Lesson7 A Dog of Flanders (3)

Ouida ( 著)

David Desmond O’Flaherty ( 改写)

The winter was very bitter [1].Pulling the milk cart was very hard work. Patrasche often slipped on the icy roads. Patrasche had become an old dog. One day, Nello and Patrasche found a pretty puppet [2] in the snow.Nello tried to find its owner, but no one was around. “This is a good present for Alois,” he thought. He quietly climbed up to her window and knocked on it.Alois opened the window. “Here is a doll [3] I found in the snow,” said Nello. “Take it.”With that, he went away quickly. Alois didn’t even have a chance to thank him.

That night, there was a big fire at the mill. All the people in the village came out to put out the fire. The miller was furious [4]. “This fire was not an accident!” he yelled [5].

“Somebody set this fire on purpose! And he’ll pay for it!” Nello ran to the fire. He wanted to help. When he arrived at the mill, Baas Cogez yelled at him. “You! Nello!You know something about this fire, don’t you? I saw you hanging around here earlier today. I believe that you set this fire. I don’t want to see you ever again!” From that day on, there was a rumor [6] in the village that Nello had started the fire. Many people thought that the boy was angry with Baas Cogez. And they believed that he had started the fire for revenge [7].

The farmers didn’t give Nello their milk anymore. The times were very difficult for Nello and his family. They could no longer earn money to buy food. They became very hungry. And the winter was very cold. For Nello, the only thing that gave him hope was the drawing contest. He thought, “If only I could win, then they’d feel sorry about being so mean to me!” Still, Nello tried to understand his neighbors. “Sometimes,people make mistakes. I should forgive [8] them,” he thought.

Old Jehan Daas became quite weak that winter.

Christmas was coming. The snow was six feet deep. Everyone loved that time of year. Even the poor people of the village had cakes and cookies to eat.

Nello and Patrasche were completely alone. Old Jehan Daas had died a week before Christmas. He had died in his sleep. Patrasche and Nello were very sad. On the day of his funeral, they were the only ones who attended. Sadly, they would lose even their simple home. They didn’t have enough money to pay the rent [9]. The landlord [10]told them to get out. Instead of rent money, the landlord took everything that they had.

It was the night of the twenty-third of December. Nello and Patrasche slept under the stars without a blanket. On the morning of Christmas Eve, they walked along the road to Antwerp. The winner of the prize was to be announced at noon. At noon, the doors of the building were opened. The crowd ran into the hall. As Nello entered the room, he saw a big drawing on the wall. It wasn’t his own. He hadn’t won the contest.He was so disappointed, and said to Patrasche, “It’s all over.” The two started walking back to the village. They were hungry, sad and tired.

Snow was falling fast. It was terribly cold on the way to the village. Suddenly,Patrasche smelled something strange. He stopped and started scratching [11] at the snow.He pulled out a small brown leather wallet. On the front of the case, the words BAAS COGEZ were written. Nello looked inside the wallet. He found 2,000 francs.

He walked to the mill-house and knocked on the door. When the miller’s wife answered the door, she was crying. “Poor boy. You’d better leave before my husband sees you. He’s angry tonight. He lost a lot of money.” Nello took out the wallet and gave it to her. “Patrasche found the money,” he said. “Please ask your husband to take care of my dog. He’s old and weak. Please be good to this kind animal.” He kissed his dog and quickly left.

Nello had saved Alois and her family. If they had lost all that money, they would have been ruined [12]. The miller’s wife led the dog inside the house. Soon after, Baas Cogez entered through the back door. He was very sad. “I can’t find it. It’s gone.” Then,his wife laid the wallet in his hands. She explained to him how Patrasche and Nello found the wallet. “I have been cruel [13] to that boy,” he said at last. “Nello and Patrasche should be with us on Christmas day. And every day after that, too. Let’s go and find him in the morning.” The miller didn’t know that Nello had no hut to sleep in that night. Baas Cogez and his family had dinner that evening. Patrasche wouldn’t eat any food. He just lay down and cried.

Late in the evening, Patrasche ran out the door as a visitor was entering the house.The dog followed those footprints all the way to Antwerp. The streets of Antwerp were empty by this time. Patrasche reached the steps of the big church. He climbed up the steps. He saw one of the doors open. He walked in and found Nello inside the church.When the boy saw his dog, he put his arms around him.

“Let’s lie down together and die,” Nello cried out. “We aren’t needed in this world.” The two lay down together on the floor. The boy and his dog thought about the good old days. Then, the snow stopped falling. The moon came out from behind the clouds. Moonlight brightened the inside of the church for a moment. Nello looked up and clearly saw the two paintings of the great Rubens. They were the paintings of Jesus suffering [14] on the cross [15].

Nello stood up and stretched [16] his arms out to them. Tears streamed down on his face. “Oh, God!” he said. “I’ve seen them at last. It is enough! We will see His face soon.” The boy and the dog then fell asleep.

The next morning, people found the boy and the dog. They had frozen [17] to death in the middle of the night. Throughout the day, the townspeople came to pay their respects to Nello and Patrasche. Baas Cogez came with Alois, too. “I was so cruel to that poor boy. I wish I could have made it up to him.”

A famous painter came to the church that day. “I want to pay my respects to a great artist. That boy should have won the contest.” He carried Nello’s drawing with him. It was a drawing of a simple woodcutter sitting on a fallen tree.

Nello was hugging [18] Patrasche so tightly that they could not be separated. They rested together peacefully in the ground.

(1,144 words)

Ⅰ. How well did you read?

1. [Draw a conclusion] Who set the fire that night?

A. Somebody. B. Nello. C. We don’t know.

2. [Give the reason] Nello asked the miller to take care of Patrasche because________ .

A. he didn’t love Patrasche any more

B. he thought Patrasche was too old and weak

C. he couldn’t look after Patrasche very well in the future

3. [Draw a conclusion] What did the famous painter mean?

A. Nello did a really good job in the contest.

B. Nello didn’t win the contest because they made a mistake.

C. He wanted to make friends with Nello.

Ⅱ. Read for words

1. Choose one best paraphrase for the underlined words.

(1) Pulling the milk cart was very hard work. Patrasche often slipped on the icy roads. (Para. 1)

A. lay B. fell down C. slept

(2) If only I could win, then they’d feel sorry about being so mean to me! (Para. 3)

A. bad B. good C. generous

(3) It was terribly cold on the way to the village. (Para. 8)

A. horribly B. a little C. pretty

2. Choose one best paraphrase for the underlined expressions.

(1) All the people in the village came out to put out the fire. (Para. 2)

A. make it go out B. put up C. spread out

(2) I saw you hanging around here earlier today. (Para. 2)

A. hanging about B. hanging out C. hanging up

(3) I wish I could have made it up to him. (Para. 14)

A. thought of him B. repaid him C. thanked him

Ⅲ. Writing practice 1. Why did Nello take the puppet rather than the wallet that he found in the snow?

2. What would happen if the miller had gone out to look for Nello that night?

3. Did Nello die happily or sadly? Why?

Language Box