Reddish wooden pendant with a horse carved.
The horse is a very special symbol in the Orient and has many stories connected to it.
Power, beauty, and freedom symbolize the horse in the Chinese culture.
The story is told of a time in China, a long time ago, when men were liable to be conscripted into military service, and sent to serve far away and often not return home for years, if ever. A girl's father was forced into the army and sent off, far away. Missing her father very much, she then promised the family horse that she would marry him, if he went and found her father, and brought him back home. Surprisingly enough, the horse ran off, and eventually returned with the father, who, horrified at the idea of his daughter marrying a horse, killed it. The skin was then hung up in the courtyard to dry for tanning. However, one day, when the daughter was out playing, the wind blew, the horsehide flew, wrapped around the daughter, and off they disappeared. After days of searching for his daughter in the horsehide, eventually her father found that she had been transformed into a silkworm in a mulberry tree. This was the origin, it was told, of goddess Horse-Head Lady.
Dim: 4,5X3,5cm