In Flanders, a small town in Belgium, lived a little boy called Nello. He became an orphan(孤儿) at the age of two. Then he lived with his grandpa in a small house. Life was harder for them.
Their life depended on Nello' s grandpa. Every morning, the old man would collect fresh milk from one house to another. He then had to load(装载) the milk on a cart and sent it to the city. Growing up a little older, Nello would try to help his grandpa to travel from Flanders to the city.
One day, as Nello and his grandpa were going home from the city they saw a large dog lying on the side of the road. The dog was motionless.
" What happened? " asked Nello. " ls the dog dead? " His grandpa touched the nose of the dog with his hand and examined the body of the dog. He then said to Nello, " The dog is seriously ill. We have to take him to a vet(兽医), or he will die. " With the words, his grandpa put the dog on the cart and the two went home. The fact was that the dog was abandoned(抛弃) by his master because of his serious illness. Seeing the dying dog, Nello was heart-broken. The kind hearted boy took good care of him. Even though Nello and his grandpa did not have enough to eat, he would still feed the dog with milk and bread. Day by day, the dog began to stand on his feet and became stronger and stronger.
" We should give him a name, " said Nello one day to his grandpa.
" That' s a good idea, " replied his grandpa. " What name do you want to give him? " How about Patrasche? " said Nello.
" Patrasche is a beautiful name, " said his grandpa.
From then on, Patrasche became a member of the family.
One day, as Nello and his grandpa loaded the cart with milk and were ready to start their journey to the city, Patrasche stood in front of the cart.
" Out of the way, Patrasche, " said Nello. " We' ll be late. " But Patrasche refused to move. He was simply staring at Grandpa and wagging(摇摆) his tail. " What does he want to do? " asked Nello.
His grandpa smiled and said. " I believe our Patrasche wants to help pull the cart. " Hearing Grandpa' s words, Patrasche was wagging his tail even harder.
Patrasche had been badly treated by his master all his life. Never had anyone treated him nicely as Nello and his grandpa. Patrasche was thankful for the kindness he received, so he wanted to help, Grandpa tied a stripe on Patrasche, and he started to pull the cart right away.
From then on, people in town would see such a scene a large dog was pulling a cart loaded with milk with the grandpa pushing behind and Nello helping at the side.
(Adapted from A Dog of Flanders)
