This is perhaps the finest study of the mindof a dog ever written. The author is a famousAustrian novelist, a great stylist, and a man ofextreme delicacy and subtlety of mind. Hestudies Bashan with such insight, and describeswhat he learnt with such art, that one feelsthat no one can ever again penetrate moredeeply into that charming, wistful mystery,the mind of a dog, and his feeling towardsmankind.
It was during the war that Thomas Mann,one of the great modern stylists, wrote thissimple little idyll as a refuge and relief. Itwas a flight from the hideous realities of theworld to the deeper realities of Nature,from the hate and inhumanity of man tothe devotion and lovableness of the brute.This delectable symphony of human andcanine psychology, of love of nature andof pensive humour, struck the true noteof universality, a document packed withgreater potencies in this direction than thedeliberate, idealistic manifestos of the pacifists.It is for these reasons that the bookhas acquired a permanent charm, value,and significance, not only beyond the confinesof the war and the confines of theauthor’s own land and language, but alsobeyond those of the period.
In every land there still exists the samefriendly and primitive relation between manand the dog, brought to its fullest expressionof strength and beauty in the environmentof the green world, rural or suburban.
Simple and unpretentious as a statementby Francis d’Assisi, yet full of a gentlemodern sophistication and humour, this littlework will bring delight and refreshment toall who seek flight from the heavy-ladenhour. It is, moreover, one of the mostsubtle and penetrating studies of the psychologyof the dog that has ever been written—tenderyet unsentimental, realistic and fullof the detail of masterly observation anddescription, yet in its final form and precipitationa work of exquisite literary art.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
When spring, which all men agree is thefairest season of the year, comes roundagain and happens to do honour to its name,I love to go for half an hour’s