[English Story] A Dark brown Dog

A child was standing on a street-corner. He leaned with
one shoulder against a high board-fence and swayed the
other to and fro, the while kicking carelessly at the
gravel.
Sunshine beat upon the cobbles, and a lazy summer
wind raised yellow dust which trailed in clouds down the
avenue. Clattering trucks moved with indistinctness
through it. The child stood dreamily gazing.
After a time, a little dark-brown dog came trotting with
an intent air down the sidewalk. A short rope was
dragging from his neck. Occasionally he trod upon the
end of it and stumbled.
He stopped opposite the child, and the two regarded
each other. The dog hesitated for a moment, but
presently he made some little advances with his tail. The
child put out his hand and called him. In an apologetic
manner the dog came close, and the two had an
interchange of friendly pattings and waggles. The dog
became more enthusiastic with each moment of the
interview, until with his gleeful caperings he threatened
to overturn the child. Whereupon the child lifted his hand
and struck the dog a blow upon the head.
This thing seemed to overpower and astonish the little
dark-brown dog, and wounded him to the heart. He sank
down in despair at the child's feet. When the blow was
repeated, together with an admonition in childish
sentences, he turned over upon his back, and held his
paws in a peculiar manner. At the same time with his
ears and his eyes he offered a small prayer to the child.
He looked so comical on his back, and holding his paws
peculiarly, that the child was greatly amused and gave
him little taps repeatedly, to keep him so. But the little
dark-brown dog took this chastisement in the most
serious way, and no doubt considered that he had
committed some grave crime, for he wriggled contritely
and showed his repentance in every way that was in his
power. He pleaded with the child and petitioned him, and
offered more prayers.
At last the child grew weary of this amusement and
turned toward home. The dog was praying at the time.
He lay on his back and turned his eyes upon the
retreating form.
Presently he struggled to his feet and started after the
child. The latter wandered in a perfunctory way toward
his home, stopping at times to investigate various
matters. During one of these pauses he discovered the
little dark-brown dog who was following him with the air
of a footpad.
The child beat his pursuer with a small stick he had
found. The dog lay down and prayed until the child had
finished, and resumed his journey. Then he scrambled
erect and took up the pursuit again.
On the way to his home the child turned many times and
beat the dog, proclaiming with childish gestures that he
held him in contempt as an unimportant dog, with no
value save for a moment. For being this quality of animal
the dog apologized and eloquently expressed regret, but
he continued stealthily to follow the child. His manner
grew so very guilty that he slunk like an assassin.
When the child reached his door-step, the dog was
industriously ambling a few yards in the rear. He became
so agitated with shame when he again confronted the
child that he forgot the dragging rope. He tripped upon it
and fell forward.
The child sat down on the step and the two had another
interview. During it the dog greatly exerted himself to
please the child. He performed a few gambols with such
abandon that the child suddenly saw him to be a
valuable thing. He made a swift, avaricious charge and
seized the rope.
He dragged his captive into a hall and up many long
stairways in a dark tenement. The dog made willing
efforts, but he could not hobble very skilfully up the
stairs because he was very small and soft, and at last
the pace of the engrossed child grew so energetic that
the dog became panic-stricken. In his mind he was being
dragged toward a grim unknown. His eyes grew wild with
the terror of it. He began to wiggle his head frantically
and to brace his legs.
The child redoubled his exertions. They had a battle on
the stairs. The child was victorious because he was
completely absorbed in his purpose, and because the
dog was very small. He dragged his acquirement to the
door of his home, and finally with triumph across the
threshold.
No one was in. The child sat down on the floor and
made overtures to the dog. These the dog instantly
accepted. He beamed with affection upon his new friend.
In a short time they were firm and abiding comrades.
When the child's family appeared, they made a great
row. The dog was examined and commented upon and
called names. Scorn was leveled at him from all eyes, so
that he became much embarrassed and drooped like a
scorched plant. But the child went sturdily to the center
of the floor, and, at the top of his voice, championed the
dog. It happened that he was roaring protestations, with
his arms clasped about the dog's neck, when the father
of the family came in from work.
The parent demanded to know what the blazes they
were making the kid howl for. It was explained in many
words that the infernal kid wanted to introduce a
disreputable dog into the family.
A family council was held. On this depended the dog's
fate, but he in no way heeded, being busily engaged in
chewing the end of the child's dress.
The affair was quickly ended. The father of the family, it
appears, was in a particularly savage temper that
evening, and when he perceived that it would amaze and
anger everybody if such a dog were allowed to remain,
he decided that it should be so. The child, crying softly,
took his friend off to a retired part of the room to
hobnob with him, while the father quelled a fierce
rebellion of his wife. So it came to pass that the dog was
a member of the household.
He and the child were associated together at all times
save when the child slept. The child became a guardian
and a friend. If the large folk kicked the dog and threw
things at him, the child made loud and violent
objections. Once when the child had run, protesting
loudly, with tears raining down his face and his arms
outstretched, to protect his friend, he had been struck in
the head with a very large saucepan from the hand of his
father, enraged at some seeming lack of courtesy in the
dog. Ever after, the family were careful how they threw
things at the dog. Moreover, the latter grew very skilful
in avoiding missiles and feet. In a small room containing
a stove, a table, a bureau and some chairs, he would
display strategic ability of a high order, dodging, feinting
and scuttling about among the furniture. He could force
three or four people armed with brooms, sticks and
handfuls of coal, to use all their ingenuity to get in a
blow. And even when they did, it was seldom that they
could do him a serious injury or leave any imprint.
But when the child was present, these scenes did not
occur. It came to be recognized that if the dog was
molested, the child would burst into sobs, and as the
child, when started, was very riotous and practically
unquenchable, the dog had therein a safeguard.
However, the child could not always be near. At night,
when he was asleep, his dark-brown friend would raise
from some black corner a wild, wailful cry, a song of
infinite lowliness and despair, that would go shuddering
and sobbing among the buildings of the block and cause
people to swear. At these times the singer would often
be chased all over the kitchen and hit with a great variety
of articles.
Sometimes, too, the child himself used to beat the dog,
although it is not known that he ever had what could be
truly called a just cause. The dog always accepted these
thrashings with an air of admitted guilt. He was too
much of a dog to try to look to be a martyr or to plot
revenge. He received the blows with deep humility, and
furthermore he forgave his friend the moment the child
had finished, and was ready to caress the child's hand
with his little red tongue.
When misfortune came upon the child, and his troubles
overwhelmed him, he would often crawl under the table
and lay his small distressed head on the dog's back. The
dog was ever sympathetic. It is not to be supposed that
at such times he took occasion to refer to the unjust
beatings his friend, when provoked, had administered to
him.
He did not achieve any notable degree of intimacy with
the other members of the family. He had no confidence
in them, and the fear that he would express at their
casual approach often exasperated them exceedingly.
They used to gain a certain satisfaction in underfeeding
him, but finally his friend the child grew to watch the
matter with some care, and when he forgot it, the dog
was often successful in secret for himself.
So the dog prospered. He developed a large bark, which
came wondrously from such a small rug of a dog. He
ceased to howl persistently at night. Sometimes, indeed,
in his sleep, he would utter little yells, as from pain, but
that occurred, no doubt, when in his dreams he
encountered huge flaming dogs who threatened him
direfully.
His devotion to the child grew until it was a sublime
thing. He wagged at his approach; he sank down in
despair at his departure. He could detect the sound of
the child's step among all the noises of the
neighborhood. It was like a calling voice to him.
The scene of their companionship was a kingdom
governed by this terrible potentate, the child; but neither
criticism nor rebellion ever lived for an instant in the
heart of the one subject. Down in the mystic, hidden
fields of his little dog-soul bloomed flowers of love and
fidelity and perfect faith.
The child was in the habit of going on many expeditions
to observe strange things in the vicinity. On these
occasions his friend usually jogged aimfully along
behind. Perhaps, though, he went ahead. This
necessitated his turning around every quarter-minute to
make sure the child was coming. He was filled with a
large idea of the importance of these journeys. He would
carry himself with such an air! He was proud to be the
retainer of so great a monarch.
One day, however, the father of the family got quite
exceptionally drunk. He came home and held carnival
with the cooking utensils, the furniture and his wife. He
was in the midst of this recreation when the child,
followed by the dark-brown dog, entered the room. They
were returning from their voyages.
The child's practised eye instantly noted his father's
state. He dived under the table, where experience had
taught him was a rather safe place. The dog, lacking skill
in such matters, was, of course, unaware of the true
condition of affairs. He looked with interested eyes at his
friend's sudden dive. He interpreted it to mean: Joyous
gambol. He started to patter across the floor to join him.
He was the picture of a little dark-brown dog en route to
a friend.
The head of the family saw him at this moment. He gave
a huge howl of joy, and knocked the dog down with a
heavy coffee-pot. The dog, yelling in supreme
astonishment and fear, writhed to his feet and ran for
cover. The man kicked out with a ponderous foot. It
caused the dog to swerve as if caught in a tide. A
second blow of the coffee-pot laid him upon the floor.
Here the child, uttering loud cries, came valiantly forth
like a knight. The father of the family paid no attention to
these calls of the child, but advanced with glee upon the
dog. Upon being knocked down twice in swift
succession, the latter apparently gave up all hope of
escape. He rolled over on his back and held his paws in
a peculiar manner. At the same time with his eyes and
his ears he offered up a small prayer.
But the father was in a mood for having fun, and it
occurred to him that it would be a fine thing to throw the
dog out of the window. So he reached down and
grabbing the animal by a leg, lifted him, squirming, up.
He swung him two or three times hilariously about his
head, and then flung him with great accuracy through
the window.
The soaring dog created a surprise in the block. A
woman watering plants in an opposite window gave an
involuntary shout and dropped a flower-pot. A man in
another window leaned perilously out to watch the flight
of the dog. A woman, who had been hanging out clothes
in a yard, began to caper wildly. Her mouth was filled
with clothes-pins, but her arms gave vent to a sort of
exclamation. In appearance she was like a gagged
prisoner. Children ran whooping.
The dark-brown body crashed in a heap on the roof of a
shed five stories below. From thence it rolled to the
pavement of an alleyway.
The child in the room far above burst into a long,
dirgelike cry, and toddled hastily out of the room. It took
him a long time to reach the alley, because his size
compelled him to go downstairs backward, one step at a
time, and holding with both hands to the step above.
When they came for him later, they found him seated by
the body of his dark-brown friend.