Chapter Fifteen
Nameless Fox and the dog became a familiar sight on the roadways. They were already a growing legend in the neighboring villages, and people journeyed for miles to see the dog that would let a man ride him And all said how wonderful it would be if all men could have dogs to ride.
2 Nameless Fox thought of this often, too. If they could get a female, he said, and raise pups, it would be easy to train them when they were young.
3 It was obvious the dogs were highly intelligent but no one even considered trying to capture a dog. No one was that crazy! They had no idea it would be Big Fellow, himself, who would solve the problem.
4 Late in the summer he disappeared for several days, and Nameless Fox fussed like a worried mother. Then one day he trotted back through the village gate, a spendid young female at his heels. He came up to Nameless Fox for his usual greeting and Nameless Fox was overjoyed.
5 "You've brought a friend!" he cried as he ruffed the big male's mane, and scratched him behind the ears. He stepped towards the female and extanded his hand. "Hello, Lady," he said, "come here, I won't hurt you."
6 The female backed off, emitting low, threatening growls. Big Fellow turned and answered with ominous rumblings of his own. The female turned toward him, looking confused.
7 "Easy," warned Yellow Blossom. "You didn't save her from cats. She doesn't know we're her friends."
8 "Well have to go slow," Nameless Fox agreed, "But if we can gentle her, if we can get her to accept the village, then maybe, just maybe, everybody can have dogs!"
9 It took some time, but slowly Lady, as everyone came to call the female, became accustomed to her mate's strange behavior.
10 At first she seemed frightened when Big Fellow let Nameless Fox get on his back and they sped out of the village. But soon she got accustomed to it. And after a while she found she enjoyed being hugged and scratched behind the ear like her mate.
11 One day Nameless Fox swung up on her back and startled, she jumped, throwing him off. He landed on the ground with a loud "THUD!"
12 Yellow Blossom ran out of the house. "Are you all right?" she asked.
13 "A little sore," Nameless Fox answered. He got up, walked over to Lady, calmed her down, and swung up on her back again.
14 This time she turned around and around as if trying to see where he was. Then she stopped and looked bewildered, at her mate, who simply got up and sped out of the village.
15 By instinct Lady followed. Several minutes later they returned. Nameless Fox jumped off Lady's back and praised her.
16 "Come on!" he cried to Yellow Blossom, "Get up! I want to see if she'll let others ride her, and you're the only one she's used to."
17 "ME?" gasped Yellow Blossom, "Get up on HER back? Are you out of your mind?"
18 Nameless Fox only smiled and held out his hand. His mate shrugged and obeyed. Lady swung her head around, sniffed her legs, then looked away, nonconcerned.
19 Nameless Fox swung up on Big Fellow and they sped off; out of the village, by the gardens, through the pastures, and back to the village again.
20 Nameless Fox slid down and helped Yellow Blossom to the ground. "That's incredible!" she cried. "They go so fast, and they barely seem to notice we're there!"
21 "They notice!" argued Nameless Fox. "They could turn twice as fast, but they know we're on their backs and they'd throw us off."
22 "Now I see why you enjoy it so much!" Yellow Blossom said.
23 "And with this bad leg I could have done no hunting without Big Fellow," Nameless Fox continued. "He's earned his pay, and then some! Now if there's puppies and she'll stay in the village with them, the rest of my plan will work.
24 Soon the whole village will have dogs, and after that, the whole country. Imagine what we can do with them! How useful they would be to fighting people on long patrols! And I'm sure they would have many, many other uses They are as strong as an ox, but three times faster."
25 "It would be good," commented Yellow Blossom, "if you had something to sit on and to keep your legs from flying around and some way of steering them besides pulling on their hair. They don't seem to mind, but I'm sure it's uncomfortable!"
26 "You know," agreed Nameless Fox, "you've got an idea, there! Something you could fasten a bedroll to on the back, too, and something to fasten a rope to on the front, when you wanted them to pull something!"
27 The next day he gathered the leather makers and several other craftsmen and they sat for hours. They modified the bridle used for oxen and attached reins to it and found that this worked wonderfully for guiding the dogs.
28 They experimented with several different riding seats, which they began to call saddles, until they came up with one that worked well.
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