The Runaway

Vermont countryside, 1922. In voice-over, a poet sets the stage for the settling in of winter on a mountain pasture. Then a little Morgan colt becomes startled and seeks shelter near the mountain wall. He even attempts to run away from the falling snow, not knowing that it will follow wherever he goes. A father and son, on their evening walk, stop to observe the animal; they understand that the colt needs his mother, for he does not realize he will survive the snow and that winter does not last forever, anyway. The father and son leave the young horse to his own devices as they return home, where the boy’s mother awaits them. In voice-over, the poet promises that winter will pass, spring will come, and life will return—or, like the colt, persist.