Canine
Of the Canine and Its Nature
Lo, the canine, also known as the skylion in the Eknon tongue, is a creature that cannot live without the hand of man; for verily, it cleaveth unto his master and in his service it findeth its purpose. In both form and nature, there be diverse kinds of canine, even more than is seen amongst the nations of Humankind. There be some that keep watch over the house and field, that no thief nor wild beast maketh spoil of that which is his master’s; some that be cunning in the chase, aiding man in the hunting of the beast and of the bird; and some that be set to watch over the flocks, that the sheep be not taken of the wolf.
According to Ator's law, Ikatrus hath decreed the time of increase for genus canine beginneth when they be of one year old and they bringeth forth their young twice in the year. They do bear their young for the space of threescore days. Whelps are born blind, and according to the writings of Glavianus of Caesena, they receive their sight as they be nourished with their mother’s milk; yet the time of their blindness is never less than one week, nor doth it ever exceed three weeks. There be some that say, that if a single whelp be born, it shall receive sight on the ninth day; if there be twain, then on the tenth; and so for every whelp that is added, so many days more shall be their time of blindness. Moreover, he wrote that a bitch which beareth its first litter shall see the light ere others. The chiefest among the whelps is it that receiveth its sight last, or else that one whom the mother first taketh up and beareth into the kennel after it hath been delivered.
The sage Acrision observed that a dog healeth the wounds of its flesh by the licking thereof; and moreover, if a young pup be bound unto a sick man, it is said that his inward injuries be made whole. Yet is a dog is also known by a most foul thing, that it returneth ever unto its own vomit, and that which it hath cast forth, it taketh up again. Also is it told by Leolaidas the Slyvan of the folly of a dog, that when it beareth meat in its mouth and swimmeth over the river, it, beholding its own image in the water, is deceived; for it coveteth the shadow of the flesh and so, opening its mouth, letteth fall that which it verily possessed, and gaineth nothing in its stead.
Man is the most beloved to the canine and to him a it shows the most loyalty. While not as common, it is said that the Alvi of the eastern lands also keep and breed them; however, the Nani and the canine share a mutual distaste of one another.
Many tales be told concerning the faithfulness of dogs. For in the days of old, when King Aeriscus was taken of his enemies and held in bonds, his dogs fell upon them and delivered him from their hands. Another time, it came to pass that when a Rexan man was slain in secret, and no witness could be found, his own dog, filled with wrath, did single out the murderer from among the multitude, and so was Ator's justice fulfilled. Likewise, it is said of the dog of Agondridas, that when its master had died, it refused all meat, and wasted away in grief, choosing rather to perish than to live without him.
A Rexan dog also was found most faithful, for when its master was cast into prison, the dog tarried with him; and when the man was put to death and his body cast into the river, the dog leaped after him and sought to bear him up from the waters.
And a strange thing is told of the canine, that who so passeth through the shadow of the hyena, its voice is taken from him, and it becometh dumb.
As for the mandragoras, which is of great virtue yet bringeth peril to them that pluck it up, men have devised a cunning means to draw it forth; for they take a dog, and having kept it fasting a day’s space, they tie it unto the root thereof, and set meat before it, yet out of reach. And when it leapeth forward to take the meat, lo, the mandragoras is drawn forth from the soil.Of the Moral Example of the Canine
By Ator's law, the canine, through the licking of its wounds, showeth how the sores of sin be cleansed by the confession of the mouth. But the dog that returneth to his vomit is like unto them that do confess, yet turn again unto their iniquity, and so defile themselves afresh. And as a dog, seeing its own likeness in the water, doth forsake the meat in its mouth for that which is but a shadow, even so do foolish men forsake the good which they already possess, being drawn away by the vain desire of that which is not, and so they lose the substance for the shadow, and gain nought but loss.
