The Adventures of a Dog, and a Good Dog Too

[Footnote A: I have preferred adopting this word in speaking of female dogs, as it comes nearer to the original, zaïyen.]

As we were very poor, we were forced to live in a wretched kennel in the dampest part of the town, among dogs no better off than ourselves. The place we occupied overhung the water, and one day when the old doggess was punishing me for something I had done, the corner in which I was crouched being rotten, gave way, and I fell plump into the river. I had never been in the water before, and I was very frightened, for the stream was so rapid that it carried me off and past the kennels I knew, in an instant. I opened my mouth to call out for help; but as I was almost choked with the water that got into it, I shut it again, and made an effort to reach the land. To my surprise I found that, by moving my paws and legs, I not only got my head well above the water, but was able to guide myself to the bank, on to which I a