“A Horse with Wings” tells of how a young boy named Charles wants a pony, but when he kicks his football through the window on the back verandah, he saves his parents the trouble of punishing him by putting himself to bed without any supper. As he drifts off to sleep, a winged horse visits him, Pegasus, who assumes the authoritative voice of an adult, advising that “People do not believe the stories about the ancient Greek gods nowadays, which is rather a shame, because many of the tales were rather beautiful. However, they were only imagination, and should not have been a religion. Your religion, Charles, is based on truth, and that is the true religion” (p. 35).

Pegasus explains that his task was to bring poetic inspiration to great poets, started in the spring Hippocrene on Mount Helicon. Amongst the “great thoughts” and “noble ideas” inspired by this source were the tenets to speak the truth, be honest and to honour and love your parents. For they are “sacrificing a lot, and you owe them a lot in return” (ibid).

Pegasus delivers further advice regarding attitudes at school: “to work hard and help others weaker than yourself”. As well, “lots of New Australian boys and girls are going to your schools nowadays. They have a difficult time in a strange country with a strange language” (ibid). Helping them would be a “noble thing”. Pegasus concludes his lesson suggesting that Charles be a team player, “guided by great and noble thoughts, you will share my task, providing an inspiration for others”.

“A Horse with Wings” is included in an anthology of didactic stories, the common theme of which is children being punished for their accidents and misdemeanours, but whose dreams and wishes are intended to teach them a lesson. The central person of these stories is always “a normal Australian girl or boy”. As a “call to the people of Australia”, the anthology is heavily didactic and prescriptive with regards to cultural homogeneity. The values that Pegasus imparts in this story percolate through the stories, from which “long words are kept out”, but all of which have happy endings. 

Each story ends similarly, directed at the reader, for example “Now wasn’t that a strange adventure, girls and boys, how would YOU like to have been Charles” (p. 36). 

The inclusion of Pegasus in this anthology of children’s short stories shows the influence of Greek myth and literature on simple tales. It reinforces the role of Greek myths as emanating from a civilisation whose language and thought influence the cultural and literary construction of the child reader. The mythical Pegasus is distilled to a character whose rational teachings deliver a “common sense” lesson. 

Intended as bedtime reading or classroom study, the message is that Charles’s religion, by implication Christianity, is “based on truth, and that is the true religion”, that the beautiful stories of the ancient Greek gods are merely a pagan fantasy. Pegasus as a character from ancient Greek mythology appears in the space vacated by adults, in the supernatural space of a child’s dream. In this story he is gentle and goodhearted, eager to help. 

The winged white horse, Pegasus, is capable of everything, as inspiration for this children’s fantasy. Pegasus is an agent of change, enabling the realisation of children’s dreams and their empowerment. 

The role of the mythical winged horse is not to tell his own story, but as a vehicle of socialisation, to facilitate Charles’s moral code of behaviour.

Published during the second wave of post-War migration, and during the time of White Australia Policy (1901–1966), Pegasus’s reference to the reception of New Australians in the classroom community, aims to dispel prejudice towards migrants, most of whom at the time came from Europe.