قصص من الادب الامريكى
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 gravelالحصى.
Sunshine beat upon the cobblesالحصى,
and a lazy summer wind raised yellow dust which trailed in clouds down the
avenue. Clatteringخشن trucks moved with
indistinctiveness 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.
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