The Black Stallion Chapter Summary

Walter Farley began writing his novel, The Black Stallion, when he was in high school. He finished it years later and then had it published while he was attending college. The novel was an instant hit and many adults have read this book as a child. However, I had never gotten a chance to read The Black Stallion so this book report finally provided me with the perfect opportunity to do so.
Chapter one introduces Alexander Ramsey, the main character, aboard a ship named Drake. Alexander is returning home to New York for school after visiting the jungles of India to help his uncle with the missionary he is a member of. One of the days on the trip the ship stops in an Arabian port and Alec is intrigued so he remains on deck to see what the reason for the

stop is.

He soon realizes that the boarding of a wild stallion upon the Drake causes the excitement in the air. With much struggle, the stallion is placed in a makeshift stall within the ship and it causes quite a ruckus as its hooves crack against the wood and its whistle pierces the air. Alec has an immense love for horses and one night he gets a chance to visit the stallion up close. He witnesses the horse with its head out the window of the stall staring at the expanse of the ocean, but once it sees him it whistles once more and retreats into the darkness. The boy leaves a sugar cube on the windowsill for the stallion and then returns to his cabin for the night. Each night after, Alec continues to leave a sugar cube for the horse to eat once he has retreated to his cabin for the night.
Alec proceeds to leave sugar cubes throughout the next chapter, but one night strikes him differently than

the others have. When he approaches the stallion, it whistles at him and then continues to look out upon the sea rather than withdrawing back into the stall. The boy gathers up his courage and approaches the horse and leaves the sugar cube on the windowsill and then returns to his cabin for the night. Hours later, Alec is wrenched from sleep when he is thrown from his bed and onto the floor, soon discovering that the ship is being tossed about by a terrible storm. He runs to the deck as he puts on his life jacket and after a few seconds a large crack knocks him out and he awakes once more to find that the boat is cracked in half and taking on water. The other people aboard the ship are filling the lifeboats so he goes in line to wait for one. While he is waiting, he remembers the horse and decides to risk his life by releasing it from the stall and giving it a chance to live. Once he opens the door, the horse leaps out at him and he is thrown into the water. Fighting the waves, he manages to find the rope that is attached to the horse and realizes that his only chance at survival is by grasping it and holding on as the horse drags him. The night passes to day and Alec sees an island in the distance and realizes that he was right to decide to trust the instincts of this wild stallion. The horse reaches the beach and Alec is dragged along until he cuts the rope with the knife his uncle had given him and then he remains sprawled on the beach. The chapter ends as Alec drifts off to sleep and the horse is galloping away from him along the beach.
It is an excellent example of a human and animal relationship in the second chapter when the wild stallion does not immediately retreat to its stall, and instead only whistles at Alec. That whistle signals to Alec that he is not immediately seen as a threat by this horse and in fact, the stallion may be beginning to trust him.
Alec awakes in the third chapter to an incredibly dry throat and decides that his only option is to follow the horse’s hoof prints in the hope that it has found water. While doing so he is able to explore the island and finds that it is rather bare with only a few trees and bushes spotting it. The hoof prints lead him to a stream and Alec realizes that he has to worry about the possibility of the horse attacking him now that it is out in the open rather than in the stall. As he emerges from the bushes, the horse sees him and immediately charges at him, but Alec stands his ground because he desperately needs the water from the stream. The face-off results in Alec quenching his parched throat and now his rumbling stomach tells him that he needs food and his skin requires a shelter from the scorching sun. He finds some berries among the scattered bushes and then returns to the beach to see if he cannot find some driftwood. Sadly, he finds wood that he recognizes to be pieces of the lifeboats from the Drake. He uses the wood to fashion himself a weak shelter and the work has made him hungry again. With the knife his uncle had given him, he constructs a spear and proceeds to go fishing in the ocean. Alec’s luck is low and after many attempts he does not catch any fish. However, he manages to finally spear a few, but the struggle to catch the fish leaves him with the realization that they will not be able to provide him with the food he needs. He goes exploring on the island again and discovers patches of moss off a cliff that he believes to be the same edible variety that his teacher in school had taught him about. The chapter closes with the moss ending up being a food source for both Alec and the horse.
Alec is extremely proud of himself for finding food that can satiate the hunger that he feels and that he assumes the horse must feel. The two are also developing a system of avoidance, allowing one to drink from the water as the other watches from a distance and switching back and forth.
One day, Alec goes to the edge of the cliff to retrieve more moss for him and the horse to eat when suddenly the stallion stampedes toward him. He later finds out that the horse had seen and killed a poisonous snake that was near him. Also, the system of avoidance has stopped because Alec wants to ride the wild stallion. His first few attempts result with him being bucked off of the horse because it has never been ridden, but the third time the horse allows him to mount and then takes him on a wild ride. Alec has never seen or even ridden a horse that can run as fast as this one can and he is simply amazed. As the days pass, the boy and the stallion grow together as rider and horse and an ease of riding develops between them. As Alec lies to rest one night, his shelter catches fire because he did not adequately put out the embers from his fire pit and the stallion wakes him with a shrill whistle. He runs out of his shelter, but he is unable to squelch the flames and is forced to watch as his shelter is diminished to ashes. He then walks to the beach in hopes that there may be some driftwood to help him construct a new shelter and is instead shocked when he hears voices on the beach. As he peers down the beach, Alec sees and hears a group of Irish men that have found him and the stallion because of the smoke that his burning shelter had sent up to the sky.
The horse has a sense of protection for Alec when it kills the snake that could have poisoned him. The fact that the horse wanted Alec to remain alive on the island with him signals that it does rely on him for food and possibly comfort. The horse also provides a second example when he warns Alec of the fire that takes over his shelter. This relationship is positive because it has become a trade off between protector and provider.
Alec sprints along the beach in chapter five towards the men that are his ticket off of the island. The men welcome the boy, but they are incredibly eager to leave. Alec manages to convince them that they must take the stallion with him because it had saved his life and now it was his turn to save its life. The captain and Alec create a plan where he will be in the rowboat and the stallion will follow swimming. Surprisingly, their plan works and when they reach the boat the stallion needs to be lifted into the air by a band secured around his stomach. However, someone needs to wrap the band around and the only person that can get close enough to the horse is Alec so he leaps in the water and attempts to get the band secured. In the process, he is kicked twice, but he successfully gets the band fastened and returns to the boat as the horse is being lifted into the air. Once back aboard the rowboat, Alec blacks out due to the immense pain from the horse’s kicks and remains that way for a few days. When he awakes, a crewmember recites the crazy tale of how the horse lashed out once he was aboard the ship. Unfortunately, the horse had kicked a boy that had gotten too close and it was necessary to choke it until it was nearly unconscious so that it could be moved below deck safely. The crewmember takes Alec’s address so he can send a wire to his parents that Alec is safe and being sent to a port in Rio de Janeiro and then he tells the boy to rest once more.
Chapter five shows how trust has developed between the horse and the boy. The boy trusts that the horse will follow him into the water and the horse trusts that the boy is trying to get him to safety. This relationship on the island shows how the bond between an animal and human can develop when times are stressed in order to help each other survive.
A few days pass until Alec manages to get out of bed to see his horse and when he reaches the stallion, it is elated to see him. The captain and crewmembers witnessing the spectacle cannot seem to wrap their minds around the connection that the boy and the horse have. Within five days, the boat lands and Alec’s parents have wired him money to pay for fare back to New York. Unfortunately, it is enough to get him and the stallion home, but not to pay the captain for rescuing him. However, the captain tells the boy that he requires no compensation and they proceed to see him off as he boards the ship heading to his home. On board, Alec runs into some trouble with his stallion when the horse senses another stallion is within range. After a few tense moments, the other horse breaks loose and comes running and Alec is forced to let the two horses fight unless he wants to be hurt. The gruesome battle leaves the black stallion triumphant and the other horse lying on the deck of the ship. The stallion proceeds to flaunt his dominance with the other horses on the ship, but Alec eventually coaxes him to his stall where his wounds can be tended.
The novel describes the relationship between Alec and the wild stallion in the eyes of the captain and the crew as “something too much for them to understand” (48). The companionship that the boy and the horse have developed is a perfect example of something that results when an animal is domesticated.
As Alec tends to the horse’s wounds in chapter seven, the boat sets off to sea. He soon discovers that he will not be able to leave the stallion’s stall as he kicked out a plank of wood before the boy could even make it up the stairs to his cabin. The boat faces rough waters for many days and Alec fights the sickness, but eventually succumbs to the feeling. However, the stallion remains strong and does not get sick even as the rest of the horses and crewmates have. Many days later, the ship makes it to quarantine in New York’s harbor where everything is inspected before being allowed on land. When the inspectors board the ship, Alec worries that he will not be able to bring the stallion to land because he does not have any papers to verify that it is his so he leaves the stall in search of the inspector in charge. While he is gone, one of the other inspectors tries to get into the black’s stall and is quickly taken down by the stallion’s hard hooves. Worried, Alec races over to discover that the inspector is okay and the disruption has caused the officer in charge to race over to the stall. When Alec explains his situation, the officer tells him that he has heard his story and the horse has been permitted to enter the country with him. Once the boat reaches the dock, the other horses are unloaded first to avoid any mishaps with the stallion. Soon it is the stallion’s turn and when he reaches the outside, he rears, nearly killing Alec in the process of landing, and races back into the ship. A uniformed officer follows Alec and advises him to wrap the sweater around the horse’s eyes to calm him down and the advice works successfully. On the dock, the boy and his family are reunited and Alec musters up the courage to tell his father that the horse is his and he has a plan for how to take care of it. His father consents to his plan, but tells the boy that he is completely responsible for the horse. A reporter approaches the group and requests to hear the story of the boy’s journey and offers to pay for a trailer to bring the family home in exchange.