100 Dogs Who Changed Civilization Read Online Free PDF Page B

famous account,
A Brief Chronicle of the Destruction of the Indies
. “The Indians were more afraid of ten Spanish soldiers accompanied byBecerrillo than by 100 soldiers without him.”
    After fighting in numerous engagements, Becerrillo’s body was covered with battle scars. In exchange for his service, he was treated like a regular soldier and even got a cut of the booty—though what use a dog might have for such possessions is hard to imagine.
    Although the huge fighting dog gained a well-deserved reputation for ferocity in battle, there were some actions to which he wouldn’t stoop. The story is told of how, after a rout of Native American fighters on the island of Puerto Rico, Becerrillo’s handler, Diego de Salazar, thought up a “game” for the entertainment of his comrades. In the aftermath of the battle, Salazar and his friends had nothing to do but await the arrival of the territorial governor—the legendary Juan Ponce de León. Salazar called over an old Native American woman, gave her a piece of paper, told her it contained a message for the governor, and ordered her to take it to him immediately, on pain of death. The terrified woman started walking. A few moments later, Salazar commanded Becerrillo to attack her.
    According to tales from the time, the great dog launched himself at his target with fangs bared, and the old woman fell to her knees and begged her would-be killer for mercy. Then something strange happened. Incredibly, Becerrillo, who is reckoned to have slaughtered scores of humanbeings in battle, defied his master’s instructions. He sniffed curiously at the woman, then turned around and walked away.
    His conquistador friends were aghast, to say the least. Some were so shaken by the dog’s actions that they claimed it must have been caused by divine intervention. Others were ashamed that a dog refused to commit the sort of cold-blooded murder that his human compatriots would have done without a second thought.
    Not long afterward, Ponce de León arrived and was told the story. He ordered the old woman to be freed and returned to her people, then commanded that no further acts of vengeance be carried out against the local population. “I will not permit the compassion and forgiveness of a dog to outshine that of a true Christian,” he reportedly said.
    Becerrillo was, indeed, a killer. But unlike his friends, he wasn’t a murderer.

SAUR
THE DOG WHO BECAME A
NORWEGIAN KING

    Ancient Viking chronicles tell a strange tale of twelfth-century political intrigue. There are various versions of the story, but the most common goes like this: When Norwegian king Eystein Magnusson conquered the land of Throndhjem, he appointed his son, Onund, to rule in his stead. But the people killed Onund and rose in rebellion. Magnusson, who was more than a little angry about the revolt and the loss of his child, crushed all resistance with great ferocity.
    After the fighting stopped, the irate king offered the survivors a choice of leadership. They could either bow and swear eternal loyalty to his slave—a man named Thorer Faxe—or they could take as their leader the sovereign’s dog, Saur (an obscenity that means “excrement”).
    The people reportedly accepted the dog, on the notion that because dogs don’t live all that long, they would be free of him sooner. History doesn’t say how long they had to endure this humiliation. But it does state that Saur was given a throne, a court, a lavish home, and even a collar of gold.

BICHE
THE DOG WHO ALMOST
DESTROYED THE KINGDOM
OF PRUSSIA

    For centuries, the country we now call Germany was nothing but a loose collection of tiny kingdoms, municipalities, and city-states. Not surprisingly, they were easy prey for the larger European nations surrounding them. It wasn’t until the sixteenth century that the Kingdom of Prussia, a miniscule bit of territory on the periphery of Central Europe,