The story we are telling now is actually divided into two parts: the first part can be omitted, but it gives us a little preliminary plot--which is useful.
We live in a mansion in the country.It happened that the owner was going out for a day.At the same time a lady arrived from a neighboring town.She had a pug with her; she had come, she said, to dispose of her shares in the tannery.She brought all the papers: we all advised her to put them in an envelope and write the owner's address on it:
"Director of Combat Depots, Sir" and so on.
She listened to us, picked up the pen at the same time, thought for a while, and then asked us to read the opinion slowly again.We agreed, and she wrote it.When she wrote "Operation... Director...", she stopped writing, sighed and said, "But I'm just a woman!"
While she was writing, she put the pug on the ground.It growled loudly.She had brought it for its interest and health, and therefore it should not be left on the ground.Its appearance is characterized by an upturned nose and a fat back.
"It doesn't bite!" said Mrs. "He had no teeth. He was like a member of the family, loyal and bad-tempered. But that's because my grandson used to make fun of him: they played the wedding game and made him pretend to be the bride.
Poor little old man, it's too much for him! "
She handed over her papers, and she took her pug in her arms.This is the first part of the story, which can be omitted. "The pug is dead!"
This is the second part of the story.
It was a week later: we came to town and settled down in an inn.
Our windows faced the tannery yard.The yard is divided into two parts by a wooden fence.In one hung a lot of hides—raw and worked hides.All the necessary utensils for tanning are here, and belonged to the widow, and the pug died in the morning, and was buried in this yard at the same time.The widow's grandchildren (that is, the widowed grandchildren of the tannery owner, since Pug never married) covered the grave.It is a beautiful tomb - it must be a pleasure to lie in it.
Some fragments of flower pots were inlaid around the tomb, and some sand was sprinkled on it.
There is also half a beer bottle inserted on the top of the grave, with the neck of the bottle facing up-this has no symbolic meaning.
Children dance around the tomb.The oldest of them all—a very down-to-earth seven-year-old—proposed a pug grave display for all the people on the street to come and see.The ticket price is a trouser button, because that's what every boy has, and there are extras to buy tickets for the girls.This proposal was passed unanimously.
All the kids in the street—even the kids in the back streets—flock to the place and give their buttons.One could see many children this afternoon with only a suspenders hanging from their trousers, but they saw the pug's grave, and it was worth the price to see.
But outside the tannery, next to the entrance, stood a ragged girl.She was lovely, and her curly hair was beautiful, and her eyes were so blue and bright that it was a pleasure to see.She didn't say a word, but she didn't cry either.Every time the door was opened, she would look inside wistfully for a long time.
She hadn't a single button--she knew that very well, and she stayed out sadly until the other children had visited the grave and gone.Then she sat down, covered her eyes with her little brown hands, and cried; she was the only one who hadn't seen Pug's grave.As far as she was concerned, it was a sad thing, about the same kind of sad things grown-ups often feel.
We see this from above, and watch from above.
This sadness, like our own and that of many others, makes us smile!That's the whole story.Anyone who doesn't understand it can go to the widow's tannery and buy a share.
