A Dog's Tale

by Mark Twain

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Pages: 15

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Chapter 1
7:09
Chapter 2
2:25
Chapter 3
19:30

A Dog's Tale (1903) is a public domain work.

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About this book

A dog's memories of her mother begin with a joke about grand words and the respect they can win. The mother borrows impressive language from human company and offers different meanings when other dogs ask for explanations. Beneath her vanity, she teaches kindness and courage through her own example. Her daughter carries those lessons into the Gray family's comfortable home, where children offer affection and a scientist's laboratory provides much that puzzles her.

Mark Twain's 1903 short story lets an animal describe human life with trust, humour and increasing fear. During a nursery fire, the dog remembers her mother's advice and pulls the baby to safety. Her master's angry response turns that act of care into an ordeal. The dog's account gives particular force to the gap between her intentions and the way people understand them. Readers interested in Twain's social criticism will find comic language alongside a close view of dependence, loyalty and cruelty.

About the author

Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He has been praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced", with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature".