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Arthur Wellesley watches on as one of his soldiers is rescued from a watery grave.
Arthur Wellesley (not yet the Duke of Wellington) spent the years 1797 to 1804 in India, confronting the Maratha Empire that threatened Indian princes and the British alike. Wisely, he learnt to make war as the Maratha did, and acquired a proper respect for the elephant.
Mousetraps are proof of human ingenuity, but also human ingratitude — so Tom does something about it.
In 1753, the house of inventor John Kay was trashed by weavers who feared that his ‘flying shuttle’ machine would put them out of work. Tom, hero of the satire The Life and Adventures of a Cat, published anonymously in 1760, felt the same way about mousetraps, and was just as willing to act.
A much-provoked Newfoundland loses his patience.
The following story was included in a collection of anecdotes about dogs, and credited to Abraham Abell (1782-1851), a native of Cork in Ireland, member of the Royal Cork Institution, and one of the founders of the Cuvierian Society. It is told here by Edward Jesse, the man who oversaw the restoration of Hampton Court Palace and its subsequent opening to the public in 1838.
A little fable about a cat, a chicken and some wasted words.
Russian fabulist Ivan Andreyevich Krylov published his first collection of tales in 1809. More fables followed, and he became something of a celebrity, who was friendly with Emperor Nicholas I. Krylov was one of a handful of literary figures honoured with a place on the Millennium of Russia monument in Veliky Novgorod, unveiled in 1862.
A half-starved cat is recruited by the Allies in the fight against Hitler.
In June 1941, some six months before the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbour brought the USA into the Second World War, the USSR declared herself for Britain and her Empire, at a time when European states from Finland to Greece had been unable to stem the Nazi tide. This little tale is based on events recounted by Ovadi Savich, originally in Soviet War News.
A much-loved children’s poem, even if most of us struggle to remember more than a few lines.
Sarah Hale was an American novelist, poet, magazine editor and literary critic, who campaigned vigorously against slavery and for the employment and education of women (she helped found Vassar College). A great believer in women as ‘God’s appointed agent of morality’, Hale saw the homemaker as crucial to the happiness of the nation. Her collection of Poems for Our Children (1830) included ‘Mary’s Lamb’.
A young Nathaniel Hawthorne recalls a confidential conversation with a tired old horse.
On June 1st, 1816, Robert Hawthorne presented his nephew Nathaniel, a month shy of his twelfth birthday, with a diary ‘with the advice that he write out his thoughts, some every day, in as good words as he can’. It was in this diary that Nathaniel recalled running across an underfed working horse, agonisingly forced to listen as his master ground delicious corn at nearby Dingley mill.