“N-no.” Watch answered thoughtfully, scratching his shoulder. “I’d rather not. I’m afraid you mightn’t understand.”
“Yes, I would,” teased Nibble. “Of course I would. In the very First-Off Beginning the dog made friends with the Baby and the Woman because he made them laugh. Did he make the Man laugh, too?”
“Why—yes. I expect he did,”
Watch answered. “You see, the Man wasn’t friendly when he came home. But the Woman and the Baby made him behave nicely. They always do. That is, they wouldn’t let him hit the dog with his stone hammer, or jab him with his spear. But he wouldn’t look at him. And the dog wanted that Man to trust him—wanted it most of all.
“So he began following the Man when he went out to hunt. But the Man threw stones at him as soon as they got where the Woman couldn’t see him do it, and told him to keep out of the way. The dog just crept off and hid.
“He saw the Man creep up on a band of wild cows that were grazing and sleeping in the sun. But just when he was almost close enough to kill one they all began to snort and run. And they ran right past where the dog was hiding from the Man.
“Of course he knew what that Man wanted. So he just bounded out and pinned a cow by the throat and sent her head over heels. And that did make the Man laugh. My, but he was happy! So then he trusted the dog, too, and they were the best of friends for ever and ever.” And Watch smiled as though he were right proud of the memory.
But Nibble was horrified. “Oh!” he gasped. “The poor cow! That was an awful thing to do. After the dogs pretended to be sorry that they had done it when they were starving. No wonder Mother Nature wouldn’t trust them.”
“There,” said Watch. “I knew you wouldn’t understand. He didn’t do it for himself. He did it for his Man.”
“The Wild Things warned me,” said Nibble. “Both of them are bad, Dog and Man.”