Link follows the path the person who took Epona went down and finds the barefoot girl, Ilia, with her at a small spring. She says she washed Epona – but left the saddle and tack on? She asks Link to use a piece of grass to play Epona’s song for her, and Link obliges. This has Epona leave Ilia’s side and run to Link’s, and he mounts up and rides back to the village. The man he was talking to, Rusl, stands out in the village, practicing with his sword. He tells Link that his son, Colin, is making a fishing rod for him, and he should be done in time for him to get it the next day.
Link continues on to Ordon Ranch, where Fado apologizes for bringing him out like this, but the goats aren’t listening to him. Link agrees to help, kicking off a minigame where Link rides around on Epona, yelling to drive the goats away from him into the barn. It’s a bit silly, especially with the “Goat in!” popup every time the goat runs in. After Link’s done, Fado sets up fences for Link to practice jumping Epona over, lets him run around as he likes, and tells him that he can have tomorrow off. Once Link’s done, he jumps Epona over the gate leading back to the village and rides back, and a save prompt pops up.
The next morning, three children from the village – Beth, Talo, and Malo – come to wake Link up. Link gets a chance to explore his house for a bit, then goes out to meet them. Talo and Malo are excited about a slingshot Beth’s parents are selling, but don’t have the rupees to buy it. Link heads into the village, where Rusl’s wife lost her baby’s cradle, and Beth’s parents have lost their cat. The cradle quest ends up combining a few tutorials: L-targeting, climbing, and jumping are all familiar, but new to this game is using grass to call a hawk, then sending the hawk flying at a target – in this case, the monkey who pulled the cradle out of the water. With the cradle returned to her, Rusl’s wife leads Link back to her home, where she gives him the fishing rod Colin made. The item get pose in this game is a lot more subdued than pretty much any other game: Link holds his hands palms-up in front of him while the new item floats over them.
Link goes over to where the cat’s been watching the fish in the water to use the rod, and herding the cat back to the shop doesn’t work very well. However, Link can catch fish, and the first one he catches puts a fishing log in his quest items stack, and the second one flops behind him, where’s it’s grabbed by the cat, who runs back to the town shop. Link follows the cat, and Sera, the shopkeeper, gives him a half-bottle of milk. (She thinks the cat caught the fish itself, because you know the cat’s not going to let on that it needed Link’s help.) Of course, the bottle’s the real prize – the milk only restores three hearts, so while it’s useful now, it’s going to be outpaced quickly. The slingshot costs 30 rupees, and she’s surprised Link’s interested, thinking he’s too old for toys. But he needs a ranged weapon, and this is what’s available.
Link goes back to his house to show off the slingshot for the kids, and on the way, he passes Rusl, who dropped something off at Link’s house. The kids set up targets for Link to shoot at – Talo and Malo are excited, but Beth feigns indifference, but even she’s impressed when Link hits all the targets. In the short time between Rusl leaving Link’s house and Link’s arrival, a Skullwalltula has set up on the ladder. (Maybe Rusl just jumped down.) Link hits the Skullwalltula with a slingshot shot, then climbs the ladder, enters his house, opens the treasure chest Rusl left, and claims the Wooden Sword. Bringing the sword down, Talo and Malo ask Link to demonstrate sword moves for them. In contrast to before, Beth’s really into this, but Malo is dismissive (while giving the input commands to the player).
The kids wanted to learn swordplay to fight off the monkeys who have been causing mischief in town, and as soon as the lesson’s over, Talo spots one of them, and all three chase after it, and Link hops on Epona to follow.
Next: Just whose horse is Epona, anyway?
