Horse From the Sea

A girl lived with her father in a small, gray, musty cottage by the sea. It sat on a cliff-top overlooking a bay with a narrow strip of sandy beach. The cottage had a garden in front where her father kept a few chickens. In a field was a small flock of her father’s sheep.

The girl went to a little school across the field. She did not have many friends, but she did not care. She felt that the sea and the wind were her friends, and she was sure that sometimes they would call out her name, which was Karen. She grew to know the sea in many ways, and loved it best when the wind came whistling into the bay; when clouds filled the sky, and white horses ran along the waves. White horses were what her father

liked to call the wave caps. Of course she knew there weren’t really horses out there along the waves, but sometimes if she stared long enough she could imagine that she could see the toss of a mane and horses neighing.

One evening when it started to get dark, a strong wind began blowing in from the sea. The girl pressed her face against the window of her room. She could see the waves rising wildly in the bay, and there was a full moon in the sky. “What a night for white horses,” she whispered to herself.

Some hours later, after her father had gone to bed, and the cottage was all darkness, she lay listening to the rushing wind outside. She decided to get up and look out the window again. She paused, for there in the garden stood a horse. His pale body gleamed as if he were wet. As the wind blew against his body, clouds of vapor rose from him, and she saw that he was transparent: for through him the grass was dimly visible. Then she realized that the frothy mane that curled around his neck was foam. He came from the sea.

She crept through the cottage and went out the door. Outside the wind blew her hair and whirled her nightdress. The horse from the sea looked at her with unblinking eyes. The girl walked slowly to him, she stretched out her hand, sure that this must be a dream and she would wake any minute. But her hand touched his wet nose, her fingers passing through his silvery substance. The horse looked at her and blew through his nose. His breath smelled like the fresh sea wind, and it was just as cold. She put her hand through his mane, and foam curled around her fingers.

Without thinking, she climbed on his back. Her body sank softly into him, and that is what kept her. Looking down she could see the grass dimly through his body. The horse turned, the chicken coop door swung open, the chickens peeked out, then scattered back in. The horse leapt over the fence and the sheep ran in fright. The girl laughed, the wind stinging her face, with the horse still beneath her. She had ridden bareback before, but this was different, like something out of a dream.

He ran straight towards the edge of the cliff and leapt to the sea. Her mouth opened in a silent scream, the horse’s foamy mane flew in her face. For one heart pounding moment they jumped through the darkness into the sea. Then the horse landed on the waves. The horse began to run out far on top of the sea.

The girl was still riding him with the sea passing beneath her. The stars were spinning overhead, and the wind was blowing against them. She was not afraid, but she was lost in the moment of excitement. Soon the shore was out of sight.

The wind began to die down, and as it did the horse began to disintegrate into the sea. She cried out in terror, for if the horse disappeared there would be nothing left but her and the cold dark sea. Now, the horse was wading up to his knees as his legs started to dissolve. The girl’s feet were touching the waves. She tried to head back to shore, but she and the horse had lost their strength. She clung to the horse’s neck, it seemed that with every passing moment he was feeling less solid, the shore was still far away. She was beginning to realize what a foolish thing to believe that the sea was her friend, for it was wild and untamable and cared less about living creatures.

A breeze left behind from the wind passed by them, and the horse flung back his head and called out. The breeze spun around them whipping the girl’s hair upwards. The horse began to reform a little, and struck out more strongly towards the shore, but the breeze didn’t have the power of the wind and the shore was still a long ways away.

The girl was now so cold and tired that she had lost track of time, but she still clung to the horse’s neck.

Suddenly she felt sand beneath her feet. With a last desperate effort the horse flung himself on the beach. As the girl scrambled for safety, she looked back and saw the horse’s head silhouetted against the moon, before it curled under a wave and was gone.

Afterwards, the girl could not remember returning to the cottage, and was never sure that the whole thing was a fantastic dream. Whether dream or reality, that night will always remain in her mind.

By Allison

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