Bashan and I · Chapter
How We Acquired Bashan explained
The narrator recounts how they acquired Bashan (then called Lux) through the mediation of Anastasia, a tavern keeper in the Bavarian hills.
What happens
The narrator recounts how they acquired Bashan (then called Lux) through the mediation of Anastasia, a tavern keeper in the Bavarian hills. After their previous dog Percy was shot due to illness, the family visits Anastasia's kitchen and finds a pitiful, emaciated puppy tied to a table leg. Despite his miserable appearance, they decide to take him home for ten marks. The chapter details his initial timidity, his escape back to his birthplace, and his eventual return and gradual integration into the household.
Themes in this chapter
The Human-Animal Bond
The family's decision to adopt the miserable Lux despite his appearance, and their efforts to nurture and integrate him, highlight the deep bond forming between humans and animals.
Loyalty and Devotion
Bashan's instinctive return to his birthplace and later his gradual loyalty to the narrator's household illustrate the theme of devotion and belonging.
The Pursuit of Joy
The family's hope for joy from the dog, Anastasia's wish for him to have a 'cosy berth,' and the eventual satisfaction of a healthy companion reflect the pursuit of happiness through animal companionship.
Characters to notice
- Bashan
Introduced as Lux, a half-year-old puppy, described as a skeletal, trembling, and woebegone creature who gradually becomes part of the family.
- The Narrator
The primary voice, who along with his family visits Anastasia, pays for the dog, and leads the process of acquiring and settling Bashan.
- Anastasia
The tavern keeper who acts as go-between, boards Lux, and persuades the family to take him, even decorating him with a nosegay for his new home.
- Percy
Mentioned as the previous Scotch collie who was shot due to a painful skin disease, prompting the search for a new dog.
- Lux
The preliminary name of Bashan during his stay at Anastasia's tavern; he is described as a pitiful, knock-kneed puppy.
Key passages
“It was a short, buxom, dark-eyed young woman who, with the help of her equally sturdy and dark-eyed daughter, keeps a hillside tavern not far from the Bavarian mountain resort called Tolz, who acted as go-between in the business of our making Bashan’s acquaintance and then acquiring him.”
A plump, dark-eyed woman and her daughter, who run a tavern near the Bavarian town of Tolz, helped us meet and eventually get Bashan.
Introduces Anastasia and her role as intermediary.
“There, tied to a table-leg with a frazzled rope, stood a creature of whom we had until then been unaware in the smouldering half-light of this kitchen. It was a vision, however, which would have induced anyone to burst into peals of pitying laughter.”
In the dim kitchen, a pitiful creature was tied to a table leg with a worn rope, a sight that would make anyone laugh out of pity.
Describes the first shocking appearance of the puppy Lux.
“His name, she declared in her pleasant and even voice, was, for the time being, Lux. He was the son of most respectable parents. She was personally acquainted with his mother, and as for his father she had heard nothing but good of him.”
Anastasia said the dog's temporary name was Lux, and that he came from good stock, as she knew his mother and had heard only good things about his father.
Anastasia vouches for the dog's lineage.
“And then a radical change of residence—our removal to the city, or rather its suburbs—led to his becoming wholly dependent upon us and entering upon an intimate connection with our household life.”
Moving to the city suburbs made Bashan completely reliant on us and deeply integrated into our family life.
Explains how the move solidified the bond between Bashan and the family.
