[1] This is similar to the Occidental custom of shaking hands on an agreement. [↑]
THE CHILDREN AND THE DOG
孩童與犬
Woo-Hsing lived near the market place and all the children thought him a very wonderful man. He trained fine dogs to do almost everything but talk. If one wanted a dog educated, Woo-Hsing was the man to take him to. Whether for hunting, for performing [[156]]tricks in public places or from door to door—anything, all things, Woo-Hsing could teach his dogs. This is why the children thought him a wonderful man.
It came time for Woo-Hsing’s little boy to learn how to teach dogs. So one day he brought his son a very young one from the market place. Then he told him how the dog should be taught. It would take three years to teach him all: to play soldier with a gun, to dance, to bow his head, to kneel, to play churn the rice,[1] to swim in water with a boy on his back, or to take a basket and go from door to door and beg rice and money for his master. Even then his training was not complete until he could hunt the fox, the gibbon, the mouse-deer, and other animals.
Woo-Hsing’s little boy had been named Yiong-Yueng, which in Chinese means “Forever.” The reason for the name was this: Woo-Hsing had been given many sons, but they had all died young, so when the last one came he named him Forever, for he said, “He will then live a long time and I shall not be childless.”
Yiong-Yueng called his dog Hsi-Long, which means “for fun.” He was a very wise dog and learned so [[157]]many tricks in a short time, that he was known and admired by all the boys in the country around.