Hobby horse

The hobby horse that rescued Milo Pine.

A **hobby horse** is a creature that is fabled to protect carolers during the Raw Nights. The Waits bring hobby horse skulls with them when caroling.

## History

### *Ghosts of Greenglass House*

The previous time the Waits visited Greenglass House, Milo had been so unnerved by the hobby horse that he had run away screaming, and had nightmares afterward. Milo steeled himself for the hobby horse, and saw it, walking in front of the Waits, being led by one of them. Mrs. Pine noted that while the group of Waits was different each year, they always had a hobby horse and a chimney sweep. Emmett was skeptical that the hobby horse was good luck, and Milo agreed, thinking that it deserved a creepier name.

When one of the carolers, Mrs. Kirkegrim, had her hood catch fire, the one leading the hobby horse moved it to the side to prevent its shroud from catching. The hobby horse looked at one of the other carolers, Lucky, as the scene spiraled into chaos. Milo then, despite the hobby horse, invited the Waits in. When Mrs. Kirkegrim went first, from within the hobby horse, an arm emerged and a girl's voice shouted for her to be stopped. Milo then, per tradition, gave the hobby horse a sugar cube, expecting it to snap, but it chewed delicately instead. The hobby horse thanked Milo with a dip of its head, and its handler, Peter Hakelbarend, left with it, promising to return after 'seeing to the beast'. He then returned without the horse, and with a girl, Marzana, who seemed too small to have been in the horse, but must have been the one.

The Waits discussed previous caroling trips, noting that a band always had someone in the role of the hobby horse. Milo thought the hobby horse mystical, and Marzana noted that they hadn't brought it inside because of this. Lucky told Milo about different hobby horse skulls, saying that there were five accounted for in Nagspeake. Lucky noted that the hobby horses were said to protect carolers during the Raw Nights, so each band of Waits had a hobby horse with them to protect them for the uncanny things that were said to arise during that period. She and Mr. Hakelbarend discussed the different old hobby horses, most of which looked odd and some not like horses at all. The hobby horses were buried between Raw Nights, Lucky said, each in different places in the Liberty, and she listed where they were. Lucky said that she understood the hobby horse to have come from England or Wales, though some disagreed. Nobody knew where the skulls came from, who made them, why they were buried, and even how many there were, and Milo agreed that this was quite mysterious.

**Young Lucky**: You don't look like a horse. You look like a pair of antlers on the wrong head.

**Hobby horse skull**: That's because I'm not a horse. I'm a *hobby* horse.

— Lucky telling a story, *Ghosts of Greenglass House*, pg. 332 |  | ”

Marzana suggested that Lucky tell the story of one of the hobby horses, and Lucky knew Marzana meant the one she'd told Marzana when Marzana had been invited. Lucky did, telling of how she, when younger, had been playing hide-and-seek and found her way into an abandoned bookshop. There on the hearth, Lucky had discovered a skull, which she cleaned and conversed with, it explaining patiently to her that it was a hobby horse. It thanked her for finding it, and asked what time of year it was, and was disappointed to be told it was summer. The hobby horse explained that it used to be taken caroling with the Waits in December, and needed to find the Waits. Lucky, however, did not know the Waits, but promised to find them. The hobby horse suggested that she come visit him, and Lucky did, every weekend. Lucky told the skull what had happened and whether she'd found anything about the Waits, and the skull listened and made Lucky feel better. Lucky cleaned it every weekend when she came and set it on the counter, but every time she came back she found it buried in the ashes again. Lucky still had not found the Waits by November, and she suggested that they look together, assuring it that it was okay. Lucky tied the hobby horse to her head, as it was the best way for it to be carried, and put a candle in its mouth to light their way. Lucky sang to relax the hobby horse, to remind it of being with the Waits, and eventually word spread of Lucky and a group of carolers with a hobby horse, and the hobby horse made a delighted noise to confirm that these were indeed the Waits. Lucky promised to return, and did, coming every year to take it caroling with the Waits, and visiting other times too.

Lucky then, having finished her story, said that while it was odd, she did remember the skull talking. She noted that this would not be the strangest thing that was said about hobby horses, however, including stories of hobby horses wandering around on their own and of carolers playing the hobby horse finding themselves with a different band of Waits than they'd started with. She said that only a few people knew where one hobby horse skull is buried, just because the information is not shared often.

When Milo went outside to recover a part of Georgie and Clem's haul which had been stolen, he found where Marzana and Mr. Hakelbarend had put the hobby horse skull, in one outbuilding, but saw only the shrouds and not the skull itself, and he presumed that they had buried it. Milo, recalling Lucky's story, began to sing *The Holly and the Ivy*. Milo later, when Mr. Vinge and Gilawfer were pointing guns at him to get him to hand over the derrotero, saw a bright gleam and something pale, and he realized he knew what it was. Milo recalled the stories and wondered if they were true, ad began to sing *The Holly and the Ivy* again. He heard an animal snort, and everyone turned, to see a golden antlered horse arriving. The horse passed right through the trees and casually approached the group, and Milo wondered if this was the 'pale deer' Meddy had seen from the roof the previous night. The hobby horse stopped in front of Milo and lowered its head, sniffing at Milo's nose, and Milo said 'hi' to it. When Mr. Vinge lunged at Milo, the hobby horse jumped between them and knocked the gun out of Mr. Vinge's hand with a hoof. The hobby horse's hide came off its face, and Mr. Vinge screamed at the creepy skull it revealed. The hobby horse moved Gilawfer closer to Mr. Vinge, then herded them through the woods, and each time they tried to run away it appeared in front of them and herded them back with its antlers. The rest of the hobby horse's hide then melted away, revealing bells, ribbons, and candles in its skeleton as it chased them to the road. The hobby horse then disappeared.

Milo recounted this, saying that it had been a ghost hobby horse that had saved him, and explaining that he thought he'd called it after seeing most of the parts of it and then singing *The Holly and the Ivy*. He said that it had herded away Mr. Vinge and Gilawfer, and had then gone. Sylvester later offered to help Lucky carry back the hobby horse stuff. As they left, Milo wondered if the hobby horse would still be in the outbuilding.

## Physical characteristics

Some of the hobby horse skulls look very odd, and not like horse skulls at all. All are very old. When a hobby horse skull is with a band of Waits, it wears shrouds and has candles in the eye sockets. To Milo, it appears ghostly.

The one Lucky found was originally gilded, but most had come off, although the antlers were still golden. When a hobby horse skull came with the Waits to Greenglass House, it looked 'ghostly' to Milo. The skull was grinning, and had stag's antlers on its head, and ribbons hanging from the antlers and skull's jaw, in addition to the traditional shrouds and candles. When the hobby horse arrives to save Milo, it is a palomino horse with massive antlers and golden fur to match. It cut right through the trees and seemed casual. When approaching Mr. Vinge, the hide covering its face came off, as if it had been only a shroud, and left a skull with ribbons, bells, and candle wax dripping from its eye sockets. The rest of the hide later came off, seeming as if it had only been spiderwebs or moonlight, and showed its skeleton with ribbons, bells, and candles on it.

One skull looks like petrified wood, and has blackbuck horns that are big ridged corkscrews. It is weirdly heavy and it is he wrong color.

Another hobby horse skull they think is a chunk of whalebone shaped to look like a horse skull. It seems to resemble a horse, but as if made by someone who'd never seen a horse before. It has one oryx horn that is four feet long and curves backward, is carved all over with scrimshaw, and was once red.

A different hobby horse skull is a horse's skull, but has two curvy horns like a ram's and has webs in the horns' curves.

## Gallery

**Take a look at our **gallery for Hobby horse****.