1. What are some similarities and differences between this horse story and others you have read? Do you have to be interested in horses to enjoy this story?

2. The Sultan looks like a camel to Agba. Does this view make Agba more or less fearful of him? Why?

3. Why is the ship's captain a bad man? How does he hurt Agba and Sham, and what later hardships does his cruelty cause for them?

4. Compare Signor Achmet to Titus Twickerham, both heads of stables.

Which one do you think is a better judge of horses? How does each treat Agba and horses, especially Sham?

5. What opposite ideas or values do the wheat ear and the white spot, both markings on Sham's coat, suggest?

Which symbol do you think dominates his life? Why?

6. A superstition is an assumption not based on fact but on an unproven belief...