure gets a bit tedious. Sham is passed from owner, to owner, to owner, to owner. You learn in the first chapter that Sham will become a world-famous father of race horses. Eventually, I got impatient with the journey. Just get to the race part!

My biggest issue is with the lack of character development. Agba doesn’t have much personality or backstory. All you learn about him is that he’s a mute Moroccan slave boy who loves animals. The book takes place over years. Agba’s body changes as he becomes a teenager, but his character doesn’t evolve at all.

This sign is NOT fake news.

An icy hill where I did NOT fall on my butt.

 

Listening to this audiobook was a great way of keeping myself entertained while walking. The audio narrator, David McCallum, has a nice accent and a pleasant voice. I didn’t mind listening to him for 3+ straight hours.

Overall, this isn’t one of my favorite Newbery winners, but I probably would have loved this book as a horse-crazy child.

In 3 hours and 19 minutes, I walked about 7 miles (11 kilometers). Hopefully I also burned a few calories. I was pretty successful at not getting distracted. I only had to rewind the book twice because I accidentally stopped paying attention to it. I’m going to do this again next month, which means it’s time to search my library’s catalog for short audiobooks.

Cherry Creek.

A frozen pond.

There are tiny black dots in this field. Those are kids playing Frisbee.

A crow.

Noisy sky beast. If you like peace and quiet, don't live near an Air Force base.

Not a real coyote. A fake coyote on a soccer field. It's meant to discourage real coyotes from snacking on the soccer players.

Do you listen to audiobooks? What do you do while listening to them?