It’s been a month again since we dived into the sinister world of PG 60’s children’s literature. This week, another typical “cute” animal claims the stage, so gather round and shudder while I tell you the story of…
“Pollie The Poodle”
“Pollie was a cute little poodle, but sometimes he was very naughty. One time he had been playing with his master Charlie’s slipper and he had bitten a hole in it. Luckily his friends the little mice helped him. They were excellent tailors , and sowed a nice green piece of cloth on the hole. But you would think that Pollie was more mindful in the future ? No way !”
“A little later he bit all the toy rabbit’s clothes to schreds. Wasn’t that naughty ?”
“Whenever Charlie played with his ball, Pollie wanted to play too. And they had a lot of fun then. But Pollie didn’t like walkies. He always wanted to go another way than Charlie wanted to go. And so they pulled the leach as hard as they could. Charlie always won, and so Pollie had to obey him, whether he liked it or not.”
“Pollie always chased the kittens. But they were always faster than him.”
“When Charlie had to take a bath one night, Pollie was in the bathroom too. He barked and ran around and made a mess of things. ‘You are such a naughty dog !’, Charlie’s mother said.”
“When Charlie went to bed, Pollie stayed in the bathroom. He was thirsty. He jumped on a chair, but he still couldn’t reach the water in the tub. He carefully stepped on a piece of soap. That was wet and slippery. Polly reached for the water. Suddenly the piece of soap slipped away, and…”
“before Pollie knew what was happening, he was thrashing around in the tub. The water splashed into the bathroom on all sides.”
“Pollie couldn’t climb out of the tub by himself. He tried to bark for help, but had to keep his mouth shut very soon because he was swallowing a lot of dirty soapy water. While he was splashing about, one of his legs got stuck in the chain. Pollie pulled and pulled and all of a sudden the plug popped out of the tub.”
“When the tub was empty, Pollie was able to bark again. He was very happy when Charlie’s mother entered the bathroom.”
“‘You are such a bad, bad dog’, she yelled. But Pollie was very wet and very pathetic when she pulled him out of the tub and rubbed him dry with a towel. ‘I hope you won’t be so wicked in the future’, she said. Pollie was really sorry and he decided never to be naughty again. A little later he had forgotten all about it, though, and he was his wicked old self again. But he never said foot in the bathroom ever again.”
