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The Border Patrol Had Four Legs
A 1901 collection recounts dogs carrying contraband across Netherlands frontiers before 1795. One dog travelled ahead of the laden animals. If it scented customs officers, it turned back, signalling the others to retreat. At the receiver’s house, the scout went first again; a whistle meant the others could approach with their goods. The dogs carried the contraband, but people supplied the cargo and destination: behind the animal operation was human smuggling.
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Start Again at the Note You Missed
Transcript
A family could see into a box where a wren had made her nest. What they watched became a small story about patience. The mother bird perched at the opening and sang. One of her young attempted to follow. A few notes came, then the little voice faltered. In the family’s account, the mother began again at the point where it had stopped. The youngster resumed. When it faltered once more, she supplied the remainder. Eventually it reached the end. Then came another young bird, and another attempt. A Hundred Anecdotes of Animals, the nineteen hundred and one collection, calls this story Learning to Sing. Its narrator understood the repeated exchanges as lessons, with the mother returning again and again to the troublesome passage. That is the interpretation handed down in the book. The scene itself is easy to linger over: a family watching a nest box, listening to a song begin, break off, and begin again.
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Dogs at the Door
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Three Traps, Three Free Meals
A Greenland whaler wanted to catch a bear without damaging its skin. In “Sagacious Bruin,” a story in a 1901 collection, his rope trap repeatedly became a source of dinner, for the bear. First, the bear took the bait, slipped a foot from the noose and escaped. Next, it moved the reset rope aside. When the sailors buried the rope in snow, the bear reportedly scraped it clear and left with the meat again. The humor is in their confidence that each new attempt would work.
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The Sermon With a Second Performer
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A priest was delivering his sermon when his congregation began to laugh. He rebuked them. They laughed still more. What he could not see was the performer just above his head. In this story from A Hundred Anecdotes of Animals, published in nineteen hundred and one, the priest had raised an ape that liked to follow him everywhere. Before church, he usually shut it in his room. This time it escaped. The animal climbed onto the sounding-board above the pulpit and waited for the sermon to begin. Then it leaned over the edge and copied the preacher’s gestures. The more earnestly the priest protested, the more vigorously he moved. Above him, the ape supplied an exact reply. The congregation could no longer contain itself. At last a friend stepped forward and pointed out the cause. Now even the priest struggled to keep a straight face as he ordered the animal taken away. His audience had been paying attention after all. There had simply been two performances to watch.
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The Cat Who Interrupted His Troubles
How many times have her caresses made me forget my troubles, and consoled me in my misfortunes!Sonnini, as quoted in “Sonnini…[1]
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Seals, Ships, and Sofas
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One Hearth, Three Companions
the whole three sporting and sleeping together on the same hearth.The collection’s unnamed narra…[1]
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Birds and Their Guardians
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The Horses on Either Side
These two horses, drawing the hay out of the rack, chewed it, and then put it before the old horseThe collection’s unnamed narra…[1]
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