Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse Anna Sewell wrote about her novel "Black Beauty" loved by millions of readers: "I made up a small story to wake in people up love and sympathy for animals." "The first place that I can well remember was a large pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water in it. Some shady trees leaned over it, and rushes and water-lilies grew at the deep end. Over the hedge on one side we looked into a plowed field, and on the other we looked over a gate at our master's house, which stood by the roadside; at the top of the meadow was a grove of fir trees, and at the bottom a running brook overhung by a steep bank ..."