DOGS OF MYTH

Man’s best friend is at the heart of 13 curious tales culled from worldwide traditions, crossing oceans and time. From Africa to Arabia, China to Japan, the stories span a range in both tone and subject matter. While many of the stories appeared in the Hausmans’ The Mythology of Dogs (1997), those regathered here are the archetypal and mythological, the fanciful and magical, including ghost dogs, immortals, and canine heroes who speak and sing, marry princesses, transform, catch flying bullets in their teeth, and recover magic rings. A two-inch-tall faery dog shines in “King Herla’s Hound,” while the mighty Thor’s companion reveals why the watchdog Rottweiler’s fierce growl sounds like thunder in the throat in the pourquoi tale “Thunder Mouth Dog.” The Hausmans are well-grounded in both folkloric elements and storytelling sensibility, arranging their tales in short chapters such as “Trickster Dogs,” “Enchanted Dogs,” and “Guardian Dogs”; they punctuate each with an explanatory, if complex, punchline of sorts. Moser’s characteristically striking design portrays the akita and basenji, spaniel and shar-pei as if the dogs posed for portrait sittings. Singular compositions focus on each dog as individual, without ornament or fanfare, as if in sculptural relief, carved against the surrounding vast plane of the page. (notes, sources) (Folklore. 8-14)