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Today’s Answers
Five bookish questions with a horsey theme.
One
In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, a horse bears Éowyn and a Hobbit alongside the riders of Rohan toward combat on the Pelennor Fields. Which horse and which Hobbit?
Answers: Windfola; Meriadoc ‘Merry’ Brandybuck.
Éowyn adopts a male disguise and, as Dernhelm, rides with the Riders of Rohan towards the battle on the Pelennor Fields outside Minas Tirith in Gondor. She travels on Windfola while carrying the hobbit Merry Brandybuck, who had also been told to stay behind.
Two
One of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse rides a horse called Binky: Who and where would you find this character and Binky?
Answers: Death; Discworld novels.
Death is a fictional character Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, who parodies various European depictions of the Grim Reaper. Typically portrayed as a black-robed skeleton, he wields a scythe and occasionally a sword for dispatching royalty. While his jurisdiction is limited to the Discworld, he serves as a minion to Azrael, the universal Death of all things—similar to how the Death of Rats is just a tiny fragment of Death himself.
Three
One evening Ichabod Crane borrows a horse to attend a quilting frolic, a social gathering at the Van Tassel farm. What is the name of this borrowed horse, and in what story does it feature?
Answers: Gunpowder; The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is an 1820 short story by American author Washington Irving, written while he was living in Birmingham, England. First published in his collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., it remains one of his most popular works and among the earliest examples of American fiction with enduring appeal. Alongside Rip Van Winkle, the success of The Sketch Book established Irving’s career, providing the financial means to support himself as a professional writer.
Four
What is the name of the horse whose experiences are recounted in the novel War Horse, and who wrote the novel?
Answers: Joey; Michael Morpurgo.
War Horse, a 1982 British war novel by Michael Morpurgo. It follows the story of Joey, a horse serving in World War I, and his previous owner, 15-year-old Albert, who tries to bring him home. The book inspired a 2007 play and a 2011 film by Steven Spielberg, and led to a 1997 sequel titled Farm Boy.
Five
The 1933 novel by Felix Salten Florian: The Emperor’s Stallion is about the life of Florian. Which breed of horse is Florian, and which dying empire provides the historical background?
Answers: Lipizzan (Lipizzaner); Habsburg.
Florian: The Emperor’s Stallion, a 1933 novel by Austrian writer Felix Salten. The story follows a Lipizzan horse in Vienna during the decline of the Habsburg monarchy from 1901 to 1930, and it was adapted into a film in 1940.
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