The Singing Scoutmaster: Horse And His Cowboy, The

There once was a horse back in the days of the Wild Wild West. And this horse had a cowboy. And this horse and this cowboy did everything together. They are together, they camped together, and they traveled across the country to the Wild West together, searching for gold and adventure. They herded cows together, they even did a little bounty work together. The horse was there when the cowboy took a wife, and he was there for the birth of the cowboy's son.

And any time the cowboy seemed to get down or depressed, he would make a stop at the olde saloon. He's go in sad, and come out happy. It wasn't very often that the horse would take the cowboy to the saloon, mind you. Maybe twice a month- the cowboy wasn't an alcoholic.

Then, one day after many years of traveling together, the cowboy took the horse to their home and put the horse in the barn. However, the next morning, he didn't see the cowboy. Nor the morning after that. In fact, it was 5 days before the horse saw his cowboy.

It turned out that the cowboy's son had fallen ill. Deathly ill. And when the horse finally did see his cowboy, he was carrying the body of his dead son. The horse took the cowboy to bury his son on a beautiful hilltop. After the son was buried, the horse could tell the cowboy was still disheartened. So he took the cowboy to the saloon. He went in sad, and he came out a little happier.

Now, the cowboy seemed to visit the saloon more frequently. At least once a week, if not the occasional extra visit. Two months passed when the cowboy took the horse home again, put him in the barn, and went into his home. Only he didn't come out again, for another 5 days. It turned out the cowboy's wife had passed away. Some say she died of a broken heart, others say she committed suicide. Either way, when the horse next saw his cowboy, he was carrying the body of his dead wife.

The horse took the cowboy to bury his wife next to his dead son on the beautiful hillside. Two tombstones, one for the son of cowboy and now for the wife of cowboy. And the cowboy was terribly distraught. So, the horse took the cowboy to the old saloon, where he'd go in sad, and come out a little less so.

The trips to the saloon became more and more frequent. Every day, at least. Often two or three times a day. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the saloon. Until one evening, the cowboy walked into the saloon… but he didn't come out. Not until the next morning when a couple of men carried the cowboy out of the saloon. The cowboy was dead. He drunk himself to death over the sadness he felt having lost his wife and son.

And so now, the horse was all alone in the Wild West. No family to love him, now cowboy to care for him. And this made the horse terribly depressed. But the horse remembered that any time the cowboy was sad, he'd go into the saloon and come out at least a little bit happier. So, the horse decided he would go into the saloon himself. Maybe he could come out feeling happier.

So one day, the horse gathered his courage and pushed open the swinging doors to the saloon. The piano music stopped and all the patrons put down their drinks and playing cards and they stared silently at this melancholy horse who had just entered their establishment. There was a pathway leading from the front door, between some tables, to the longest table that the horse had ever seen. And behind the table stood an elderly man wearing an apron and cleaning a glass mug. The horse swallowed his anxiety and approached the man behind the bar. And the bartender looked up at the horse, and he said:

"Why the long face?"