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The Rocking-Horse Winner
The Rocking-Horse Winner is a famous short story by D. H. Lawrence, first published in 1926. Lawrence was an important English writer of the twentieth century. His works often explore family relationships, human emotions, social pressure, money, and the difficulties people face in modern life.
The story follows a young boy named Paul, who lives with his mother, father, and two sisters. Although the family appears comfortable, they are constantly worried about money. Paul’s mother believes that the family is unlucky, especially because she thinks his father does not have enough luck to make money. The house seems to carry this anxiety, and Paul repeatedly hears a mysterious message: “There must be more money.”
Paul becomes determined to prove that he is lucky. He develops a strange ability to predict the winners of horse races by riding his rocking-horse until he feels completely certain about a particular horse. With the help of Bassett, the family’s gardener, and later his Uncle Oscar, Paul begins to win large amounts of money. However, his desire to solve his family’s financial problems slowly becomes an obsession, and his search for luck leads to a tragic ending.
This C1–C2 adapted version has been rewritten especially for people who are learning English. The original story’s main events, characters, ideas, and emotional development have been carefully preserved, while the language has been adapted to provide a clearer and more useful reading experience for advanced English learners.
Reading this story can help learners develop their advanced vocabulary, reading comprehension, sentence structure, descriptive language, and understanding of literary English. It also introduces useful expressions related to money, family relationships, emotions, ambition, and human behavior.
The story is divided into five sections, making it easier to read and study step by step. As you read, pay attention not only to what happens to Paul, but also to how Lawrence uses the ideas of luck, money, pressure, and desire to reveal the deeper meaning of the story.
This story has been carefully adapted and rewritten by LearnEnglish-new.com for advanced English learners. The original work by D. H. Lawrence is in the public domain. This learner-friendly adaptation uses clear, modern English while preserving the main characters, events, psychological depth, and themes of the original story. It is designed to help C1–C2 learners develop their reading comprehension, vocabulary, and understanding of literary English. Enjoy reading and improve your English skills!
The Rocking-Horse Winner
By D. H. Lawrence
Contents
Section One: The Unlucky Family
Section Two: Paul and the Rocking-Horse
Section Three: The Winning Horses
Section Four: The Derby and Malabar
Section Five: The Price of Luck
Section One
The Unlucky Family
There was a woman who was beautiful, well-born, and fortunate in almost every respect. She had begun life with many advantages. Yet she believed that she had no luck.
She had married for love, but the love had gradually turned to dust. She had children, but she could not truly love them. Whenever they were near her, she felt a hard, cold place deep inside her heart. She tried to hide this feeling even from herself.
Outwardly, however, she appeared to be a devoted mother. She was gentle and attentive to her children, and everyone who knew her considered her an excellent mother. Only she and the children understood the truth. They could read it in one another’s eyes.
There were three children: a boy named Paul and two little girls. They lived in a pleasant house with a garden and several servants. The family maintained a respectable lifestyle and considered themselves socially superior to many of their neighbours.
But beneath the appearance of comfort, there was a constant anxiety.
There was never enough money.
The mother had a small income, and the father had another small income, but together they were not sufficient to support the lifestyle the family believed it had to maintain. The father worked in an office in town. He had once seemed to have good prospects, but those prospects never became reality.
The family continued to spend money as though prosperity were just around the corner.
The mother tried to earn more. She thought carefully about various possibilities, but nothing worked. The pressure began to show on her face.
The children were growing older. Soon they would need expensive schooling.
There must be more money.
That was the unspoken thought that seemed to hang over the entire household.
Nobody said it aloud.
And yet the children could hear it.
At Christmas, when expensive toys filled the nursery, the same mysterious pressure seemed to hide behind them. Behind the beautiful doll’s house, behind the modern rocking-horse, behind the toys that were supposed to make the children happy, there seemed to be a whisper:
There must be more money.
Sometimes the children would suddenly stop playing and look at one another.
Had they all heard it?
Yes.
They could see from one another’s expressions that they had.
The house itself seemed to have become infected with the family’s anxiety.
One day Paul asked his mother:
“Mother, why don’t we have a car of our own? Why do we always borrow Uncle Oscar’s car or take a taxi?”
“Because we’re the poor members of the family,” she replied.
“But why are we poor?”
His mother hesitated.
“I suppose it’s because your father has no luck.”
Paul thought about this.
“Is luck money, Mother?”
“Not exactly. Luck is what causes you to have money.”
“So if you’re lucky, you have money?”
“Yes.”
“And if you’re rich, you can lose your money?”
“Of course.”
“But if you’re lucky, you’ll always get more money?”
“Yes. That’s why it is better to be born lucky than rich.”
Paul considered this carefully.
“And Father isn’t lucky?”
“No. He is very unlucky.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Nobody knows why one person is lucky and another is unlucky.”
“Doesn’t anybody know?”
“Perhaps God knows. But He never tells us.”
Paul looked at his mother.
“And aren’t you lucky, Mother?”
“I can’t be, if I married an unlucky husband.”
“But weren’t you lucky before you married him?”
“I used to think I was. Now I think I’m very unlucky.”
Paul watched her face.
He sensed that there was something she was not telling him.
“Well,” he said firmly, “I’m a lucky person.”
His mother laughed.
“Why?”
“God told me.”
“I hope He did, dear.”
“He did, Mother.”
She laughed again, but there was bitterness behind her laughter.
Paul realized that she did not really believe him.
That hurt him.
He wanted to prove that he was lucky.
More than that, he wanted to prove it to his mother.
From that moment on, the idea of luck began to occupy his mind.
He searched for it everywhere.
And gradually, he became obsessed with finding a way to make himself lucky.
Section Two
Paul and the Rocking-Horse
Paul began spending long periods alone with his rocking-horse.
Whenever his sisters played with their dolls, Paul would climb onto the wooden horse and ride it furiously.
He did not ride it as a child rides a toy.
He rode as if he were trying to reach somewhere.
His dark hair flew wildly around his face. His eyes became intense. He seemed to enter another world.
His sisters watched him uneasily.
They did not understand what he was doing.
Paul himself was not sure.
He only knew that he wanted to discover his luck.
After riding for a long time, he would suddenly stop.
Then he would stare at the horse.
The horse had no name. Its red mouth was slightly open, and its large glassy eyes seemed to stare back at him.
Paul would whisper to it:
“Now. Take me to where there is luck. Take me there.”
Then he would whip the horse and begin riding again.
He believed that if he forced the horse hard enough, it would somehow carry him to the place where luck could be found.
His nurse warned him.
“You’ll break your horse, Paul.”
His sister complained:
“He’s always riding like that. I wish he’d stop.”
But Paul paid no attention.
One day his mother and Uncle Oscar entered the room while he was riding.
“Hallo, young jockey!” Uncle Oscar called. “Are you riding a winner?”
Paul ignored him.
His mother watched him anxiously.
At last, Paul stopped.
He climbed down and announced:
“I got there.”
“Where did you get to?” his mother asked.
“Where I wanted to go.”
His uncle laughed.
“That’s the spirit! What’s the horse’s name?”
“He doesn’t have a name.”
Later, Paul became deeply interested in horse racing.
Bassett, the young gardener, knew a great deal about racing. Paul would ask him about horses, races, odds, and winners.
At first, it seemed like an innocent interest.
But it gradually became something more serious.
Paul discovered that Bassett was willing to place small bets for him.
One day Uncle Oscar asked:
“Paul, do you ever put money on a horse?”
Paul looked at him carefully.
“Why? Do you think I shouldn’t?”
“Not at all. I was wondering whether you might give me a tip for the Lincoln.”
Paul hesitated.
Then he said:
“Daffodil.”
“Daffodil?” Uncle Oscar was surprised. “Are you sure?”
“I only know the winner.”
Paul was not merely guessing.
He believed he knew.
He and Bassett had already formed a partnership.
Bassett had lent him five shillings at the beginning, and Paul had lost it. Later, Paul received ten shillings from Uncle Oscar. They had placed the money on a horse and won.
After that, their success became remarkably consistent.
Paul told his uncle that he and Bassett were partners.
“How much are you betting on Daffodil?” Uncle Oscar asked.
“Three hundred pounds.”
His uncle laughed.
“Three hundred pounds? Where did you get that kind of money?”
“Bassett keeps it for me.”
Uncle Oscar stared at him.
Paul was only a child.
Yet he was talking about hundreds of pounds as casually as another child might talk about pennies.
Section Three
The Winning Horses
Uncle Oscar soon discovered that Paul’s strange confidence was not an empty boast.
He decided to take Paul to the races.
Paul chose Daffodil.
Daffodil won.
The victory produced a substantial profit.
But Paul did not seem excited merely because he had won money.
Instead, he calmly calculated what he now possessed.
“I expect I have fifteen hundred pounds now,” he said.
His uncle was astonished.
Eventually, Oscar met Bassett and learned the full story.
Bassett explained that Paul had an unusual ability to become certain about a horse.
“When Master Paul is sure,” Bassett said, “we go strong.”
“But when is he sure?” Oscar asked.
Bassett answered almost reverently:
“It is Master Paul, sir. It’s as if he had it from heaven.”
Paul could not explain his ability himself.
Sometimes he was certain.
Sometimes he merely had an idea.
And sometimes he knew nothing at all.
When he was uncertain, they bet carefully.
When he was certain, they risked large sums.
Uncle Oscar eventually became their partner.
The money began to grow.
Paul’s predictions became astonishingly successful.
Then came the great opportunity.
Paul had accumulated enough money to give his mother a substantial amount without revealing where it came from.
He wanted to silence the mysterious voice in the house.
He wanted the house to stop whispering.
He told Uncle Oscar:
“I started it for Mother. She said she had no luck because Father was unlucky. So I thought that if I was lucky, perhaps it would stop whispering.”
“What does the house whisper?”
“It’s always short of money.”
Paul explained that people sent his mother demands for payment. He heard the house as if it were laughing at them.
“It is awful,” he said.
He wanted to rescue her.
But he did not want her to know that he was the source of the money.
“Why not?” Uncle Oscar asked.
“She’d stop me.”
Oscar agreed to keep the secret.
Paul eventually gave five thousand pounds to his uncle, who arranged for the money to be placed in the family’s lawyer’s hands.
Paul’s mother would receive one thousand pounds every year for five years.
When she received the first letter, however, her reaction was not what Paul had hoped for.
She read it silently.
Her face became cold and expressionless.
She hid the letter among the others.
Paul waited anxiously.
“Didn’t you get anything nice in the post for your birthday, Mother?”
“Quite moderately nice,” she replied.
She did not seem satisfied.
Later, Paul learned that she wanted the entire five thousand pounds immediately because she was in debt.
Uncle Oscar warned him.
“A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”
But Paul was confident that he could win more.
“All right,” he said. “Let her have it.”
His mother received the entire amount.
For a brief moment, it seemed that Paul’s plan had worked.
The house was filled with new furniture and new luxury.
But then something terrible happened.
The whisper became louder.
There must be more money!
Not less.
More.
The family’s desire for money had not been satisfied.
It had become stronger.
Paul was horrified.
He had tried to silence the house.
Instead, he had fed it.
Section Four
The Derby and Malabar
The pressure began to consume Paul. He became obsessed with the next race. He had failed to identify the winner of the Grand National.
Then he failed again with the Lincoln.
He lost money.
But the losses were not the real problem.
Paul could not tolerate uncertainty.
He had built his identity around being lucky.
He had to know.
He had to be certain.
“I’ve got to know for the Derby!” he repeatedly told himself.
His mother noticed how nervous and exhausted he had become.
“You should go to the seaside,” she suggested. “You care too much about these races.”
She told him that gambling had caused serious damage in her own family.
She considered sending Bassett away and asking Uncle Oscar to stop discussing horse racing with Paul.
Paul agreed to almost anything, provided that he could stay until after the Derby.
His mother did not understand why the Derby mattered so much to him.
She did not know his secret.
Paul’s greatest secret was the rocking-horse.
By then, it had been moved into his bedroom.
He was too old for a nursery toy, but he still believed that the horse could help him discover the truth.
He would climb onto it and ride until he reached that strange state of certainty.
The Derby drew closer.
Paul became increasingly pale and tense.
His mother began to feel a strange anxiety whenever she thought about him.
One night, while attending a party in London, the feeling became so powerful that she could no longer ignore it.
She telephoned the house.
The children were fine.
Paul was supposedly asleep.
But later that night, she went upstairs to his room.
As she approached the door, she heard a strange sound.
It was heavy, powerful, and yet strangely quiet.
Something was moving violently inside.
She opened the door.
The room was dark.
Then she turned on the light.
Paul was on the rocking-horse.
He was riding it with terrifying intensity.
His body moved violently back and forth.
His eyes were blazing.
“Paul!” his mother cried. “What are you doing?”
“It’s Malabar!” he shouted.
“It’s Malabar!”
Then he fell from the horse.
He became unconscious.
His mother rushed to him.
For days he remained desperately ill.
He spoke in feverish fragments.
“Malabar! Bassett! I know! It’s Malabar!”
Uncle Oscar understood what the name meant.
Malabar was one of the horses running in the Derby.
Despite himself, Oscar placed a thousand pounds on Malabar.
The odds were fourteen to one.
The family waited.
Paul’s condition became worse.
His mother sat beside him, terrified.
His body was weak.
His eyes were like blue stones.
Then Bassett arrived.
He approached the bed quietly.
“Master Paul,” he whispered.
“Malabar came in first.”
Paul’s eyes opened.
“Malabar?”
“Yes. A clean win.”
“How much?”
“You’ve made over seventy thousand pounds. You’ve got over eighty thousand.”
Paul suddenly became excited.
“Over eighty thousand pounds!”
He looked toward his mother.
“Do you think I’m lucky, Mother?”
He had spent so long trying to prove that he was lucky.
Now he finally believed he had succeeded.
Section Five
The Price of Luck
Paul was desperately weak, but his mind remained fixed on the victory.
“Did I know Malabar would win?”
“Yes,” Bassett said.
“I knew, didn’t I?”
“You did.”
Paul looked at his mother.
“I’m lucky, Mother.”
She looked at him.
“No, you never told me.”
Paul had spent his entire childhood trying to solve a problem that had never truly belonged to him.
His mother believed that the family needed more money. Paul believed that if he could become lucky, he could save them. He believed that money could quiet the house.
He believed that winning could earn his mother’s approval.
He believed that if he found the right horse, he would finally reach the place he had been seeking since he first climbed onto the wooden rocking-horse.
But the more money he made, the louder the demand became.
More money.
More success.
More certainty.
More luck.
The wealth he had accumulated could not give him what he really wanted.
It could not give him peace.
It could not give him security.
And, most importantly, it could not give him the love and acceptance he had been seeking.
Paul died that night.
His family had gained a fortune.
But they had lost the child who had sacrificed everything to obtain it.
Uncle Oscar looked at Paul’s mother and spoke with bitter sorrow.
“My God, Hester. You’re eighty-odd thousand pounds to the good, and a poor devil of a son to the bad.”
The words exposed the terrible irony of the entire story.
Paul had succeeded in becoming “lucky.”
He had won more money than his family had ever imagined.
And yet his victory was also his defeat.
He had ridden his rocking-horse in search of a winner, believing that luck would save him.
Instead, his pursuit of luck destroyed him.
The house had demanded more money.
Paul had answered its demand.
But the price was his life.
And in the end, the family possessed the money they had always wanted, while the boy who had earned it was gone.
The End
Read the original story: americanliterature.com
Vocabulary
1. Anxiety — a strong feeling of worry or nervousness about something that may happen.
Example: The constant financial anxiety affected everyone in the family.
2. Prosperity — a state of being successful, especially in terms of money and living conditions.
Example: The family appeared to enjoy prosperity, but they were deeply worried about money.
3. Materialise — to happen or become real after being expected or planned.
Example: His father’s promising career never materialised.
4. Obsession — an extreme and often unhealthy interest in something that is difficult to stop thinking about.
Example: Paul’s search for luck gradually became an obsession.
5. Compel — to force or strongly persuade someone to do something.
Example: Paul felt compelled to find a way to make money for his mother.
6. Uncanny — strange or mysterious in a way that makes you feel uneasy.
Example: There was an uncanny intensity in Paul’s eyes as he rode the horse.
7. Extravagant — spending or using much more money than is necessary or reasonable.
Example: The family maintained an extravagant lifestyle despite their financial problems.
8. Dissatisfied — unhappy because something is not as good or successful as you expected.
Example: Paul’s mother remained dissatisfied even after receiving a large amount of money.
9. Substantial — large in amount, size, or importance.
Example: Paul eventually made a substantial amount of money from the races.
10. Accumulate — to gradually collect or gain more of something over time.
Example: Paul’s winnings began to accumulate surprisingly quickly.
11. Certainty — the state of being completely sure that something is true or will happen.
Example: Paul needed complete certainty before placing a large bet.
12. Desperately — in a way that shows an extreme need or desire for something.
Example: Paul desperately wanted to prove that he was lucky.
13. Reverently — in a way that shows deep respect, admiration, or almost religious devotion.
Example: Bassett spoke reverently about Paul’s ability to predict winning horses.
14. Intrusion — an unwanted interruption or involvement in someone’s private life or situation.
Example: Paul’s mother considered Bassett’s visit an intrusion.
15. Overwrought — extremely worried, nervous, or emotional.
Example: Paul’s mother noticed that he was becoming increasingly overwrought.
16. Financial insecurity — a situation in which someone does not feel safe or confident about their financial future.
Example: Financial insecurity was one of the main sources of tension in the family.
17. Sacrifice — something valuable that you give up in order to achieve something else.
Example: Paul’s enormous financial success came at the terrible sacrifice of his own life.
18. Pursuit — the act of trying to achieve, obtain, or find something over a period of time.
Example: His pursuit of luck gradually became more dangerous.
19. Restraint — the ability to control your feelings, actions, or desires.
Example: Paul showed little restraint when he became certain about a winning horse.
20. Dissatisfaction — a feeling of being unhappy because something is not as good as you want it to be.
Example: His mother’s constant dissatisfaction made Paul believe that more money was always necessary.
Comprehension Questions
1. Why does Hester consider herself unlucky despite the family’s comfortable lifestyle, and how does this belief affect her relationship with her children?
2. How does the family’s financial insecurity exist alongside their desire to maintain a respectable and expensive lifestyle?
3. What does Paul’s conversation with his mother reveal about his developing understanding of luck, money, and success?
4. Why does Paul’s mother’s explanation of luck become so important to him, and how does it influence his later actions?
5. How does Paul’s use of the rocking-horse change from an ordinary childhood activity into an intense search for certainty and luck?
6. Why does Paul believe that he must discover the winners of horse races, and what does this reveal about his sense of responsibility toward his family?
7. What role does Bassett play in Paul’s development as a gambler, and why does Paul trust him with his secret?
8. Why is Uncle Oscar both amused and surprised when he discovers how much money Paul has already made?
9. What evidence convinces Uncle Oscar that Paul’s predictions are more than childish guesses?
10. Why does Paul want to give his mother money without revealing that he earned it through horse racing?
11. Why does giving his mother five thousand pounds fail to silence the mysterious voice in the house?
12. What does the increasing volume of the house’s whisper about money suggest about the family’s relationship with wealth and material success?
13. Why do Paul’s failures to predict the winners of the Grand National and the Lincoln have such a serious effect on his emotional state?
14. Why does Paul’s mother become increasingly worried about his interest in horse racing, and what does she fail to understand about his motivation?
15. What is the significance of the rocking-horse being moved into Paul’s bedroom, and how does this detail reflect his growing isolation?
16. Why does Paul become determined to identify the winner of the Derby, even when his physical and emotional condition is deteriorating?
17. Why does Paul believe that predicting Malabar’s victory will finally prove that he is truly lucky?
18. How does Paul’s enormous financial success contrast with his physical and emotional condition at the end of the story?
19. What does Uncle Oscar’s final comment about being “eighty-odd thousand to the good” and having “a poor devil of a son to the bad” reveal about the tragedy of Paul’s success?
20. How does the ending challenge the idea that money and luck can bring happiness, security, or fulfillment?
Grammar Exercises
1. Had Paul not become so obsessed with luck, he ________ such large amounts of money on horse races.
A) would never have risked
B) would never risk
C) will never have risked
D) had never risked
2. Although ________ that money could solve the family’s problems, Paul continued to search for more.
A) he knew
B) knowing
C) he had known
D) known
3. It was Paul’s determination to prove himself lucky ________ eventually drove him to exhaustion.
A) what
B) which
C) that
D) where
4. By the time Uncle Oscar discovered Paul’s secret, the boy ________ a considerable amount of money.
A) already accumulated
B) had already accumulated
C) has already accumulated
D) would already accumulate
5. Paul’s mother behaved as though the money ________ sufficient to satisfy all her needs.
A) would never be
B) had never been
C) were
D) has not been
6. Not until Paul had identified Malabar ________ how dangerous his obsession had become.
A) his mother realised
B) did his mother realise
C) his mother had realised
D) realised his mother
7. Paul wanted the money ________ to his mother without revealing its true source.
A) give
B) giving
C) to be given
D) to have given
8. ________ increasingly anxious about her son’s condition, Paul’s mother considered sending him to the seaside.
A) Become
B) Becoming
C) Having become
D) To have become
9. If Paul’s mother ________ less concerned with maintaining an expensive lifestyle, Paul might never have felt responsible for solving the family’s financial problems.
A) had been
B) were
C) would be
D) has been
10. Bassett spoke about Paul’s ability as if he ________ some extraordinary gift from another world.
A) possesses
B) had possessed
C) possessed
D) would possess
11. Paul denied ________ his mother where the money had come from.
A) to tell
B) telling
C) having told
D) to have told
12. The more money Paul won, ________ the family’s desire for wealth seemed to become.
A) the stronger
B) stronger
C) the strongest
D) more strong
13. Uncle Oscar suggested that Paul ________ his winnings carefully rather than risk everything on another race.
A) keeps
B) kept
C) keep
D) would keep
14. Having lost money on the previous races, Paul became determined ________ the winner of the Derby.
A) identifying
B) to identify
C) having identified
D) identify
15. What Paul failed to understand ________ that his mother’s dissatisfaction could not be solved simply by giving her more money.
A) has been
B) had been
C) was
D) were
16. Paul continued riding the rocking-horse, despite ________ that his health was rapidly deteriorating.
A) he knew
B) knowing
C) to know
D) having know
17. By the time Bassett arrived to announce Malabar’s victory, Paul ________ unconscious for several days.
A) had remained
B) has remained
C) would remain
D) remained
18. Had Paul been able to understand the consequences of his actions, he ________ his pursuit of luck so far.
A) would not have taken
B) would not take
C) had not taken
D) will not have taken
19. It was not the money itself ________ Paul truly wanted, but the recognition and approval he hoped it would bring.
A) what
B) which
C) that
D) where
20. So intense ________ Paul’s determination to discover the winning horse that he continued riding even when his body could no longer cope with the strain.
A) was
B) were
C) had
D) did
Answer Key
1-A, 2-B, 3-C, 4-B, 5-C, 6-B, 7-C, 8-C, 9-A, 10-C, 11-C, 12-A, 13-C, 14-B, 15-C, 16-B, 17-A, 18-A, 19-C, 20-A
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