They turned round and the boy trotted beside him; they did not speak, and by their side the marshes lay in perfect silence.
But when the moon had vanished and the nights were black, something else happened.
At the time when the horse market was going on Hauke Haien had ridden into the city, although he had had nothing to do with the market. Nevertheless, when the came home toward evening, he brought home a second horse. It had rough hair, however, and was lean, so that one could count every rib and its eyes looked tired and sunken deep into the sockets. Elke had stepped out in front of the house door to meet her husband: “Heaven help us!” she cried, “what shall we do with that old white horse?” For when Hauke had ridden up to the house with it and stopped under the ash tree, she had seen
