HOW THE KEESHOND GOT HIS GAIT

By One Who Was Properly Raised on Kipling's "Just So Stories"

Miss Kempe, Evenlode Kennels, England

"In the High and Far Off Times, O Best Beloved, there came (from nowhere in particular) to the land of ice and snow of the Northern Hemisphere, a party of little grey foxy dogs; and they were very unhappy. Their narrow feet sank into the snow and they could not catch anything for dinner because when they ran they slipped and slithered and sat down hard on their little bottoms SMAKK­and this, O Best Beloved, hurt their tails very much. The little foxy dogs wandered about getting hungrier and hungrier when one day they saw a Rabbit sitting on a piece of toast in the middle of the Ice and Snow of the Northern Hemisphere. Dinner! Yelped the foxy dogs but the Rabbit (Welsh forebears he had indeed, yes) thumped the piece of toast and hopped away while the poor foxy dogs slipped and slithered and sat down on their little bottoms SMAKK and hurt their tails very much! Silently the Snowy Owl drifted to a perch on top of the North Pole where she sat looking with round yellow eyes at the Snow Leopard asleep in the Midnight Sun. 'Feet, feet', she screeched. The foxy dogs looked too. 'He's got round feet,' they said to each other. Snow Leopard woke up, stretched and bounded away over the snow­just as easy as that! 'We should grow feet like that.' And then, O Best Beloved, the Wind of Change blew strongly over the Ice and Snow of the Northern Hemisphere and the feet of the little foxy dogs became round and car-like so they could walk over the snow just like the Snow Leopard did. But, and this is important, they still slipped and slithered and sat down hard on their little bottoms SMAKK and hurt their tails very much. Then one day, O Best Beloved, they came upon a Pig dancing a jig in the Arctic Circle. 'Dinner' cried the foxy dogs but the Pig threw away his flute (for wasn't he called Phil) and scampered away squealing under a gate, which, as everyone knows is the proper place for a pig to squeal. 'You should wear your tails like I do,' he squeaked. 'Then you wouldn't get hurt when you sit down-SMAKK.' The Wind of Change came whistling over the Ice and Snow of the Northern Hemisphere; the foxy little dogs hoisted their tails and curled them tightly over their backs out of harm's way. Wasn't THAT a good idea, Best Beloved? But they still could not run about on the ice without slipping and slithering and this was very bothersome for them so, to cheer themselves up, they went off to watch a Fireworks Display by Aurora Borealis when, suddenly with great whistling and roaring a huge ICE-Blue Winged Horse, wearing a red beret over one ear, touched down on the Ice and Snow of the Northern Hemisphere. The little foxy dogs were very startled and sat down again SMAKK! The great Ice Blue Horse snorted and shivered his wings. 'Always adapt your actions to the conditions in which you find yourselves,' said he. Now, Best Beloved, YOU and I know that if we want to walk on a slippery road we must take short quick steps and this was what the great Ice Blue Horse meant. Then while the wind of Change rustled his wing feathers and stirred the long grey coats of the little foxy coats the great Ice Blue Horse, wearing a red beret over one eye, taught them to do just that! They trotted round the Arctic Circle, they trotted round the North Pole, they trotted North, South, East, West, till they no longer slipped and slithered and sat down hard on their little bottoms SMAKK! The Great Ice Blue Horse flew away but in a thousand years or so returned to the Ice and Snow of the Northern Hemisphere to see how the little foxy dogs were getting on. 'We don't like this place' they told him, 'there is no one for us to love' (this was true, Best Beloved, there wasn't anyone to love them) and they pricked their ears and fluttered their tails­'Please, Pegasus, take us away with you.' 'I shall be going to Arnem,' he said quietly, 'I could drop you there.' The little grey foxy dogs at once jumped on to the back of the great Ice Blue Horse, curled up between the mighty wings and they all flew away from the Ice and Snow of the Northern Hemisphere to a country of Waterways, Windmills, and Wooden Shoes. There Dutchmen in baggy trousers who disliked oranges were kind to the little grey foxy dogs, calling them­Keeshonden. And so, Best Beloved, for always and always, the grey foxy dogs called Keeshonden will carry their tails curled tightly over their backs and run with short, sharp action learned on the Ice and Snow of the Northern Hemisphere."