THE JINDO DOG

Dog are worth keeping as pets because they are willing to do anything for the family they belong to.They guard the house, bring in the paper, and play well with children. In Korea, Jindo dogs are known to be the smartest and most loyal dogs because of a famous story. According to this story, a Jindo dog saved a man's life even though it brought about its own death.

A long time ago, a man went to call on his friend in another town. The man had to walk to the other town by way of a path through the woods. He didn't like walking by himself, so the man took his dog with him.

When the man arrived at his friend's house, he saw that there was a large drinking party going on. His friend welcomed him in and brought out some wine. It was very good, so he drank a lot. He was used to drinking wine, so he was not worried about having too much. Before long, however, the man got very drunk. (Between you and me, I think the man had a drinking problem.) At last, the man decided it was time to call off the drinking and go home. He broke away from the party and went home with his dog.

On the way, the man began to feel tired. He sat down to rest but quickly fell asleep because of all the wine he drank. The dog lay down by the man and waited for him to wake up. Then, all of a sudden, the dog smelled smoke. A fire broke out in the woods! A small wind was blowing, but it did not blow out the fire. The wind made the fire bigger!

The dog tried to wake up the man by barking, but the man was too drunk. He would not wake up. The dog heard the sound of a small river near the path. It tried to pull the man to the river, but the man was too big. It ran to the river and jumped in. Then the dog ran back to the man and shook itself. The man and the grass around him got a little wet. The dog ran back and forth many times. Finally, the man and the ground were all wet. The fire burned all around him, but it did not harm the man. Sadly, the dog was so tired from running that it fell down and died.

When the man woke up and found his dog had died, he cried. He knew that his dog had saved his life by giving up its own life. He was very thankful for his dog. The man told all of his friends how great Jindo dogs are. By the way, the man also gave up drinking after that.