A Dog's Tale

This article is about the story. For the 2020 play, see Mikron Theatre Company § Productions.

"A Dog's Tale" is a short story written by Mark Twain. It first appeared in the December 1903 issue of Harper's Magazine. In January of the following year it was extracted into a stand-alone pamphlet published for the National Anti-Vivisection Society. Still later in 1904 it was expanded into a book published by Harper & Brothers.

A Dog's Tale

First edition
Author	Mark Twain
Illustrator	W.T. Smedley
Language	English
Published	1904 (Harper & Brothers)
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardback)
Pages	55
Preceded by	Edmund Burke on Croker and Tammany
Followed by	A Horse's Tale

Plot

The book is told from the standpoint of a poor household pet, a dog self-described by the first sentence of the story: "My father was a St. Bernard, my mother was a collie, but I am a Presbyterian." The story begins with a description of the dog's life as a puppy and her separation from her mother, which to her was inexplicable. Her puppy and her owner's new child were soon added to her new home. When a fire breaks out in the nursery, the dog risks her life to drag the baby to safety. In the process, her motives are misunderstood and she is cruelly beaten by the father of the family with a cane, resulting in her leg getting broken. Soon, however, the truth of the situation is discovered and she receives no end of praise. Later in the story, her puppy dies, killed by the father of the family to prove his opinion on optics to his scientist peers. Only a servant seems to realize the irony of this, exclaiming, "Poor little doggie, you saved HIS child!" In the end, the dog (who does not realize her puppy is dead until her own hour is upon her) pines inconsolable over the grave of the puppy with the clear implication that she will do so until death.

External links

• A Dog's Tale at Project Gutenberg
• A Dog's Tale public domain audiobook at LibriVox