AuthorsDen.com   Join | Login    
Where Authors and Readers come together!

SIGNED BOOKS    AUTHORS    BOOKS    SAMPLE CHAPTERS    AUDIOBOOKS    eBOOKS    STORIES    ARTICLES    POETRY    BLOGS    NEWS    VIDEOS    SUCCESS    TESTIMONIALS

Featured Authors:  Maria Rushing, iDavid Arthur Walters, iScott Zachary, iArmineh Ohanian, iJohn Burns, iMargaret Evans, iGary Caplan, iEdward Patterson, iDave Tabler, iElla Rydzewski, i

  Home > Humor > Stories
Popular: Books, Stories, Articles, Poetry      Authors: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z     

Douglas R. Skopp

 Follow Me  

· Contact Me
· Books
· Articles
· Poetry
· News
· Stories
· 40 Titles
· 101 Reviews
· Save to My Library
· Share with Friends!
·
Member Since: Aug, 2012

Douglas R. Skopp, click here to update your pages on AuthorsDen.




     Another in my series, "Little Known Cats Who Have Helped Humankind." I wrote these to relieve the darkness of writing my dark novel, Shadows Walking, about a Nazi doctor...
 
 
Armina was a red tabby of modest means and without much formal education who lived during the early fourteenth century in the eastern regions of the Holy Roman Empire.  When she invented canned dog-food, an entirely different relationship became possible among cats, dogs and their human hosts. Armina was tired of having to wait under the table with the household’s dogs for scraps of food to fall. Too often the dogs got the best pieces. When Armina did manage to catch a chunk—usually near the children’s feet—she would have to swallow it quickly and invariably developed indigestion.  If only the dogs could be distracted.
Seeing the difficulty her host family had in putting on and taking off their armor, Armina reasons that the dogs could be slowed down if their food was similarly packaged. With the help of the village’s blacksmith, who coincidentally had invented a can opener, Armina devised the first can of dog food. The scheme worked wonderfully. The family’s dogs were clumsy and slow in opening their cans of food and became more docile as they sat in the corner of the kitchen, gnawing on only pieces of iron out of desperation. Humans found they liked the quieter meals, to say nothing of the chance to pick up the scraps they dropped before the dogs got them, and let Armina have an ample share out of gratitude. Unfortunately, the smithy patented Armina’s idea and became wealthy, while Armina died in poverty.

 

 

Want to review or comment on this short story?


Need a FREE Reader Membership?


Reviewed by m j hollingshead 7/13/2014

a pox on the smithy!

enjoyed the read, anything about a feline has my vote, I have long wondered where and when canned dog food came into being, glad to have that all cleared up!!


Free Book Review Program
Select a book to read and review today!

Thirteen Sick Tasteless Classics, Part II by Jay Dubya

Thirteen Sick Tasteless Classics, Part II is adult literature featuring adult language and situations that satirizes thirteen famous novellas and short stories. It is Jay Dubya's sixteenth ebook.  
Member BookAds

The Wholly Book of Genesis by Jay Dubya

The Wholly Book of Genesis is a humorous satire on the first book of the Old Testament where the Story of Creation, the building of Noah's Ark, Sodom and Gomorrah and the families of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are thoroughly spoofed and broadsided.  
Member BookAds

Thirteen Sick Tasteless Classics, Part V by Jay Dubya

Thirteen Sick Tasteless Classics, Part V Thirteen Sick Tasteless Classics, Part V is humorous adult literature featuring adult content and language. The work satirizes and spoofs thirteen classic tales from U.S. and British literature, a  
Member BookAds