Black Beauty
Classical Stories · No. 98 — A life story told by the horse who lived it.
- Classical Stories
- 36 min
- Ages 15–99
- 6 chapters
About this audiobook
Black Beauty, a handsome, gentle horse, tells the story of his own life. Born in a pleasant meadow and well broken-in by a kind master, he passes, as horses do, from owner to owner and fortune to fortune — some who treat him with care and respect, and some whose thoughtlessness or cruelty (the tight bearing-rein that hurts his neck, a drunken groom, an overworked cab-horse's grind) bring him low. Along the way he befriends other horses like the spirited, ill-fated Ginger, and learns what a difference a kind word or a cruel hand makes to a creature that cannot speak for itself. Worn down by hard years, Beauty at last finds his way, through luck and the recognition of an old friend, to a peaceful home and gentle owners for the rest of his days — his told-from-the-inside life a quiet plea for kindness to all who serve us and cannot ask for it.
Why it's worth a listen
The whole story is told by a horse — Black Beauty himself — narrating his own life from a happy foalhood through many owners kind and cruel, so that we see the human world entirely from the other end of the reins. Anna Sewell's gentle, groundbreaking classic taught generations of readers to be kind to animals simply by letting one tell its own story.
A question to keep
How should we treat those who can't speak for themselves — and what would they say if they could?
Chapters
- The Meadow and the Bit
- The Stables at Birtwick Park
- The Tightening Rein
- The Streets of London
- The Fair and the Final Turn
- A Question to Keep