193. The Rocking-Horse Winner. D H Lawrence Story Reintroduced By P S Remesh Chandran

193

The Rocking-Horse Winner. D H Lawrence Story Reintroduced

P. S. Remesh Chandran
 
Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum

Article Title Image By Myriam Zilles. Graphics: Adobe SP.

The Rocking-Horse Winner is a good short story written by D. H. Lawrence. Paul is a boy who gained a good fortune of Eighty Thousand Pounds through betting in horse races. But he died young, leaving the fortune to his greedy mother. His father and mother had a limited income but they spent too much and were always in need of money. The mother always demanded more and more money in the house. She constantly cursed even her children for their un-luck. It was in such atmosphere that the children grew up. 

Message from heaven predicts which horse would win in the race.

One boy Paul was determined to become lucky and rich. At a very young age, along with the gardener, he began to bet in horse races and gain good fortunes. Their gardener was a regular better. He used to bet much in horse races. Paul had a secret of knowing in advance which horse was going to win in the races. As a small boy, he had a toy rocking horse to play with. He was so fond of it that he continued to swing on it even long after he had grown up. Sometimes when he rode his rocking horse at great speeds in his room imitating race riders, he got some divines message as to which horse was going to win in the races that day. He would bet on that horse and win. 

Won Eighty Thousand Pounds and died after hearing this good news.

Paul was in need of more money to satisfy his greedy mother. Therefore he wanted to win the famous Derby Horse Race. But in spite of rocking at high speeds in his room he had not yet gotten the divine message. So he swung his rocking horse secretly in his room continuously for hours. Finally he got the message from heaven that the horse named Malabar was going to win that race. But by then he had become very tired, sick and exhausted. Anyway, upon his instructions the gardener bet an amount on Malabar and Malabar won the race. Paul gained Eighty Thousand Pounds and soon after hearing this good news the boy succumbed to death. It was a death from exhaustion. 

(Do you know how the name Malabar was derived? It was borrowed from India. Malabar is a sea coast in the north of Kerala, the southernmost state in India, where the first Portuguese explorers landed, opening the shortest sea-route from Europe to India). 

Written in: July 1990
First published on: 27 March 2020

Tags:

Betting Stories, Children Toy Horses, D H Lawrence, Divine Messages, Free Student Notes, Horse Racing, Lucky People, Short Stories Reintroduced, Surprise End Stories, The Rocking-Horse Winner,

About the Author P. S. Remesh Chandran:

00. Author Profile Of P S Remesh Chandran By Sahyadri Archives.

Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan: The Intelligent Picture Book. Born and brought up in the beautiful village of Nanniyode in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Trivandrum, in Kerala. Father British Council trained English teacher and Mother University educated. Matriculation with distinction and Pre Degree Studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship. Discontinued Diploma studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single.

Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/psremeshchandra.trivandrum
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Blog: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/
Site: https://sites.google.com/site/timeuponmywindowsill/
E-Mail: bloombookstvm@gmail.com

Post: P. S. Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books, Trivandrum, Padmalayam, Nanniyode, Pacha Post, Trivandrum- 695562, Kerala State, South India.