Setting

The short story takes place in an unspecified land sometime in the twentieth century, after the invention of helicopters. The reader can guess that the native country the centaur returns to at the end of the story may be Greece, as the centaur's species was wiped out by Heracles, a hero in ancient Greek mythology. The mountainous land is close to the sea.

Point of View and Conflict

The story is told from the third-person point of view, with an unnamed narrator relating the events. The primary conflict in the story is internal, with the protagonist of the story, the centaur, struggling to reconcile his animal and human impulses. The human part of the centaur, in particular, strives to realize his humanity. The story's central conflict becomes resolved when the centaur falls to his death, landing on a rock and splitting into his distinct animal and human halves...