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	P R E D I C A M E N T
		The little dog had been abandonned for already several months ; at the beginning, he was roaming permanently about the villages and the hamlets, hoping to find someone to stroke and feed him. But he understood quickly that nobody would ever want him again. What would become of him ? Then he wandered about like a lost soul, through the fields and the woods, hunting to get something to eat, and finally, he resigned himself and thought that he was still lucky enough to stay alive and that freedom had an advantage - nevertheless he often felt that something was really missing. However, he was dogged by by misfortune. Because he killed preys and so competed with hunters, he had been decreed under sentence of death and he realized quickly that men were trying to decoy him into a trap. He understood quickly he was in an awkward predicament. It was Christmas Eve, and he was especially sad at heart. He was roving through the fields when he perceived a red flower ; in this time, so few flowers had still held out against cold and wind ! He was so much intrigued that he forgot he had to be on his guard. He drew nearer and recognized a rose. But then he heard a voice, it came from the rose. He was so enthralled by the rose's talk, that he didn't care a brawny man was staying behind him. The rose was one of the last flowers of a large garden, and the old gardener was taking care of it every day. He considered all animals as pests for a garden, and he was preparing to chase the dog out when he heard the rose's voice. He never heard any flower speaking during his long life, so he was really touched. The rose began to talk about several things, but then it told the dog that he was meant to live with mankind and it told the old man that dogs were loving beings and not pests, and that it had been given the responsibility to bring them together. The dog looked behind him and saw the man, but he didn't run away ; the man took him in his arm and went into his house. Both knew deep inside of them that they were on the eve of happiness. The following day, the Christmas grace set the seal on their friendship.   When the night overran the earth, the wind blew so strongly that all the petals of the rose flew far away. The rose was dead, but the friendship remained.
			24/12/10 Isabelle Coquinot