Renni the Rescuer Read Online Free PDF Page B

almost went crazy with joy. At home George showed the book to hismother. When she said, “Let me have it,” he did so readily enough, merely asking, “Why?”
    Her answer was a brief “Just so.”
    That, to be sure, was not a very clear reason, but it served between this understanding pair. Mother Marie held the book out to Renni. “Look at this. It’s meant for you.”
    The dog sniffed at it for a second and drew back as if afraid.
    â€œMaybe he guesses what’s in it.” She laughed.
    * * *
    After a few days she laid the book down before George.
    â€œWell?” he asked.
    â€œRead it yourself.” This time she did not smile.
    George repeated the question urgently. “I’d like to know what you think, Mother.”
    Mother Marie went out of the room without a word. George believed that he had her opinion. So he read it himself, but he was not, as Karl had prophesied, convinced by what he read, not by any means. Moreover, the soft-hearted nonsense remained uncured. Instead, itwent wild. George became all excited. His gentle manner utterly vanished whenever he thought or spoke of what he had read.
    â€œWhat do you say, Mother?” he said, half-angry and half-worried. “ ‘Every once in a while a switching! Every once in a while a sound thrashing!’ What do you say to that?”
    â€œEveryone according to his own judgment,” said Mother Marie, trying to calm him. “There’s no denying the wonderful things dogs have accomplished.”
    George hastened to defend his position. “They would have done just as much if not more without punishment. A policeman told me once that while dogs were in training they were not allowed to be struck in any circumstances.”
    Mother Marie smiled. “That might be so.”
    â€œOf course it’s so. I saw the man working with his dog. The reason I spoke to him was because I liked the way he went about it and from then on my desire to own a dog like his became stronger and stronger.” He tapped the book. “Here they warn you not to attributea soul to animals, or a real capacity to think. They settle everything with the word instinct. Instinct! Could there possibly be a word more meaningless than instinct? Oh, how arrogant men are! They think that they can settle the whole inner life of creatures as simply as that. These wonderful dogs are mysterious because they seek our company! They are made servile only by our craving to command! Just because they help us, because they want to help us!
    â€œWe are a long, long way from valuing properly their unbounded love, their unquestioning yet intelligent devotion. We take it altogether too much for granted. We can’t appreciate their simple, candid natures, their inability to lie, because we don’t always tell the truth ourselves. Who was it said, ‘The more I see of men, the better I like dogs’?”
    George, ordinarily so quiet, had suddenly become an orator and a high-flying orator at that. His mother listened to him in astonishment. “Now, you’re going too far.”
    â€œI couldn’t possibly go too far.” His excitementswept him along. “Too far? Impossible! What have men ever done to repay all the loyalty, all the sacrifices, all the countless proofs of idolatry they have always taken as a matter of course? Feed them? Ridiculous! The dog was originally a beast of prey. He could very well have provided for his own food. To be sure, he might have become extinct if he hadn’t come to man of his own free will thousands of years ago. But it was a pretty poor piece of business for him when he did, though a very profitable one for man. Just think of all the irresistible ways they have of attaching themselves to us.
    â€œThey don’t harm chickens, geese or other animals that belong to men. They guard and protect them. That’s been going on for thousands of years. You know how it is in