A children’s story
Once upon a time there was a dog. A big, brown dog, with shaggy fur and yellow eyes. He was a very brave dog. When strangers came by his house, he would not run away. He would bark at them. “Woof, woof!” the dog would say. And the neighbours would run away.
One day, when our brave dog was in the yard, tied to a stake so he could only move around within a ten-foot radius, a stranger came along. But this was no ordinary stranger. This stranger was wearing a long, dark coat, darker than our dog’s brown fur. In fact, the coat was quite black. It had the look of a criminal’s coat. Whether he was a criminal or not, our dog knew not. For dogs, you see, do not really know that much. They just sense when someone means them well or harm, and they react so as to protect their territory when necessary. And sometimes even when it’s not necessary. Besides, dogs don’t know what a criminal is, since they don’t know the meaning of “crime.” They don’t think abstractly as humans do.
Anyway, this stranger who looked like a criminal came along, wearing a coat darker than the dog’s fur. He also had a dark, round hat on. The stranger, not the dog. Since he had the look of a criminal, he might have been planning to rob the house at which the dog was tied up. But no one knew this. And only the dog was there to see the stranger. So, immediately, the dark barked.
“Woof, woof!” said the dog.
Suddenly, the stranger stopped. He was still yards away from the dog—or shall I say, meters—and not yet on the front lawn of the dog’s territory. But the dog could sense he was moving towards him. This is one of those things dogs can sense. Especially when they see it.
The stranger put his hand into his pocket. Our dog had never seen a gun before, since most of the people he barked at and chased away were small children, and small children aren’t allowed to play with guns. So our dog didn’t know that when a stranger puts his hand into his pocket—especially the pocket of a long, dark coat—he might pull out a gun. But he did know that sometimes his master would put his hand into his pocket and pull out a dog treat. So our dog thought he was going to get a treat. But instead, the stranger pulled out a knife. It wasn’t a very big knife, but it was shiny. And most of all, it looked sharp. The dog had seen a knife before, but mostly when his master was preparing dinner. But this time there was no dinner in sight.
So the dog decided to do something. He decided to bark again. “Woof, woof!” said the dog. “Woof, woof!”
This caused the stranger to stick the knife out further towards the dog. But the stranger didn’t seem very scared. He must have worked out his fear of barking animals as a child. In fact, he started moving closer, stepping onto the lawn which was part of the dog’s territory. Most people didn’t do this. Therefore, he must have been a criminal. Besides, he was threatening the dog with a knife by this point, which pretty much makes him a clear and certain criminal. I’m not sure what law that breaks, but it must be against the law to threaten someone else’s dog.
The stranger took a few quick steps toward the door of the dog’s house, clearly trespassing on the dog’s owner’s property. This alarmed our dog exceedingly, and he was not about to let it passed. He barked furiously now, and growled, and tugged at the rope that was holding him to the stake in the middle of the ten-foot radius to which he was currently confined.
As he pulled and pulled, and tugged and tugged, and barked and barked, the stake began to bend, and the rope began to slip, and all at once, the rope (which wasn’t very secure) slid right off the stake, and the dog was free! He rushed at the stranger, barking a biting, as the stranger was still heading towards the door. He grabbed his pant leg, while the stranger lunged the knife at him. But our dog had him so fast that he swept him off his feet, and he couldn’t properly aim the knife, and he lost his balance, and the knife just hit the ground and stuck into the dirt, slicing a few blades of grass on the way.
The dog pulled and pulled at the stranger’s pant leg. He dragged him across the lawn, kicking and groaning. Just then, a neighbour, who had heard the commotion, came out of his house to see what was going on. He saw the dog and the stranger struggling, and came to figure out which one needed help. He quickly ascertained that this stranger was up to know good, and called the police.
The police took a while to get to the scene, and the stranger managed to get his pant leg free and started running away. The neighbour, who was not very interested in chasing a criminal, stayed on the phone and told the police which way the criminal was running. As far as we could tell, the stranger was probably caught a few blocks away. However, our dog didn’t learn that fact, since dogs aren’t usually told these things. They aren’t privy to the news or the results of the events they witness. But our dog had a feeling he’d done something of which the neighbour and his master both approved, since they both gave him some treats that day. And that made him feel pretty good.
The End.
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