Why Dogs Cannot Talk Like People:¬Ý An Akita Tale
An excerpts from the book
The Mythology of Dogs
by Gerald and Loretta Hausman
ONCE THERE WAS A DOG called First Dog, after which there were the children of First Dog, and then the grandchildren of First Dog, and so on and so forth, all thee way to the present time.
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Akita of Japan was First Dog?Äôs grandson, so they say ?Äì and he was there at the beginning of the world.¬Ý In those first days of life, Akita could talk, as we talk now, which is to say, just like a person.¬Ý However, with speech comes pride, and Akita did not like being talked down to, being told by people, ?ÄúDo this, do that ?Ķ?Äù He did not like hearing the word ?Äúmaster,?Äù and he did not like being a slave.
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All in all, because Akita was one of the firstborn of the earth, possessing speech and intelligence, no less than man or woman, he resented the position people had given him.¬Ý In short, he wanted to be exactly like us.¬Ý He wanted to be ?Äútop dog.?Äù
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Now, the first human beings were hunter people, and Akita himself was a great hunter, too, one of the greatest that ever was, and First Hunter knew this and always took Akita along with him when he went out hunting.¬Ý But, afterward, he would brag to First Hunter?Äôs Woman how he had made all the kills ?Äì so he, alone, got all the credit.¬Ý Akita had to listen to First Hunter?Äôs lies around the fire at night; of how brave he was when he faced Bear, or how cleverly he tricked Lion.
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One day, as it happened, Akita decided to set the record straight.¬Ý He was tired of First Hunter getting all the credit, and Akita?Äôs heart was set against him.
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So he told First Hunter, ?ÄúGo into that thicket and kill what is there.?Äù
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?ÄúWhat is hiding in there, Akita??Äù¬Ý First Hunter asked.¬Ý For he never went in first, but always second.
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?ÄúDeer,?Äù Akita lied.
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?ÄúWhy don?Äôt you go in first, as is our custom??Äù
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?ÄúI will wait out here, and if Deer bounds away, I will stop her escape.?Äù
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So First Hunter agreed to this new tactic.¬Ý He entered the thicket, and what he found there surprised him.
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It wasn?Äôt Deer ?Äì it was Bear.¬Ý And Bear killed First Hunter with one huge crushing blow.
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Akita said to himself, ?ÄúSo far, my plan is working out well.¬Ý Now I?Äôll go home and marry First Hunter?Äôs Woman.?Äù¬Ý For that was his plan all along.
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When First Hunter?Äôs Woman saw Akita come home by himself, she asked what had happened.¬Ý Akita told her of the terrible way that Bear had surprised them, and how Akita had tried to save First Hunter, but he was too late.
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?ÄúSuch a thing never happened before,?Äù First Hunter?Äôs Woman said, her eyes filling with tears.
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Akita licked his paws and looked innocently at First Hunter?Äôs Woman.¬Ý ?ÄúI told him not to enter the dangerous thicket where Bear was hiding.¬Ý But he insisted on going in first.¬Ý He said he knew Deer was in there.¬Ý But it wasn?Äôt Beer, it was Bear.¬Ý And Bear killed First Hunter.¬Ý And that is all there is to it.?Äù
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?ÄúWhat ever will I do now??Äù¬Ý First Hunter?Äôs Woman asked the heavens.¬Ý
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Akita came close and put his paws around her.¬Ý His curled-up tail was round as a moon shell.
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?ÄúYou shall be my wife now,?Äù he said confidently.
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First Hunter?Äôs Woman glanced at Akita, and she wondered it he were telling her the truth.¬Ý Perhaps Akita has done something to my husband, she thought.
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Akita, who was too clever for his own good, caught the question in the woman?Äôs eyes, and he made his next lie more elaborate than the first.
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?ÄúFirst Hunter?Äôs wish, as he lay in my arms, was that you should marry me.?Äù
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?ÄúIs that so??Äù¬Ý Said the woman, her suspicions mounting.¬Ý To busy herself and hide her face, she began to sweep the dirt in front of the lodge.
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Akita felt that things were not going his way.¬Ý So he tried yet another lie.
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?ÄúFirst Hunter said, just before he died, that he loved me like a brother.?Äù
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?ÄúIs that so??Äù¬Ý She said.¬Ý Her eyes stayed on the ground as she kept sweeping.
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Akita went on boldly.¬Ý¬Ý ?ÄúHe wanted, above everything, that you and I should live together as Dog and Wife.?Äù¬Ý And his dark eyes glittered with deceit.
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At this, the woman could hear the lies no longer.¬Ý She whisked the broom at Akita?Äôs face and got him with a mouthful of dirt.¬Ý Choking, he tried to speak but the words were not there.¬Ý Akita, as they say, had bitten the dust.¬Ý He was not dead, but for once, silent.
And so it is today:¬Ý Akita still can?Äôt talk.¬Ý Which is why, whenever given the change, he digs in the dirt, trying to find his voice.
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AFTERWORD
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The Akita is sometimes called Akita-Ainu, meaning ?Äúson of dogs,?Äù so this canine is a good candidate for First Dog.¬Ý Excavations into the shell mounds of the Ainu, in the northernmost Japanese island of Honshu, reveal the remains of dogs and humans from prehistoric time.¬Ý Therefore, the Akita, once used primarily as a fisherman?Äôs and hunter?Äôs dog, is a very old breed.
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In the reign of the Japanese Emperor Yuryaku (A.D. 457 -459), The Akita was a fighting dog, much as the bulldog was lord of the Westminster Pit in England.¬Ý In time, the Akita, being the emperor?Äôs favorite, was entitled to special status.¬Ý He wore a gold collar and traveled about on a golden throne.¬Ý An elite language was devised in which to speak with royal Akitas, and ownership was not permitted outside the court.¬Ý Today, the Akita is a national treasure of Japan, and the dog is so highly trusted as a family member that children are sometimes left at home with only an Akita in attendance.¬Ý There is a statue of an Akita in a Tokyo station in honor of the dog who waited for his master?Äôs return many years after the man?Äôs death.
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The Akita in our tale is true to form.¬Ý Akitas, as a rule, do not bark on the hunt, and their silence is considered a great virtue.¬Ý The Ainu, the aboriginal people of Japan, believe that the union o Dog and Woman formed their ancestors.¬Ý The Akita in our story fails to take a human wife because he is a trickster?Äù Yet his attempt earned him the honor of silence, his blessing as a hunter.
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This story occurs in some form from India to the Ainus of Honshu and from southern Cameroon to the Hidatsas of North Dakota.¬Ý It is as universal as speech and as honorable as silence.
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