The King's Horse

There is a ancient story of a man named Aidan of Lindisfarne, an Irish monk in the seventh century. Aidan fiercely championed the socially disenfranchised, including children and slaves. It is said of him that he served the king's court so unselfishly that the king wished to reward him with one of his royal horses. Aidan refused it for he was loathe to serve his neighbour from the elevated position of a horse's back. He warned the king that he would only give it away. The king insisted, and Aidan did indeed give away the king's horse. The first peasant farmer he met walked on with a fine new horse.