The son then changed himself into a coal-black horse. His skin was like satin, his eyes like jewels, and when he moved, his hoofs scarcely seemed to touch the ground. But around his neck was an old leather halter that was scarcely fit for an old farm nag.
The father led the horse on to where the fair was being held, and at once a crowd gathered around him, all bidding for the horse. Some offered him more and some less.
“The price is a thousand dollars,” said the father, “no more, no less. But that is without the halter.”
Then the people all laughed. “Who wants the halter?” they cried. “What we offer is for the horse alone. The halter we would not take as a gift.”
Then a rough looking, black-haired gypsy elbowed his way through the crowd. He was really the Green One who had taken on this form, though this the man did not know.
“I will give you two thousand,” he cried. “One thousand for the horse and one thousand for the halter, but I will not have one without the other.”
When the crowd heard this they laughed louder than ever. They thought the gypsy was crazy to offer such a price.
As for the father he stood there gaping and he did not know what to do.
“The price of the horse is a thousand dollars,” he said.
“And a thousand for the halter,” said the gypsy.