Fanny Howe on Annie Swynnerton Miss Elizabeth Williamson on a Pony 1906

A little story

I have a friend named Bingo. She had an English country childhood and belonged to a pony club. She still lives in England and belongs to a pony club. Now she and the octogenarians gather at a farm once a year and ride ponies in circles and out into the woods. Sometimes they only walk beside a pony holding its reins so it won’t bolt. Not Bingo. She stands on a wobbly blue chair to mount the pony, then falls into

the saddle and gallops away laughing.

She carries a basket to shop on Primrose Hill and sticks a carrot, a sugar lump, and an apple into the basket just in case a police horse clops by. She has the same cheerful face she had as a girl. At home in her flat she welcomes friends at any time of day and provides them with salted fish and crackers, cheese, strawberries and a tipple of wine. The metallic clouds (of war) pass unnoticed overhead.

The meadow might tremble the way it did when the god Pluto arose out of Hades and grabbed Persephone and took her down with him. I bet Persephone was laughing and warm all over from the sun’s heat on the buttercups. In her kitchen chair Bingo seems to fly out the window while looking at us all looking at her. Bingo learned a lot from that pony. Long live hilarity!

^{Miss Elizabeth Williamson on a Pony was presented by F. Howard in 1939.}

^{Fanny Howe is the author of more than 20 books of poetry and prose.}

^{To read more of our special feature celebrating Tate Britain's rehang, visit www.tate.org.uk/tate-etc/issue-58-summer-2023/alex-farquharson-tate-britain-the-state-were-in}