The Ugly Dachshund

The Ugly Dachshund, by G.B. Stern, a noted Jane Austin scholar, was one of those books that had all but disappeared during the dark days of World War II. Written in 1938, it was reprinted in 1998, saving this Gem from disappearing. For those who enjoy a good moral, it's possible to read The Ugly Dachshund as a fable. Tono, assuming himself a dachshund, grieves bitterly that the Legs feed him raw meat instead of the cooked delicacies the others enjoy, and never pick him up or cuddle him or call him sweet. He feels himself an outcast, a pariah, too inept even to squeeze through the fence like the others. His only consolation is an occasional mystic vision of the almight Great Dog, who appears to him sometimes in polished parquet or ponds and, once, in a mirror. It's possible to consider this a fable about the troubles we make for ourselves when we misunderstand our true natures. Let us rejoice that a lost Gem has been found and rescued from the tall grass of oblivion.