But no doubt an artificial elephant is more easily to be fabricated
than an artificial horse. We do not encounter real elephants at every
turn with which to compare the counterfeit. The animal is of bulky
proportions and somewhat ungainly movements. With a frame of
wicker-work and a hide of painted canvas, the creature can be fairly
represented. But a horse is a different matter. Horses abound,
however, and have proved themselves, time out of mind, apt pupils.
They can readily be trained and taught to perform all kinds of feats
and antics. So the skill of the property-maker is not taxed. He stands
on one side, and permits the real horse to enter upon the mimic scene.
When Don Adriano de Armado, the fantastical Spaniard of "Love's
Labour's Lost," admits that he is "ill at reckoning," and cannot tell
"how many is one thrice told," his page Moth observes "how easy it is
to put years to the word three, and study three years in two words,
the dancing horse will tell you." This is without doubt an allusion to
a horse called Marocco, trained by its master, one Banks, a Scotchman,
to perform various strange tricks.
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