
The Rider on the White Horse
'The Rider on the White Horse' Summary
The novella tells the story of Hauke Haien, related to the narrator by a schoolmaster in a small town in Northern Frisia. Hauke is the son of a farmer and licensed surveyor and does his best to learn his father's trade. He even learns Dutch so he can read a Dutch print of Euclid's work on mathematics and geometry. Over time he becomes very familiar with the dykes along the local coast and begins to wonder if it would not be better to make them flatter on the sea side so as to reduce their windage during floods.
When local Deichgraf Tede Volkerts fires one of his hands, Hauke applies for the job and is accepted. He soon becomes a great help for Volkerts, which makes Ole Peters, the senior hand, dislike him. Tensions rise even more when Hauke begins to show interest in the Deichgraf's daughter, Elke. Hauke even proposes marriage, but she wants to wait.
After the unexpected deaths of both Hauke's and Elke's fathers, the people of the village must choose a new Deichgraf. Hauke is actually already doing the work, but does not hold the necessary lands required for the position. However, Elke announces that they are engaged, and that he will soon hold her family's lands as well. With the traditionalists satisfied, Hauke becomes the new Deichgraf. However, the people soon start talking about his white horse, which they believe is a resurrected skeleton that used to be visible on a small island, but is now gone.
Meanwhile Hauke begins to implement the changes to the form of the dykes that he has envisaged since childhood. However, during a storm surge several years later, the older dykes break and Hauke has to witness Elke and their daughter, Wienke, being swept away by the water. In agony, he drives his white horse into the sea, yelling, "Lord, take me, spare the others!"
The novella ends with the schoolmaster recounting that after the flood the mysterious horse skeleton was once again seen lying on the small island off the coast. Hauke Haien's dyke still stands and has saved many lives in the hundred years since its creator's tragic demise. And the older ones in the village say that, on stormy nights, a ghostly rider on a white horse can sometimes be seen patrolling the dyke.
Book Details
Language
EnglishOriginal Language
GermanPublished In
1888Authors

Theodor Storm
Germany
Hans Theodor Woldsen Storm commonly known as Theodor Storm, was a German writer. He is considered to be one of the most important figures of German realism. Storm was one of the most important author...
Books by Theodor StormDownload eBooks
Listen/Download Audiobook
- Select Speed
Related books

Gleanings in Buddha Fields by Lafcadio Hearn
"A journey into the soul of Japan through the lens of Buddhism." In a land of ancient temples and sacred texts, a writer seeks to understand the esse...

The Diary of a Superfluous Man by Ivan Turgenev
The Diary of a Superfluous Man is an 1850 novella by the Russian author Ivan Turgenev. It is written in the first person in the form of a diary by a m...

Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia by Sir Philip Sidney
Sir Philip Sidney's *Arcadia* is a sprawling Renaissance prose romance that transports readers to a world of idealized chivalry and adventure. Set in...

The Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood by George MacDonald
This delightful story begins in a little town called Marshmallows, where a young man, the new vicar, Harry Walton, has just arrived. As he begins his...

Mathilda by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Mathilda, or Matilda, is the second long work of fiction of Mary Shelley, written between August 1819 and February 1820 and first published posthumous...

Flor de Santidad. Historia milenaria by Ramón del Valle-Inclán
Flor de Santidad es una novela corta que narra la historia de Adega, una pastora inocente que cree haber sido seducida por un peregrino a quien identi...

The Europeans by Henry James
The Europeans: A sketch is a short novel by Henry James, published in 1878. It is essentially a comedy contrasting the behaviour and attitudes of two...

The Goody-Naughty Book by Sarah Rippey
The Goody-Naughty Book was originally published as two books back to back. Opening the book from one end, the reader experiences "The Goody Side" wher...

France At War: On the Frontier of Civilization by Rudyard Kipling
In 1915, as the "Great War" (World War 1) entered its second year Rudyard Kipling made a journalistic tour of the front, visiting French armed forces....

Christmas Every Day and Other Stories Told for Children by William Dean Howells
The little girl came into her papa's study, as she always did Saturday morning before breakfast, and asked for a story. He tried to beg off that morni...
Reviews for The Rider on the White Horse
No reviews posted or approved, yet...