THE POODLE ACCOMPLICE

I have now  a story of a roguish dog that I think we could not praise so much for his goodness as for his cunning.

A gentleman in Paris was in the habit of crossing every day one of the bridges over the Seine, on his way to his place of business. One day, a very dirty poodle dog rubbed himself so against his boots as to make it necessary to get a man, who sat at one end of the bridge with blacking, to clean them.

French Poodle
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The next day the same thing occurred, and again and again, till, at last, the gentleman suspected that the bootblack had taught the dog this trick, in order by that means to get customers. He watched, and saw, when he approached the bridge, Master Poodle go and roll himself in a mud puddle, and then come and rub himself against his boots.

The gentleman accused the bootblack of the trick. After a while the man laughed, and confessed his roguery."

"That poodle was a brick," said Harry.