The Long Horse
Once, on a Sunday evening, the young people of the village Kassöe near Apenrade wanted to go to Hüdewad in order to dance. But when they reached the stream which was flowing between the two villages, they could not cross it, for it had swollen significantly due to the rain which had fallen recently.
When they looked around, they noticed an old horse which was standing nearby. Then they decided to mount it and use it to ride across the stream. When a couple had climbed up, they noticed that there was still space for one more person. Thus, another person climbed up, and there was space for one further person once again. In this manner, all of them were eventually sitting on the horse.
But when they were in the middle of the stream, one of the people near the front looked back. And when he saw all those many people sitting on the horse, he exclaimed these words out of astonishment: “By the cross of Jesus Christ, what a long mare!”
As soon as he had spoken these words, the back of the spooky horse broke, all of the riders fell into the water, and the horse vanished with a terrible howling. But the frightened young people hurried home, for their desire to dance had left them.
(From Herr Petersen in Soes.)