A Dark Brown Dog

The scene of their companionship was a kingdom governed by this terrible potentate, the child; but neither criticism nor rebellion ever lived for an instant in the heart of the one subject.

Down in the mystic, hidden fields of his little dog-soul bloomed flowers of love and fidelity and perfect faith.

The child was in the habit of going on many expeditions to observe strange things in the vicinity.

On these occasions his friend usually jogged aimfully along behind.

Perhaps, though, he went ahead. This necessitated his turning around every quarter-minute to make sure the child was coming.

He was filled with a large idea of the importance of these journeys. He would carry himself with such an air! He was proud to be the retainer of so great a monarch.

One day, however, the father of the family got quite exceptionally drunk.

He came home and held carnival with the cooking utensils, the furniture and his wife.

He was in the midst of this recreation when the child, followed by the dark-brown dog, entered the room. They were returning from their voyages.

He was the picture of a little dark-brown dog en route to a friend.

The child's practised eye instantly noted his father's state.

He dived under the table, where experience had taught him was a rather safe place.

The dog, lacking skill in such matters, was, of course, unaware of the true condition of affairs.

He looked with interested eyes at his friend's sudden dive.

He interpreted it to mean: Joyous gambol. He started to patter across the floor to join him.

He was the picture of a little dark-brown dog en route to a friend.

The head of the family saw him at this moment. He gave a huge howl of joy, and knocked the dog down with a heavy coffee-pot.

The dog, yelling in supreme astonishment and fear, writhed to his feet and ran for cover. The man kicked out with a ponderous foot.

It caused the dog to swerve as if caught in a tide. A second blow of the coffee-pot laid him upon the floor.

Here the child, uttering loud cries, came valiantly forth like a knight.

The father of the family paid no attention to these calls of the child, but advanced with glee upon the dog.

Upon being knocked down twice in swift succession, the latter apparently gave up all hope of escape.

He rolled over on his back and held his paws in a peculiar manner.

At the same time with his eyes and his ears he offered up a small prayer.

But the father was in a mood for having fun, and it occurred to him that it would be a fine thing to throw the dog out of the window.

So he reached down and grabbing the animal by a leg, lifted him, squirming, up.

He swung him two or three times hilariously about

his head, and then flung him with great accuracy through the window.

The soaring dog created a surprise in the block. A woman watering plants in an opposite window gave an involuntary shout and dropped a flower-pot.

A man in another window leaned perilously out to watch the flight of the dog.

A woman, who had been hanging out clothes in a yard, began to caper wildly.

Her mouth was filled with clothes-pins, but her arms gave vent to a sort of exclamation.

In appearance she was like a gagged prisoner. Children ran whooping.

The dark-brown body crashed in a heap on the roof of a shed five stories below.

From thence it rolled to the pavement of an alleyway.

The child in the room far above burst into a long, dirgelike cry, and toddled hastily out of the room.

It took him a long time to reach the alley, because his size compelled him to go downstairs backward, one step at a time, and holding with both hands to the step above....they found him seated by the body of his dark-brown friend.

When they came for him later, they found him seated by the body of his dark-brown friend.

A Dark Brown Dog
by Stephen Crane
A Dark Brown Dog and the accompanying illustrations were published in Cosmopolitan, March 1901.

The story was probably written in the summer of 1893, an allegory about the Jim Crow South during Reconstruction.

The dog represents emancipated slaves. Students and teachers, check out our useful A Dark Brown Dog Study Guide to break-down the allegory

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