It was a cool pale sunrise. I was walking along the shoreline, feeling the wind through my hair and smelling the fresh air. Suddenly I thought I heard some sound fly past my ears in the wind. I stopped and listened. There it was again - now loud and clear. It was the sound of a horse neighing. "What would a horse do on the beach?" - I thought, - "horses do not live on the south side of the mountains." But I hurried to the place the neighing came from, for the sound of it was desperate and full of pain. There at last I came, and halted, startled by what I saw. On the sand lay a horse, greyish-blue of color, and it had the body of a fish, and lacked hind legs. There it lay, beating it's tail against the sand in hopeless attempts at getting to the water. Carefully I came up closer. The poor thing lay weakened on the beach and was breathing heavily. "It's so large and heavy. I'll never get it to the ocean." - I thought bitterly. Suddenly I remembered my sword. "Why of course! The orb in the Albatanian sword will give me strength." - I laid my hand on the hilt, feeling the stone. Then, coming up to the hippocampus, for that was what the creature was, I grabbed it and forced it forward with an effort. It was very wet and cold, like a real fish, and did not struggle. Finally I got it to the ocean. At the feel of water the creature broke away from my arms and rolled into the sea. At a distance from the coast it turned to me and spoke suddenly: "Farewell, good stranger! Whenever you need help, call Istrai!" - and vanished in the waves.
