Mrs. Mitchin is very rich. She has a big house in the suburbs. There is a laurel tree and a clearing in the yard, which is decorated with iron railings. Mrs. Mitchin likes to set up various organizations and organize various activities. Most of the institutions she established were hospitals, public libraries and civic activity centers. Most of the activities she organized were product promotion, trade fairs, fund-raising and so on. As a matter of fact, she is a social activist and has little time to stay at home. Even at home, her time is used to receive visitors.
"How is your little daughter?" Guests sometimes say to Mrs. Ah Q Ma Jin, "Does she stay at home or go to boarding school?"
"Ah, she stayed at home," Mrs. Mitchin answered. "You know, Esther has her own game room, so that we can not interfere with each other. I don't want adults to always be in charge of children's affairs, do you think? "
Mrs. Mitchin is unwilling to spend money to send little Esther to school. All her money is spent on establishing institutions or organizing social activities. Whenever the organization she founded holds an opening ceremony, she always takes little Esther to attend, because people like to see children on the stage. On this occasion, she always dresses little Esther in beautiful white tulle children's clothes. But at home, little Esther can only wear her shabby brown skirt and a pair of broken sneakers. She left little Esther alone in the kitchen, eating all coarse grains.
However, what depresses little Esther most is that she has nothing to do all day. The game room mentioned by Mrs. Michin is a spacious room on the first floor, but it is covered by laurel trees and can't see any sunshine. The room is so empty that there is not even a chair, let alone other things. No one else has entered this room at ordinary times. If little Esther didn't like cleanliness and borrowed a broom from the maid once a week, a thick layer of dust would have accumulated in the room.
Little Esther has no toys. Once, Mr. Snay, who came to her house to prune laurel trees, gave her a hemp rope, which she used to jump rope to keep warm. She has no books to read. She is afraid to go to Mrs. Mitchin's room. She seldom goes out of the yard except for an occasional walk at dusk.
Once, Mrs. Mitchin was going to hold a second-hand grocery bazaar, which was a good job assigned by the mayor. When she left, she told Hooper, the maid, to dress little Esther in that white tulle dress and take her to the market hall. After giving instructions, Mrs. Mitchin left in a hurry.
"What a pity," Hooper said. "Your tulle skirt hasn't been sent back from the laundry room. What should I do? "
"I'll go without changing clothes." Said little Esther. She likes attending the ceremony very much, because it at least means changing the environment and being uncomfortable in that dark room.
"I don't know what your wife will say," Hooper hesitated, "but if I don't take you, I'm sure I'll be scolded by her, too."
Hooper, the maid, took little Esther to the market without changing clothes. When Mrs. Mikin found that little Esther came to see her in that shabby dress, she shouted in surprise, "I can't let you come out to see people in this dress!" " You go home at once! "Say that finish, Mrs Mitchin left little Esther in a hurry, for fear that people would know that this tattered child was her daughter.
At this time, Hooper was attracted by a purple satin pin inserted in the stall. So she led little Esther to a corner and said, "I'll be right back. You wait for me here. Don't be afraid, no one will recognize you. "
Little Esther stood silently in the corner, looking around. An old Lord is walking towards the ceremony platform. When he found little Esther, he stopped, took a coin out of his pocket and said, "Take it, my poor child. Go and buy a beautiful toy. "
The old Lord continued to walk towards the ceremony platform. Little Esther looked at the old man's back in surprise and looked down at the coin in her hand. That's a shilling. She never took a penny in her hand and didn't know how to spend it. Little Esther wandered around the counter unconsciously. Books, clothes, perfume and flowers are displayed in the counter. All these things are new to little Esther, but she doesn't want to buy any of them. She came to a toy counter. Toys! She has never played with toys. She only touched the toy once. That's a teddy bear that Mrs. Mitchin asked little Esther to give to a little patient when she opened the children's ward in the hospital.
The dolls, puzzles, small engines and other toys in the counter fascinated little Esther. She doesn't know that these toys are only used. At the end of the counter, she finally found something she liked. This is a rocking wooden horse-dark complexion, worn places and traces of wind and rain. My ears are drooping and my tail hair is messy. The words "Prince" are printed on the outside of the two swinging curved poles, which seems to be out of proportion to such an ancient wooden horse. Don't write "one shilling" on the price tag at the end of the Trojan horse.
Little Esther raised a shilling coin in her hand and said timidly to the waitress, "I want to buy this rocking horse." The waitress glanced at the money in little Esther's hand, then at the price tag and said, "Oh, Mr. prosser, how much is this for a shilling?" About ten shillings? "She shouted to a gentleman at the other end of the counter, but the man was busy and didn't hear her cry.
"Well," the waitress said to little Esther, "you can take the Trojan horse. It's a rare bargain. " She took the shilling coin, lifted the wooden horse and put it on the floor.
Little Esther doesn't know how to get him home. At this moment, a familiar figure stopped beside her. She looked up. It was Mr. Snyder.
"Did you buy this rocking horse?" Mr. Snyder asked, "Hey, that's great. He will bring you a lot of fun. Can I help you pull it back with a trolley? I'm here to send flowers to the ceremony platform, and my car is parked outside. "
"Great, thank you, Mr. Snyder!" Little Esther answered happily.
Mr. Sney put the wooden horse on his shoulder, nodded to little Esther and said, "I may get to your house before you." I'll hide him in the bushes in your yard. "
So little Esther turned to find Hooper, who had bought her favorite needle insert, and they went home by car together.
Twilight is coming. When there was no one in the yard, little Esther slipped down the steps behind the house. Find the Trojan horse from the bushes, drag it and move it to get your own game room. She put the wooden horse in the middle of the room and sat next to him. This is a wonderful moment. Because Esther has never had a partner or a toy since she was a child, but now, a friend has come to the game room. She put an arm around the smooth and cold neck of the Trojan horse. The Trojan horse swung slowly, and its nose touched little Esther's head from time to time.
"Prince." Little Esther whispered to Trojan horse, hoping it could talk to her. "Prince" didn't answer, just kept swinging. Little Esther found a comb to comb the horse's mane and tail hair. She sat with the horse and didn't leave the game room until it was time to sleep. #
When little Esther returned to her sleeping hut, it suddenly occurred to her that Trojan horses would feel cold.
Little Esther has two blankets on her bed. She took a blanket, sneaked back to the game room and covered it on the Trojan horse. After returning to the bedroom, little Esther lay down to sleep, but she couldn't sleep anyway. It was a cold night, and she was covered with only a blanket. It was extremely cold. At the same time, she has been thinking about her rocking horse. Will he feel lonely? Are you homesick? So, after a while, little Esther crept back to the game room with another blanket. She made a bed for herself and the Trojan horse on the floor, and curled herself up between two swinging bent rods at the foot of the Trojan horse to sleep. In this way, when she needs to find a partner at night, she just needs to stretch out her hand and pull the reins of the horse, so that Troy's cold but friendly nose can touch her face.
Now, little Esther no longer feels lonely. But she never rides a wooden horse, because she thinks it is impolite for a friend, especially for such an old and tired "prince". Whenever she jumps rope, she always makes the wooden horse swing back and forth, making her feel that they are really companions. Little Esther always keeps talking to the rocking horse, and the rocking horse nods wisely to answer. Every night, she quietly went downstairs with two blankets and curled up between the two feet of the Trojan horse to sleep.
One day, Mrs. Mitchin decided to hold a Whistler card game at her house for the wives who swept the chimney. She chose little Esther's game room as the competition hall, so she came here to "inspect". Little Esther was doing a weekly cleaning when she came in.
"Good, good, good!" Mrs. Mitchin said casually, but her eyes were fixed on the wooden horse in the middle of the room and she asked, "What is this? Shake the wooden horse? "
Little Esther stood by, afraid to say anything.
"You are so big, still playing with this toy? Might as well give him to poor children to play with. Esther, a child born in a rich family like you has an obligation to give his old toys to children in slums. I'll let the carriage take him away tomorrow morning. But you have to clean him up first. He will bring happiness to the poor children in the orphanage. What did I just do? Oh, by the way, seventeen feet long and sixteen feet wide, and ten tables-let me see ... "
After Mrs. Mickey left, little Esther stood still, and she felt numb all over. After tea time, little Esther began to bathe the Prince. "Well," she thought, "maybe I don't deserve all this happiness. I never thought about scrubbing Trojan horses. Maybe others will take better care of him. However, what should I play after seeing him off? What should I do? "
Little Esther rubbed it. When the dirty and old gray was scrubbed off, the back and ribs of the "Prince" showed silver light, and its mane and tail hair were scrubbed as bright as silk thread.
It's time for bed. Little Esther went upstairs quietly for the last time and brought two blankets. She lies beside the prince. In the dim light, she seemed to feel the "prince" hanging down his nose and gently stroking her wet cheek.
The next day, Mrs. Mitchin came to the game room and personally directed the layout of the game hall. As soon as she saw the prince's clean body, she couldn't help exclaiming, "Oh, this toy is too expensive to be sent to an orphanage. I will give it to the museum. "
So little Esther's rocking horse was sent to the museum.
Little Esther hid in the upstairs bedroom all day. She doesn't want to see her beloved rocking horse taken away, and she doesn't want to go to the game room again.
In the evening, the maid Hooper came to little Esther's bedroom. Knowing that little Esther was still sad about the lost toy, she took her out for a walk. They came to the museum. Hooper likes to visit all kinds of clothes popular in different times on display here. She stopped in front of the skirt and waist pad supported by the lining frame, and little Esther took the opportunity to slip aside.
Little Esther went around the corner to another exhibition hall and soon found her "prince". A red rope separates the wooden horse from the audience passage, probably to prevent people from touching the exhibits casually. There is a wooden board next to the wooden horse, which reads: "Donation from Mrs. Mitchin". Little Esther reached out to touch her "prince", but she couldn't reach him through the rope.
"Miss, please pay attention," said a waiter. "Please don't touch the exhibits with your hands."
Little Esther had to withdraw her hand and stood there staring at the "Prince" for a while. She didn't want to leave until Hooper called her home.
From then on, little Esther went to the museum to see the Prince every day. Mrs. Mitchin was too busy preparing welfare centers and clinics to notice little Esther's increasingly pale face or her frequent visits to museums.
One night, little Esther suddenly woke up from a dream and opened her eyes. It turned out that a beam of moonlight came in from the window and shone on her face. She sat up gently, put on a brown skirt and those old and small shoes, crept out of the house and walked like a ghost in the empty street. She came to the front of the museum and walked involuntarily to a small side door next to her. The side door was unlocked, so she pushed it open and went in.
Little Esther walked along a passage and soon came to the main exhibition hall, and soon found the "prince". She crossed the fence and came to the "Prince" and put her arms around his neck.
"Esmeralda." The wooden horse spoke. His voice sounds like a weak and clear wind.
"You've never talked to me before!" Little Esther said in surprise.
"That's because the gray paint on my body makes me speechless."
"Oh," cried little Esther, "I have been lonely since you left. What should I do? "
"You haven't ridden me once." Troy Ma said.
"I don't want to do that. You are old and weak. If I ride on you, it will be a bit rude. "
"Now please ride on me."
Little Esther timidly put her foot into the stirrup, and then carefully stepped onto the back of the wooden horse.
"Sit on the saddle and hold it with both hands. Are you seated? "
"all right." Answered little Esther.
The wooden horse swayed and rose gradually, leaving the floor of the exhibition hall. Little Esther and the rocking horse, like a big feather, rose slowly along the moonlight beam that entered the hall, flew out of the roof window and disappeared into the boundless night sky.
No one has seen them since.