It is perhaps for this reason (that dogs, like rivers, are swift and agile) that the Hungarians give to their dogs names of rivers, as being runners; but it is also said that they do so from their belief that a dog which bears the name of a river or piece of water never goes mad, especially if he be a white dog, inasmuch as the Hungarians consider the red dog and the black or spotted one as diabolical shapes. In Tuscany, when a Christian's tooth is taken out, it must be hidden carefully, that the dogs may not find it and eat it; here dog and devil are assimilated.
- - from Zoological Mythology; or the legends of Animals, vol. 2. Angelo de Gubernatis (London: Trubner & Co., 1872), p. 33. Though I find these beliefs an odd and interesting glimpse into folklore, I do regret the bad rap dogs have gotten through the ages. Why red dogs, anyway?
1 comment:
Well, better a red dog than a black cat, we guess.
Although by the time you rule out red dogs, black dogs, and spotted dogs, you're starting to run out of dogs entirely.
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