Chapter 1: Sword and Shield

Link wakes up in a bed on Koholint Island, no idea where he is, no idea where he's been, and awakens in the house of the friendly Marin and Tarin.  He mistakes Marin for Zelda, who doesn't really mind and informs him of the situation: where he's landed, where she found him and otherwise.  When Link talks to Tarin, this character gives him his shield, which reveals how these two knew our name.  These two characters are the beginning of references that run rampant through this game: Marin looks like Peach while Tarin looks remarkably like Mario.  Anyway, when we start this game, we are incredibly poorly equipped: in fact, we have nothing.  The shield that Tarin gives us is our first item, and it is up to us to find our sword.  Marin hints that since she found you on the shore, you might find the sword there.  So we head there and lo and behold, there it is.  Finally we can defend ourselves properly.  The next thing to be done is to start the long line of trades that this game has as a side-quest.  We go to the trendy store and win the yoshi doll, which the baby of the quadruplets in Mabe Village wants desperately.  We take the ribbon from there to Madame Bow Wow's puppy, who is a bit of a materialist and accepts it eagerly, giving you a can of dog food in return.  This we in turn take to Sale, an alligator, who eats the whole thing, can and all, and gives us a bunch of bananas in return.