Outdoors at last

The Louvre was interesting. Le petit cheval enjoyed many of the pictures. But he longed for fresh air, for the sights and sounds of Paris, the most beautiful city in the world—or so he had been told by his au pair.

At last the four old travelers decided they had had enough of museums for one day. The little horse galloped ahead of them to the exit. He could hardly wait. But then he was swooped up and put in a leather backpack. At first he could peer over the top, but his little legs grew tired of holding on and he slid to the bottom of the pack. Jet lag had caught up with him at last. As the four old people watched the Eiffel Tower lights shine over Paris, the little horse snored in the bottom of the backpack.

At the Louvre

The Louvre is a famous museum full of wonderful art. The entrance is through a glass pyramid, next to a fountain. The little horse thought about swimming, but the weather was quite chilly, even though it was almost summer.

The little horse was not sure he wanted to spend his time in a museum, but once he got through the security line he began to see what great art was all about. All around him were famous statues and paintings, ones he had seen in books.



As he followed the crowds down a long corridor, his little hooves made a tap-tap-tapping sound on the mosaic floors. He peered through a grated archway into a storage room. It was packed with treasures from other lands and other times, waiting to be put on display.



At the end of a long hallway, up several flights of stairs, he could see one of the most famous statues in the world, Nike of Samothrace. He knew the shoes were named for this statue and he could see that the swoosh was drawn from her wings. The beauty of this statue made him think of his sister, Bel Canto. How she would enjoy touring the Louvre. Bel would probably like traveling with four slow-poke old people. She wouldn’t be impatient to move quickly from one gallery to the next. He was eager to see the paintings by Leonardo DaVinci.

The little horse gave a whinny of impatience. “Mon petit cheval,” said a uniformed guard. “No whinnying in the museum.” And that is how the little horse got his nick-name, Le petit cheval. As-tu vu le petit cheval? (That means, have you seen the little horse?)