Snare Of The Fowler, parts 2188 - 2191

 2188. Otis, being a pagan wolf, did what any pagan wolf would do under the circumstances. He offered up a prayer to his beloved Gods, and he soon received an answer. A crow flew down and landed on his head and whispered something in his ear. This is what the crow said:...

 2189 It was this passage from the Odyssey. ---  There was in Ithaca a common beggar; he was a most greedy fellow, and he was nicknamed Irus because he used to run errands for the servants of Odysseus’ house. He came in the evening, and seeing a seeming beggar seated on the threshold, he flew into a rage and shouted at him:

 2190. “Get away from here, old fellow, lest you be dragged away by the hand or foot. Look you! The lords within the house are giving me the wink to turn you out. But I can’t demean myself by touching the like of you. Get up now and go while I’m easy with you.”

2191. Odysseus looked at the fellow and said, “I have not harmed you in deed or word, and I do not grudge you anything of what you may get in this house. The threshold I sit on is wide enough for two of us.”

Snare Of The Fowler, parts 2184 - 2187

 2184. Otis had no intention of harming the greyhound and he could tell that the audience would not allow it but nevertheless be paraded himself around the pit like a Roman gladiator waiting for the sign from the crowd as to how to dispose of his advisory. Remo was immediately hoisted out of the ring and delivered to his owner who proceeded to groom him all over with a little comb.

 2185. Far into the evening Otis’ behavior had led from one success to another, but in each contest he was pitted against ever more formidable adversaries, and his situation finally became extremely tenuous. He had been able throughout the evening to disguise his abilities and confuse the audience, but he realized that the moment of truth was fast approaching.

 2186.  All of his combats had been highly entertaining, and in each he introduced some comic twist, but this was an audience not to be satisfied with humor. In the end they were an unsavory type that only could be satisfied with blood. 

2187. Otis, seeing the end of the evening approach was not surprised to see a monstrous older dog, hero of many combats, taken out of his cage and up to the ring. Here was a dog not to be tricked into being part of an entertainment. A humorless dog, devoid of intelligence. A dog who viewed all other animals as his enemies, solitary and evil looking like a paid executioner. He was names Leon, but he was not anything like a lion, but more like an irritated rhinoceros.
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Snare Of The Fowler, parts 2180 - 2183

 2180. The 91 Psalm did the trick for Remo, all of his fears fled away in an instant, he took a deep breath, relaxed, and prepared to meet his maker. But you know as well as I do that no harm was going to come to him. He was not born into the lap of luxury by accident, he was born that way because he had a curious destiny to fulfill. 

 2181. The first thing Otis did was to show Remo his teeth, pulling his upper lip up in that fantastically menacing way that wolves have. What is so frightening about the exposure of those teeth is not the long sharp fans over on the left and the right sides of their smile, but it is the very little teeth in between because they look like the serrated edges of a stake knife. The fangs look like death, but the little teeth seem to suggest dismemberment.

 2182. The spectators did not notice that Otis also flicked his right ear three times to the left and then shivered all over. Remo put one paw on top of the other for a split second, and then Otis repeated his gesture with his ear. Only a dog would understand what these signs and symbols meant.

2183. Since it was strictly a dog sign-language it is impossible for me to explain what they were saying to each other in the few seconds before they began to fight, but the result was that although they raised a lot of dust, flipped each other upside down in the dirt, and made terrible noises, neither sustained as much as a scratch in the combat. At a certain prearranged moment the little greyhound threw himself on his back and exposing his neck for the kill.

Snare Of The Fowler, parts 2176 - 2179

 2176. Yes, Remo was a very religious dog. If you find this surprising then you have not been paying attention to our story. You will remember when we first met Otis we were informed that he, like all ancient wolves was a pagan, and he was part of a pack of the ancient Roman wolves in which pagan practices had been preserved for a thousand years.

 2177. Also, you will recall the dogs in the village Otis had to spy on were all Christian dogs, and had converted to Christianity may generations ago. So when Otis faced Remo in the dog ring, it looked like it was going to be not just a contest of one dog against another, but a contest of two conflicting theologies. 

2178. When Remo landed in the dog ring face to face with Otis and had to fathom in his little brain that he was expected to fight Otis to the death, his entire world, and all the ideas he had about life came crashing down around him, and all the assumptions he had lived with were not just called into question, but positively destroyed. It was a very bad few moments for him. 

2179. Remo, being terrified, did the one thing you or I would do if we thought our life was about to end. He started praying as fast as he could. Lots of different phrases of the prayers he had heard all his life flashed through his mind, jumbled up one on top of another, but then he said to himself, “Surly he will deliver me from the snare of the fowler.” It was a line from the 91st Psalm.

Snare Of The Fowler, parts 2172 - 2175

 2172. As you might imagine, the first few seconds after Remo landed in the pit face to face with Otis were the most painful and terrifying of his short and blissful life. Remo had been born into luxury and at no time in his two years of existence had he ever gone hungry or had to feel cold or uncomfortable. When he sat down it was on a cushion edged with silk, and when he ate it was from a silver plate with his name engraved on it.

 2173.  His water bowl was part of a Chinese porcelain collection from some famous dynasty, I don’t recall which one. Whenever Remo was taken for a drive in his owner’s carriage it never crossed his mind than he was more fortunate than other dogs. The town in which he was born and where he grew up was large and had many a half-starved dog wandering around in the streets, but Remo hardly noticed them as he passed them. His good fortune he took as simply a fact of life.    

 2174. For Remo the world was ordered thus: he should be well taken care of and pampered and his every need instantly attended to, and all other dogs lived lesser lives, and most dogs had a life of near starvation and desperation. Why things were arrange in this way he gave no more thought that the Czars of ancient Russia wondered if they should be decked out in ermine from their cradles. 

2175. This was how God arranged it and who was Remo, or for that matter Ivan the Terrible to question the will of their creator. Remo and Ivan found the world arranged in a certain way, and no more thought to question it than they would question why a certain river flows into the sea. And since God had arranged it that way they liked Him very much, and needless to say they were very devout, and attended church services regularly.

Snare Of The Fowler, parts 2168 - 2171

2168. The fact that Remo’s eyes were so large, and his body so small hairless, and bony gave him the look of a perpetually terrified rat endlessly looking around every moment for a route of escape from his present situation, even if that situation was simply being petted by his indulgent owner.

2169. Under the circumstances Remo’s owner was willing for him to be pitted against Otis, so his expensive collar with its jewelry was removed and he was thrust unexpectedly right down into the dog pit. But Remo, as frightened as he looked, was no stupid dog. He had watched with great curiosity the contest between Otis and the Rooster and had noticed one important thing that the other spectators had not observed.

2170, Remo noticed that the Rooster’s pecking of Otis’ skull produced no sound at all. No matter how vigorously the Rooster seemed to bang away at Otis’ head, Remo could tell there was no actual contact between beak and skull-bone.

2171. Remo knew it was all an act. The fact that Otis and that Rooster were partners in a scam perpetrated on the audience did not in any way prove that the greyhound had nothing to fear. On the contrary, perhaps both the rooster and Otis might just as well have been happy to pull him apart like an over-cooked turkey.

Snare Of The Fowler, parts 2164 - 2167

 2164. Like the drunk at the circus who mounts a show horse and then is carried around the ring at top speed falling almost off the rump, and then almost off the neck, finally the drunk stands up on the galloping horse’s back and exhibits his skill as a horseman, so the Rooster rode Otis around the pit, but never letting the audience know that it was all a trick.

 2165. The audience of the dog fighting arena was not like the audiences of the theatrical performances however. When it was a theatrical event the audience knew it was a gag and they responded with convulsive laughter. But the dog fighting fans did not laugh at all, they presumed it was for real. To them Otis appeared to be a pathetic idiot dog, and the Rooster, a ridiculous braggart. Their only though was about who to pit Otis against next. 

 2166. The choice of the heartless audience fell to the lot of a hapless Italian Greyhound, and the spectators insisted that the shy timid thing should be pitted against Otis in the ring of death. One cannot imagine a more inappropriate dog for the dog fight than an Italian Greyhound, especially Remo, which was this one’s name.

2167. The Italian Greyhound is a very small version of the racing greyhound. He is not so small as to be considered a toy dog. Like all small dogs, he had very large and protruding eyes. All small dogs seem to have those large eyes as if dogs come in every imaginable size, but for the eyes there is only one size available and must be used for all of them.