"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.
