This short story concerns a boy growing up in a well-off but anxious household. His mother feels that the family never has enough money, and the boy senses an unspoken craving in the house that seems to whisper that more is needed. He becomes determined to help, and he turns to his rocking horse and the world of horse racing with an unusual intensity. Part fairy tale and part dark fable, the story is a sharp study of greed, neglected love and the strain that money places on family feeling. It is among Lawrence's best-known short works.