The Rocking Horse Winner

Hester was a beautiful woman whose family was important and powerful. But she had no luck. Hester fell in love and got married. But her marriage became dull and empty. She had three beautiful children - a boy and two girls. But she did not love them. Hester pretended that she loved them, but she knew that she did not. Hester's husband travelled to the city each day and worked in an office. But he was not very successful in his job and did not earn much money. Hester did not know how to make money either. They both spent more money than they could earn. So they had serious money problems. Hester and her family lived in a fine house, which had a pleasant garden. Beautiful and expensive things filled the house. The children had all the toys that they wanted. But sometimes it seemed that a voice was whispering in the house. The children could hear the voice all the time. Nobody spoke about it, but the whisper was everywhere. There must be more money! There must be more money! Hester's son was called Paul.

'Mother,' said Paul, 'why don't we have our own car?' 'Because we're the poor members of the family,' she said. 'But why are we poor, mother?' asked Paul.

When Hester replied, her voice was cold, hard and angry. 'Well,' she said slowly, 'it's because your father had no luck.'

'Is luck the same thing as money, mother?'

'No, Paul. Luck brings money. If you're lucky, you have money. That's why it's better to be born lucky than rich. If you're rich, you may lose your money. But if you're lucky, you will always get more money.'

'Oh!' said Paul. 'And is father not lucky?'

'He's very unlucky, I think,' said the mother bitterly.

'Well,' said Paul, 'I'm a lucky person.'

'Excellent!' said Hester, laughing.

Paul saw that his mother did not believe him, and this made him angry. So the boy decided to try and find luck.

Paul had a rocking horse in the nursery, the room where the children played. While his sisters played with their dolls, Paul sat on the big wooden rocking horse and rode it madly. Then he stood in front of it, staring into its face. Its red mouth was slightly open, and its big glass eyes were wide and bright. 'Take me to the place where there is luck!' he said to the horse.