Three Little Horses, written & illustrated by Piet Worm (1958).
This happens to be a rather strange little tale. It begins with a message to the reader from the author - Mr. Worm. When I first saw his picture I thought he seemed a little creepy. The message could also be deemed slightly creepish, but I think it would be kind of cool for modern picture books to begin with a little note from the author along with his/her picture (if said notes were not borderline creep-masterly).
The story is about a trio of horses (you probably guessed as much) - Blackie, Brownie and Whitey. In the picture below you see that they are wearing their "thinking caps". These hats are being put to use because they want to think of something exciting to do.
They decide to jump over a chair randomly sitting in their field. After that ever-so-exciting activity, a tree in their vicinity starts to laugh. It's laughing because it isn't really a tree - it's an artist named Peter wearing a tree suit so he can stare at the horses without scaring them away.
He tells them "there is nothing to be afraid of", but I'd be freaked out too! After all, the horses just discovered they were been peeping-Tom-ed by a guy camouflaged in a tree costume. That's terrifying.
The horses aren't quite as skeptical as I am however, because after "speaking softly" to them and then "stroking them" they "understood that he was their friend". Charming, I'm sure.
Peter tells them - "We shall have such good times together, you'll see. And I shall not let any harm come to you".
Soon they notice (for the first time, apparently) that there's a town on the other side of their hill.
The horses decide that visiting the town would be much more exciting than jumping over a chair and hanging around on the hill with a creepy man with a tree suit and horse fetish. At first Peter supports the idea, but then he remembers! There's a butcher shop in town that sells horse meat! They can't just stroll down there without risking their lives!
He decides that they'll have to wear costumes to visit the town and make it out alive. So (using his obviously amazing artistic skills) he dresses them up as princesses. It's a terrifying sight to behold.
They do a little hind-leg-walking practice, Peter dresses up as a "gentleman-in-waiting" and they head off to town.
Once they reach the town drama ensues because three actual princesses were supposed to arrive that day. The horses pretend to be the actual princesses (obviously).
They have a parade in honor of the visit by the three "royals" but the happiness does not last long: eventually the horses are exposed for being horses and they're tossed in a jail cell with their pal Peter.
The mask lying on the floor? Scary.
Eventually the real princesses find out about the horses & demand that they be released. After they emerge from the jail, they spend some time with the princesses and end up moving to the castle to be the princesses's personal pets.
What about Peter? Well he's left all alone. THE END. What a tale.
I asked my mother whether or not she'd read this book since it came out the year after she was born. She hadn't. Her response - "I'm glad he's alone at the end of the book - he's a pervert. Peter the pervert".
My family does not trust his motives.
