I knew this one in Dutch, but slightly different; in English, it works quite well like this. I'm not sure how well-known this one is, as I heard it before, but don't come across it a lot. A man had to cross a mountain range to visit his friend in the nearby village, however he was poor and couldn't afford a good horse. A man who sold horses felt sympathy for him, and offered to sell him a very fast horse for a price he could afford. "Here's the thing," the man said. "This horse is very peculiar. He will only respond to very specific commands. He will only start running if you say "Praise the Lord" and he will only stop if you say "Lord, please have mercy on me". The man in need of a horse thought this was odd, but bought the horse and rode it, confident he could remember the commands. He said, "Praise the Lord" and the horse took off running. The horse was indeed very fast, and the man knew he made the right decision. However, when they were high in the mountains, the horse took off running towards the edge of a cliff! "Stop! Stop!" the man yelled. He had forgotten the secret words to make the horse stop. Finally, when the man was resigned to his fate, he begged "Lord, please have mercy on me!" The horse heard the command and came to a screeching halt right at the edge of the cliff. The man was so happy, he yelled "Praise the Lord!"
