The Legend of the Black Dog

Bueno, pues aquí va la primera entrada en el blog del perro negro. La idea de The Black Dog... bueno, a ver si Suso se mete y explica de dónde salió la idea. En fin, el caso es que, una vez Suso y yo pusimos nombre a nuestro proyecto (sea cual sea ese proyecto), nos dimos cuenta de que el concepto de "the black dog" ya tiene bastante historia por detrás... ahí va la leyenda del perro negro:

Long ago in England there was a castle which was always guarded by soldiers. The guard room was just inside the great entrance of the castle and a passage led from it, through one of the old churches, to the Captain of the Guard's room. At the end of every day, the soldiers took turns locking the castle gates and carrying the key through the dark passage back to the Captain.

About this time, a big black dog with rough curly hair would be seen sometimes in one room, next time in a different room. He did not belong to anyone there and no one knew anything about him. But every night, when the candles were lighted in the guard room and the fire was burning bright, he would come down the dark passage and lay down by the hearth. He made no sound, but lay there until the break of day, when he would get up and disappear into the passage.

At first the soldiers were terrified of him, but after a while they got used to the sight of him and lost some of their fear, though they still looked upon him as something more than mortal. While he was in the room the men were quiet and no bad words were spoken. When the hour came to carry the key to the Captain, two men would always go together. No man would face the dark passage alone.

One night, however, one foolish fellow had drunk more than was good for him and he began to brag that he was not afraid of the dog. It was not his turn to take the keys, but to show how brave he was he said he would take them alone. He dared the dog to follow him.

"Let him come!" he shouted, laughing. "I'll see whether he be dog or devil!" His friends were terrified and tried to hold him back, but he snatched up the keys and went out into the passage. The black dog slowly got up from before the fire and followed him. There was a deathly silence in the guard room, no sound was heard but the dashing of the waves on the steep rocks of the castle islet.

After a few minutes, there came from the dark passage the most unearthly screams and howls. The soldiers looked at each other in horror, but not one dared to move to see what was going on. Presently they heard steps, and the rash fellow came back into the room. His face was pale and twisted with fear. He spoke not a word, then or afterwards. In three days he was dead, and nobody ever knew what had happened to him that fearful night... The black dog has never been seen again!