"My father was a St. Bernard, my mother was a collie, but I am a Presbyterian."
You may recognize this line from the short story 'A Dog's Tale' written by Mark Twain. The story first appeared in the December 1903 issue of Harper's magazine. Later, it was extracted into a stand-alone pamphlet and published for the National Anti-Vivisection Society. Ultimately, in 1904 it was expanded into a book published by Harper & Brothers.
Here's a brief summary of the story:
When a fire breaks out in the nursery, the dog risks her life to drag the baby to safety. In the process, her motives are misunderstood and she is cruelly beaten. Soon however, the truth of the situation is discovered and she receives no end of praise.
This is a great story but the reality is - It was all conceived in the mind of Mark Twain. Please take a look at the video below for a real life Dog's Tale!
This surely looks like a clip from a Lassie episode doesn't it? I'm not sure what happened to the two dogs but in my mind - This was truly an act of courage.
Hero Dog - I salute you!
Godspeed!
The complete text of the A Dog's Tale book is now in the public domain and can be viewed at:
A Dog's Tale. It's a quick and short read. I hope you will take a few minutes to enjoy it.
"In memory of me, when there is a time of danger to another do not think of yourself, think of your mother, and do as she would do.”
Edit: The video is from a traffic camera overlooking the busy Costanera Norte freeway in Santiago, Chile. The Hero dog is one of approximately 220,000 stray dogs in the Santiago area. The viewing of this video quickly went viral and there were instantly many offers to adopt this dog. Unfortunately, the dog ran away from the rescue workers and has not been located as of this posting. I have no confirmed reports of the injured dog but some unconfirmed reports indicate that the injured dog may have died.
11 comments:
I got lost in your blog and ended up in 2008 (the post on that amazing subway hero). ~But I'd forgotten about that heroic man, and it was good to be freshly inspired!
I'm glad you posted this. I'd heard a brief news tease on the story but never found a minute to track it down. Truly remarkable. Very emotional stuff... I'll definitely read the Twain short. Love the first line.
You make me feel guilty whingeing about my cat!
I guess that dog's actions are indicative of why human's like animals (even the mad ones) so much...their capacity for unconditional love.
I could barely bring myself to watch that clip; I hate watching animals suffer.
Wow, that is amazing. That is why I love dogs.
Footsteps,
You got lost did you? Funny what you can stumble upon when you're lost. The subway hero was a great story in my opinion. Thanks for your comment on that post. The Twain short was a good/quick read. Shocking bit of irony in it. Huh?
Miss Jane... Cat? Dogs? What can I say? There are cat people and there are dog people. Sounds like you're a cat person with a psycho kitty. Pets - All you can do is love them. :)
Dickster is a Dog person no doubt... :) Me too.
Terribly sad!! Twain's style is so wonderful, though; I can forgive a sad ending. -Loved Aileen's descriptions of her mom and their relationship.
I don't know if I've read any other of his short stories besides the "Jumping Frog" one. I've bookmarked a page that has several listed for future reading.
Heather,
I've found Twain to be very clever and quite boyish at times. It seems he leaves a lot open in his stories for the reader to add his/her interpretation. This story is a classic example. It still pulls at my heart strings...
Dickster is a Dog person no doubt... :) Me too.
No doubt. Would love to have a dog again but Mrs. Dickster won't let me. Plus my autistic son got frightened by an overly friendly black lab when he was little, so he is afraid of dogs to this day
That's amazing!
Did these dogs know each other from before? Were they doggie BFF's???
I had seen that on the news. Wasn't it amazing?
PussDaddy
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