The Adventures of Toto
Kuvakäsikirjoitus Teksti
- What is going on here ?
- No sir, it is not.
- Sir, you have a dog with you. You’ll have to pay for it accordingly.
- It is not a dog, it is a monkey look closely!
- Ok then, take three rupees.
- Grandfather, who had to leave Dehra Dun the next day to collect his pension in Saharanpur, decided to take him along. Unfortunately, I could not accompany Grandfather on that trip, but he told me about it afterwards. A big black canvas kit bag was provided for Toto. This, with some straw at the bottom, became his new abode.
- No charge. It is not a dog.
- What must I pay for this, since you charge for all animals?
- When the bag was closed, there was no escape. Toto could not get his hands through the opening, and the canvas was too strong for him to bite his way through. His efforts to get out only made the bag roll about on the floor or occasionally jump into the air. This exhibition attracted a curious crowd of onlookers on the Dehra Dun railway platform.
- Toto remained in the bag as far as Saharanpur, but while grandfather was producing his ticket at the railway turnstile, Toto suddenly poked his head out of the bag and gave the ticket collector a wide grin. The poor man was taken aback; He had a great presence of mind. In vain did Grandfather take Toto out of the bag; he try to prove that a monkey did not qualify as a dog, or even as a quadruped. Toto was classified as a dog by the ticket collector and three rupees was the sum handed over as his fare.
- Then Grandfather, just to get his own back, took from his pocket our pet tortoise and asked a weird question to the collector. The ticket collector looked closely at the tortoise, prodded it with his forefinger, gave Grandfather a pleased and triumphant look and answered clamly.
- When Toto was finally accepted by Grandmother he was given a comfortable home in the stable, where he had for a companion the family donkey, Nana. On Toto’s first night in the stable, Grandfather visited him to see if he was comfortable. To his surprise he found Nana, without apparent cause, pulling at her halter and trying to keep her head as far as possible from a bundle of hay.
- Grandfather slapped Nana across her haunches, and she jerked back, dragging Toto with her. He had fastened on to her long ears with his sharp little teeth. Toto and Nana never became friends.
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