Movies - The Red Pony

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	Movies - The Red Pony

The Red Pony is a short 100-page, four chapter story written by John Steinbeck in 1933. The stories in the book are tales of Steinbeck's childhood recounted by a ten-year-old boy named Jody Tiflin. The book has four different stories about Jody and his life on his father's Californian farm. Other main characters include Carl Tiflin - Jody's father; Billy Buck - an expert in horses and a worker on the farm; Mrs. Tiflin - Jody's mother; and Jody's grandfather - Mrs. Tiflin's father and an enthusiastic storyteller. Along with these stories, there is a short story at the end of the book entitled "Junius Maltby."

Lewis Milestone produced and directed a 1949 motion picture of the same name starring Myrna Loy and Robert Mitchum along with child actors Beau Bridges and Nino Tempo.

Chapter 1: The Gift

Carl Tiflin comes home one day and brings back a pony for Jody. Jody is overjoyed and promises to take good care of the pony and train it well. Jody names him Gabilan, named after the great Gabilan Mountains. Billy Buck helps Jody train the horse and gives him pointers on how to care for it. Although the pony is just a colt, Carl tells Jody he will be able to ride the pony by Thanksgiving. One day it starts to rain while the pony is outside and Jody is at school and Carl and Billy are away. Jody rushes home as fast as he can and puts the pony in the stable. But soon Gabilan gets sick. Billy does all he can to heal the horse but the horse shows no sign of healing. The horse escapes through the barn door opened by the wind one day, Jody follows the horse's tracks up a hill. At the top Jody sees buzzards circling around the horse waiting for his death hes rushes down the hill toward the horse as fast as he can but he is to late and Gabilan is already dead.

Chapter 2: The Great Mountains

Jody is wondering about the great western mountains in Monterey County and asks his father what is in the mountains. His father tells him there is more unexplored territory in Monterey County than anywhere in the U.S. Billy is very curious about what is located within those mountains. Billy sees someone coming toward the farm. Joey meets the man at the gate. The old paisano man says he is Gitano and he has come back. Billy tells his mother of the man, and when Mrs. Tiflin greets Gitano, he says that he was born on this land and that he has come to die here. The elder lived in an old adobe home at the start of the great western mountians. Jody's father refuses to let the old man stay at the ranch. He says he does not need anymore men to help and that he does want to spend money on another mouth to feed. Gitano says he has family in Monterey and Carl tells him to go over there. Gitano still wants to reside at the place he was born. Carl lets Guliana stay for one night but then in the morning he says Gitano has to leave. Jody is fascinated by the old paisano man and that the fact that he has been in the great mountains. The next morning, Easter (an old horse) and Gitano are gone. Billy thinks Easter is dead, but Jody sees an old Gitano man and gives the horse a walking up the great mountains.

Chapter 3: The Promise

Billy and Carl decide that since Jody was so good at training Gablian, he might be ready to raise a colt. But, first he must breed the horse that will later give birth to his future colt, Nellie. Carl gives Jody 5 dollars to buy a stallion which will be the father of his colt. So Jody waited and waited for Nellie to show any sign of pregnancy. Jody asks Billy to tell him when Nellie is giving birth and Billy promises he will. Then one night Mrs. Tiflin wakes Jody up and tells him Nellie is giving birth. Jody rushes out to find Billy with Nellie. But something goes wrong and Nellie has a spasm. Billy has to cut the colt out of Nellie. Nellie gives birth to a black foal.

Chapter 4: The Leader of the People

Jody's grandfather comes to the ranch. But Carl does not like his father in-law for the fact that he always tells the same story over and over. However, Jody loves when his grandfather tells his story and he also asks his father to help him kill mice. When Grandfather tells his usual story about his trip out west and the Indians they fought, only Jody pays close attention. But the next morning Carl complains about his father-in-law when grandfather overhears him and wonders if he should tell that story anymore. Jody reassures him that he loves his stories. Grandfather rethinks about him and his wagon train. While he does this, Jody gets his grandfather lemonade.

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