Storytelling Week 7: The Dog Couple and Their Human

The Dog Couple and Their Human

 

A long time ago, there lived an old dog and his wife who had very little money and no pups to give all of their love and affection to so, they gave all of their love to their pet human. The little human was not spoiled and ungrateful but instead loved the old dog couple unconditionally and followed the couple everywhere they went.

                One hot afternoon, the dog was hard at work digging in his garden with his little human by his side. Growing tired, the old dog wiped the sweat off of his forehead with his paw and rose to head into the house. As he was leaving the garden, he noticed that his little human was digging at a spot on the other side of the garden. There was nothing unusual about this as his little human loved to pick up his toy shovel and dig but this time, the little human ran to his master and started jumping up and down and yelling. The human kept on doing this until the old dog followed him to the spot he was digging. The little human was so excited that his yelling brought the little old dog’s wife out of the house. The little human continued to dig until he dug up a small box. When the old dog grabbed the box and opened it, he found that it was filled with gold coins. Soon, the wealth of the little old dog couple and their incredible little human spread around the town.

                The little old dog couple’s neighbor, the cat, grew so envious of them that he found himself unable to eat, sleep, or think about anything else besides how to steal the dog couple’s wealth. The cat begged the old man to let him borrow his dear little human so that he may become rich as well. With much hesitation, the little old dog finally agreed to lend the cat his human only if he promised to take good care of him. As soon as the cat took the human home, he turned him loose into his backyard. Once in the backyard, the little did nothing but run around and play. He waited all day and all night for the dog to show him the way to the undiscovered riches. Alas, nothing happened and the cat grew so angry at the little human that he loaded him in his car, drove out into the forest and pushed the little human out of his car, leaving him there to die.

                The next day, the cat realized what he had done and quickly ran to the old dog couple’s house. Instead of telling the truth, he lied to the old couple and said that their little human ran away. The little old dog couple was so devastated that they wept for days and days. Weeks passed and the little old couple began to lose all hope. One night, as the couple was sitting in their dining room having dinner, they heard a familiar sound. They jumped up from their table and ran outside. Running outside, they were reunited with their precious little human and vowed to never let him leave their sight again. The cat, plagued with guilt, fled the town and was never heard from again and everyone lived happily ever after.  

(Japanese Gold Coin)

Author's Note: This story is based on the Japanese tale, The Envious Neighbor. I decided to switch the roles of the dog and the humans to make the story a little more fun. In the story, the neighbor becomes so angry with the dog that he kills him. I decided to change this part because I felt that killing the dog was a little gruesome and I wanted to make my story a little more lighthearted.

Bibliography: This story is based on the story The Envious Neighbor that is part of the Japanese Fairy Tales(Lang)  written by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H.J. Ford(1901).