THERE once lived a boy named Sam. He was very poor, but he was kind and generous, and loved to help people. He was very fond of animals and always wished to have a spaniel dog but his father could not afford it so he did not like to ask his father.

One day while he was coming from school he heard a dog yowling in pain. As he was a kind-hearted person, he decided to help the dog. He saw the dog was stuck in a thorn bush so he helped the dog out and pulled the thorn out of its body. He took it home and cleaned its wound and put medicine on it.

He named the dog Tinker and gave it food every day. He played ball with Tinker, and hide and seek. Sam had never enjoyed so much in life. He loved every moment of it. One day there was a ‘Show and Tell’ activity in Sam’s class and Sam decided to take his dog. He first made Tinker take a bath so he could look neat, tidy and smart. Then Sam put a red collar so even if there was a risk of it getting lost and anybody who would find Tinker and return it. Sam even got first position in ‘Show and Tell’ for talking about Tinker so well.

But one day a terrible thing happened. Tinker got lost and Sam couldn’t find it anywhere. Tinker had disappeared in the night and no one knew where it was. Sam was devastated and started to look for the dog everywhere. He looked around the house and his neighbourhood, and asked anyone he saw, but no one had even seen a sign of it. Sam then went to the police station to report it. The police then scattered everywhere to look for Tinker, but like Sam, they couldn’t find it anywhere. When Sam heard the bad news he was almost in tears.

Then he had an idea — he would search the forest. When he told his mother about this, she forbade it as the forest was like a deep, dark maze. In spite of his mother’s warning, Sam planned to go and search the forest at night. When everyone went to bed, Sam crept outside as quietly as a mouse and made his way to the forest.

He was very frightened to see the dark woods and imagined ghosts hiding behind the trees, but he put on a brave face and called Tinker’s name loudly but there was no sign of Tinker. Suddenly, he heard yelping that sounded like Tinker.

Sam ran towards the sound and came to a screeching halt as he saw Tinker trapped in a small cage with a big, burly man sleeping soundly beside it. Sam crept as stealthily as a monkey and carefully opened the latch. The huge man stirred in his sleep and Sam froze with fear. He waited till the man went back to sleep and started snoring again. Then he let Tinker out and they both ran for dear life.

As they ran, Sam realised another problem. He didn’t know how to get home, because, like his mother had warned, the forest was a maze. But fortunately, an amazing idea flashed through Sam’s mind. He instructed Tinker to guide him home, because dogs can sniff out the way to their homes. Tinker was a smart dog, he understood very well and then guided Sam through the rocky path to the village. When they reached the village, Sam was very tired and it was well past midnight. Sam and Tinker made their way home and fell asleep as soon as they hit the bed. They were together again, and that was enough for them.