Canis
The Faithful Dog
A man leaves his child alone in the nursery, guarded by his faithful and beloved dog. A serpent (or, in some versions, a wolf) enters, and tries to harm the infant, but the dog fights and kills it. In the commotion, the cradle is upturned, hiding the baby beneath it. When the bloody scene is discovered (often by the man's wife, or the child's nurse), the man assumes the dog has killed his child, and kills the dog - only to then discover the baby safely hidden.
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Canis is the only story found in Dolopathos, The Seven Sages, and also 'Eastern' versions of the narrative.
Motifs and Type: TMI B331.2.1 Woman slays faithful mongoose which has saved her child. TMI B331.2 Llewellyn and his dog. N340 Hasty killing or condemnation (mistake). ATU 178A The Innocent Dog. TU 1695 Dog and Serpent. Analogues: Tantrākhyāyka, 5; Maka Sogi Ritsu, 3; Kathasaritsagara, 64, 140; Panchatantra, Textus simplicior, 5.2 'The faithful Mongoose'; Textus ornatior (Pūrṇabhadra), 5.1; Hitopadesha, 4.11 'The hasty Priest and the loyal Mongoose'; Pantschâkhjâna-Wârtikka, 12 'Brahmanin und Ichneumon’; Kalila and Dimna, 6 (Frame Story) ‘The Devotee and Weasel’; Anwar-i-Suhaili, 6.1 ‘The Devotee who rashly destroyed the Weasel…’; Johannis de Capua, Directorium Humanae Vitae, 71 ‘Le père, le serpent et le chien’; Takagi Kin’nosuke, Tales from Cambodia, 5 ‘Mea Yun’; Jacques de Vitry, Exempla, 141 'A long account of the wickedness of tournaments'; Legrand d’Aussy, Anciens Fabliaux, 1.354-364, 'Le chien et le serpent, tiré du Dolopatos'; Pauli, Schimpf und Ernst, 257 'Umb Unschuld schlug einer den Hund'; Gellert, the English Loyal Dog (The World of English Folklore Literature, pp. 47-50). Reference stories, etc: Pausanias, Greek Chronicles, 10.33.9-10. In September 1996, the AP news agency in Sydney transmitted an article about a dog that bit a poisonous snake and killed it, saving three children in Australia. The dog was said to have been taken to a hospital after being weakened by the poison (‘Daily Sports’ on September 27 and ‘Tokyo Sports’ on September 28.). Brednich, Die Spinne in der Yucca-Palme, 68 ‘The Great Dane Who Choked’. Japanese analogues include Konjaku Monogatari-shu, 29.32; Sangoku Denki, 2.18 ‘The Hunter on the Riverbank’; Wa Kan Sansai Zue; Kasshi Yawa, 31.13 ‘Hound Dog’s fidelity’; Nihon Mukashibanashi Tsukan, 28. Additional sources: Takagi Toshio, A Study of Fairy Tales, pp. 199-203, and Studies in the Legends of Japanese Mythology, 2, ‘The Question of the Indian Origin of the Japanese Narratives’. Minakata Kumagusu, ‘Legends about Dogs’, in Juni-Shi-Ko. Oki Taku, Dog’s Folklore, pp. 159-164, ‘Misunderstood loyal dog’. Nihon Mukashibanashi Tsukan, ‘Kenkyu-hen 2’, 384. |
| Critical Literature |
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| Nishimura (2001), Clouston (1884), Campbell (1907), Perry (1959), Marzolph (2020) |
| Canis appears in the following versions and secondary versions |
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| Canis appears in the following manuscripts |
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