Long ago on the sands of a great desert lived a Bedouin chieftan by the name of Ahmed and his tribe. In the tents of Ahmed was his most prized possession, a beautiful grey mare who was renowned throughout the desert as the fleetest and most beautiful horse in the world. Many people coveted the mare, and kings and chieftans had tried to acuire her, but Ahmed could not be persuaded to part with his beloved mare.
Ahmed decided to breed his mare, and searched the desert for a suitable mate for her. After a time, the mare was bred to the premier stallion in the Sultan's stable. Months went by and the time for the mare to foal grew near.
Riding across the desert one day, several miles from his tents, Ahmed was seen by a group of robber Bedouins. Fearing that he would lose his beloved mare as well as his life, Ahmed turned and raced toward his tents, knowing in his heart that the mare, heavy in foal, could never outdistance the bandits. The mare seemed to realize that she was running for her master's life, and slowly, very slowly, she began to gain ground on her pursuers. Shots rang out and bullets peppered the sand around them as the distance gradually widened.
They were almost of rifle range when a at last a shot rang out. A bullet pierved Ahmed's heart, and he fell forward over the neck of his beloved mare. The mare never slackened her stride, and carried her master back to his tents on their last ride together.
Ahmed's people gathered around the mare and removed his lifeless body from her back. Down one of her shoulders his blood had dried a nasty brown in the desert heat. There the mark remained, for no one could remove it.
That night, in the tent of her dead master, the mare foaled. The foal was acclaimed by all as a perfect specimen of the Arabian breed, and on his shoulder was the same rusty mark that his dam bore.
And so it came to pass that every horse descended from that mare carried the mark of the bloody shoulder, and it was a thing greatly prized in the desert.
And God created therefrom an Arabian horse of bay color and addressed it saying, "I have created thee and name thee 'horse'. I have bestowed my blessings upon thee above all other beasts of burden and made thee their master. Success and happiness are bound to thy forlock; boutny reposes upon thy back; riches are with you whereever you may be. And I have endowed thee to fly without wings; you are for pursuit and for flight. And thou shalt carry men who will glorify me, and thou shalt glorify me thereby." and when the horse neighed, God said to it, "I have blessed thee and will affright the pagans with your neighing, and I will fill their ears with it and fill their hearts with great fear from it, and humiliate their necks with the sound of it!"
"A Horse's Prayer"
