This is a short story for children I wrote and narrated. It is a very simple story, and that is why I think it works. Things that are simple are always best.
00:00Now, on HistoryRadio.org, Michael Henrik Wynn reads his children's story, The Old Major and His Dog.
00:30They lived an old retired Major in the hills of Central Europe.
00:48No one knew in which armies he had fought, or which battles that had disfigured his wrinkled face.
00:54Some took for granted that he had supported the Nazis during the war.
00:57They barely knew his name, and only referred to him with contempt as the grumpy old Major.
01:04His home was a log cabin, overlooking a valley that was often covered in mist,
01:09and when the rains and the wind darkened the evenings, the light from his window,
01:14it was a solitary gleam, like the eye of the mountains themselves, peering down on the village below.
01:23The Major was thoroughly disliked because of his ferocious temper.
01:26He arrived in the afternoons, unshaving, stinking of sweat and alcohol, and then he would be very rude and cold,
01:33if he indeed said something at all.
01:36The only creature on this earth that seemed to be good enough for the old Major was his dog.
01:42No one knew the age of the creature, or even of the Major himself.
01:46The dog walked with a proud skip in its step, and he showered it with luxury and food.
01:51In the evenings, the Major would silently ponder the landscape from his vantage point.
01:56What his thoughts were, not even the dog could tell.
02:01There was never a visitor to the old log cabin, but the Major sometimes sobered up and cleared the path.
02:07He worked into the afternoons, with a pickaxe and shuffle.
02:10When he was done, he would take a seat in a chair outside, and drink whisky and smoke, until he fell asleep where he sat.
02:18The evening chair would wake him, and then he would withdraw to his bed.
02:23Sometimes when the Major slept, he would kick and scream, as if he was struggling for his life.
02:28Then the dog would jump down from the bed, and lie down in a corner until it quieted down.
02:33When the Major woke, he would be sweaty and confused, and then he would drink coffee, and then read a book, till dawn penetrated the morning mist.
02:46The landscape around the village was vast and wild, and the Major would limp up and down those isolated paths, followed by his mute companion.
02:55In winter, blizzards would descend upon his outpost with terrifying violence, a lighted fireplace and piles of wood keeping warm.
03:03He stored canned foods of various kinds, beans, Spam, fish, and his salted meats to comfort himself.
03:11When the water froze, he opened the door and collected snow in a bucket, which he melted by the fire for his coffee.
03:19Sometimes, when he was in the mood, he dug deep into a wooden chest, and found an old battery-powered radio.
03:25There he would sit quietly, intensely concentrated, trying to move the antennae back and forth,
03:32in order to make out those almost imperceptible voices that penetrated into his dominion from the world outside.
03:39But sometimes this proved impossible, and therefore he did not receive advance warning of the horrific storm of 1973.
03:47On October 21st of that year, the heavens gave birth to the worst winds and heaviest snowfalls seen in those parts.
03:59The other villagers never talked to the old Major, because they did not like him, and by the time the storm had arrived, and he entered into their thoughts, it was too late.
04:08They thought the old cabin on the hill had stood there for hundreds of years.
04:13Like the Major himself, it seemed carved out of the hillside.
04:17If he just sat quiet where he was, no harm could befall him.
04:21And they were right, and the old Major knew he.
04:25He did what he normally did during winter storms, lighted his fires.
04:28The flames flickered, and when the shutters were secured, they filled the room with comfort, light, and heat,
04:34while the day of judgment brewed outside.
04:37The old Major was used to this.
04:40It had been in its life, in every sense.
04:42He got up a bottle of whiskey, and sipped from a glass.
04:45His dog, however, was utterly terrified.
04:48It crawled under the table, and whined.
04:51The old Major tried to reassure the creature, calm it with offers of treats.
04:55The howl of the winds, the creaking walls, and what seemed like an inexplicable drone from the heavens above,
05:01frightened it, and it would take no food.
05:03The old Major then got down on his knees under the table, and sat next to his dog, with his glass of whiskey.
05:12He looked at the dog, and for a while the door was calm.
05:15But then suddenly a tremendous gust blew the door open, filling the room with swirls of snow.
05:22The old Major rushed to his feet, and struggled against the wind to shut it.
05:25When he was done, he noticed that the dog had fled into the night to seek refuge among the trees.
05:31First, he was overwhelmed with grief, when the room was quiet.
05:37He looked at the empty space where the dog used to lie.
05:40Then his eyes were suddenly filled with the fires.
05:44An old soldier was returning to battle.
05:47He put on his thickest coat, and hat, and scarf, and grabbed an oil lamp, and unlocked the door.
05:52So it was that the old Major decided to take on the very spirits of the mountain to fight for his dog.
06:01He waded to his ankles in snow for a few hundred meters up the hills.
06:05He shouted, but his voice was inaudible.
06:08As he became removed from his cabin, he saw its light extinguished in the storm,
06:12and not soon after, the old Major was overcome with fatigue, and sat down under a tree.
06:19That is where the men of the village found his frozen body, two days later.
06:24They did not have much sympathy for him, because he had always been mean and yelled at them.
06:29The dog, however, was found alive in the shed outside.
06:33Everyone thought that this was the most fateful creature on earth, which stayed so loyal to such a terrible person.
06:38It was brought down from the mountains, and given to a breather,
06:42who made sure that it produced many litters, whose offspring still run round on the meadows in those parts.
06:49They say old Majors die, but their dogs live on forever.
07:08You have just heard, the old Major and his dog, by Michael Henry Quinn.
07:34This is HistoryRadio.org, a free radio stream.
07:42Promoting knowledge of literature and history.
08:04Location from felis.
08:15This is HistoryRadio.org, a free radio streamer of literature and history.
08:16Hmm...
08:17and the church is we have proof he used in theiene of
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