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. One night Kotuko the dog, who, had been unusually sullen in harness, leaped up and pushed his head against Kotuko’s knee. Kotuko patted him, but the dog still pushed blindly forward, fawning. Then Kadlu waked, and gripped the heavy wolf-like head, and stared into the glassy eyes. The dog whimpered and shivered |
This is from “Quiquern” in The Jungle Book. It is a dsperately hard Arctic winter. The inuit people have failed to get across ice barriers to hunt, and are in danger of starving. The dogs too are near the edge of endurance. The leading dog goes ceazy and runs away, with another, their harnesses tangled together. Two young inuit venture out into the darkness across the ice. After a perilous journey following the dogs they find the seal and the village is saved. |
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the minute I released her she mouthed my right wrist once more, and waited with her ears back and all her body flattened, ready to bite. The big dog’s tail thumped the floor in a humble and peace-making way. I grabbed Vixen a second time, lifted her out of bed like a rabbit (she hated that and yelled), and, as I had promised, set her out in the verandah |
This is from “Garm, a hostage“, collected in Actions and Reactions. The story-teller has a soldier friend who is prone to get into trouble, and decides to leave his great bull terrier with him as a hostage for good conduct. Here the story-teller’s own little terrier is protesting out of jealousy of the strange-dog. The following day he saves her life from a pack of savage pariah dogs and she accepts him. Later in the tale he returns joyfully to his master. |
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The lightning spattered the sky as a thrown egg spattered a barn door, but the light was pale blue, not yellow; and looking through my slit bamboo blinds, I could see the great dog standing, not sleeping, in the veranda, the hackles alift on her back, and her feet planted as tensely as the drawn wire rope of a suspension bridge. In the very short pauses of the thunder I tried to sleep, but it seemed that some one wanted me very badly. |
This is from “The Return of Imray” from Life’s Handicap The storyteller is staying in Struckland’s bungalow. The previous tenant was Imray, who had mysteriously disappeared. On a thunderous night Strickand’s dog is restless, sensing a strange presence in the house. Later they find the body of Imray, with his throat cut, hidden in the roof. |
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