The two short animal stories in this book are written by Mark Twain. They are “A Dogs Tale” and “The Stolen White Elephant”.
A DOGS TALE is told from the perspective of a loyal pet, starting with first sentence of the story, “My father was a St. Bernard, my mother was a collie, but I’m a Presbyterian.” This is followed by a description of the life of the dog as a puppy and its separation from its mother. When a fire breaks out in the nursery, the dog risks his life to drag the child to safety. In the process, her are motives misunderstood and cruelly beaten. This mirrors the legend of Prince Llewellyn 1st of Wales and his loyal dog. Soon, however, the truth about the situation and she discovered endless praise. Later in history, his puppy dies after his owner conducted biological experiments. Only a servant seems to realize the irony and said, “Poor little dog, you saved his child!” Ultimately, the dog is inconsolable and pines at the tomb of the puppy with clear implications that it will do so until death
In THE STOLEN WHITE ELEPHANT, a detective mystery, a Siamese (Thai) white elephant, en route from Siam to Britain as a gift to Queen Victoria, breaks free and disappears in New Jersey. The local police department goes into high gear to solve the mystery. The elephant’s actions and movements are related in a number of telegrams sent by the detectives tracking the animal. The inspector becomes suspicious of the telegram’s content and tracks down the elephant himself, unfortunately with tragic consequences. ============ KEYWORDS/TAGS: fairy tales, Animal stories, childrens book, folklore, myths, legends, children’s stories, childrens stories, bygone era, ethereal, fairy land, classic stories, famous authors, Mark Twain, Samuel Clemens, children’s bedtime stories, childrens books, happy place, happiness, laughter, A dogs tale, The Stolen White Elephant, puppy, pine, loyal, loyalty, save, fire, rescue, scold, praise, ignore, White Elephant, enroute, India, England, Queen Victoria, New York, escape, break free, steal, hide, false, reports, investigate, actions,
Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature." His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), with the latter often called the "Great American Novel." Twain also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), and co-wrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.