Verhovayak Lapja, 1940. július-december (23. évfolyam, 27-52. szám)
1940-12-26 / 52. szám
December 26, 1940 Page 7 Verhovayak Lapja THE PELI By ZSOLT HARSÁNYI The breed of sheep dog which in Hungary goes by the name of puli is in every respect the same Asiatic breed which thirteen hundred odd years ago trotted into Europe under the carts of the nomadic Magyars, who in 896 invaded Hungary under the leadership of their chieftain Árpád. There is no sight more characteristic of a Hungarian country road than the peasant cart jogging quietly along, with the farmer dozing on the box and the puli wisely trotting underneath, between the four wheels, where he is sheltered from the fierce rays of the sun and where, two thousand years ago, he felt himself safe from his enemies, the eagles of the steppe. There are two kinds of sheep dog—those which guard the sheep and those which herd them together, and neither encroaches on the other’s activities. The business of the first is to keep off thieves and wolves wherefore he must be strong, watchful and courageous. The herder dog, on the other hand, might be called a civil servant; he maintains order and enforces discipline, reproves or chastises delinquents, and does a constable's duty in arresting vagrants and bringing them back to the fold. There are two breeds of dog which are supposed to guard the sheep in Hungary, the komondor and the kuvasz. But their importance has declined since the vast, impenetrable marshes which used to give shelter to bandits ahd wolves have been subdued by the plough; so they have embraced civilization and have settled down to a sedentary life and the guarding of the homesteads, like cowboys who, having made their pile, turn into mayors or aldermen. The herder dog, on the other hand, the puli and his cousin the pumi—which differs from him in a few minor particulars, such as the ability to piiek up his ears—are more important than ever before. The puli is not a big dog— he is no more than a foot high— and generally black in color, although there are some white and rust-red specimens. His eyes arc chocolate brown and his hair is long and twisted in strands like the beard of an Assyrian king of old. On the haunches these strands grow to such a length that they all but sweep the ground like a cloak. The face is likewise covered with long hair, like that of an Aino native, so that the eyes are nearly invisible. It is a mystery how he can see at all, yet his sight is extraordinarily keen. His curling tail is long-haired like the rest of him; there is a curious vitality in this hair; it seems to live a life of its own, so that now and then large tussocks detach themselves from the rest, looking föláll the world like something the upholsterer could use with advantage for stuffing sofas. This shaggy-faced, unkempt looking little dog is almost weirdly intelligent. I remember going to see a shepherd on the great Hungarian Plain when I was staying in the neighborhood. 1 found him sitting on. the ground on his cloak, meditatively smoking a pipe. As I approached his dog broke into furious barking and bared its sharp, pointed THE HUNGARIAN PULI DOG teeth at me in an alarming manner, but at a word from his master he immediately desisted and lay down. The sheep, peacefully browsing, were scattered over a wide area, merging with a peculiar appositeness into the quiet melancholy of the illimitable plain. I fell into conversation with the sturdy shepherd and begged him to show me what his dog could do. He murmured “Pengő,” which happened to be the dog’s name, without any emphasis, and the animal was instantly on his feet. Without looking at him or making the slightest gesture with his hand, his master said quietly: “Collect the left flank.” Pengő hurled himself like a catapult towards the left corner of the field, so that the dust flew in clouds in his wake, then got busy among the stragglers, barking at each in turn until he had driven it back to the rest of the flock. He gave one or two short, sharp barks at them all, like a surly policeman, then returned at a trot to his master’s side, to await further orders. “Now fetch me Marci,” murmured the shepherd, without moving a muscle. Pengő rushed off again. Marci was the name of the bellwether. The dog sought him out from the midst of the herd and, barking and snapping at his heels and cleverly directing his course if he tried to break away right or left, brought him in a direct line to his master. All of this showed that he understood the sound of words without the aid of gestures. He knew words as “right,” “left,” “collect,” “fetch” and the name of the bellwether. “A very intelligent dog,” I said to the shepherd. “That's not a dog, Mister,” replied the man, “that’s a puli.” That, of course, explained everything. The average puli has a vocabulary of between forty and fifty words; and small as he is, he accomplishes the work of two human beings. No wonder that the shepherds draw a distinction between him and all other dogs. A little while ago the puli made his victorious entry also into city life; his intelligence, humor and comic appearance have gained him many friends, so that he is well able to hold his own among the fashionable Scotties and Airedales which had held the field so long. There seems no limit to the things a puli is capable of learning. Recently I read in the papers about one which his owner had actually taught to pronounce a word. What dog lover could help being intrigued by such an assertion'’ I took an afternoon off and drove to the place, some miles outside Budapest, wheie the prodigy was to be seen, and to my suiprise found that tbc papers had told the truth. The little three year old puli dog— his name was Tücsök, which is the Hungarian for cricket—-had actually learned one word the simplest, it is true-of human speech. To the question: “Who is it who gives you food?” he answers quite distinctly: “Mamma.” I made him repeat the performance several times in order to observe how he does it, and 1 found that he formed the lettei “m” with his lips exactly like human beings. The tone he used was deep as a growl but had nothing ferocious about it; on i the contrary, the joyous and persistent tail wagging with which he accompanied the sound showed the friendly mood he was in. | The imitative faculty was very . strongly developed in this dog. | which was why it had proved possible to teach him this fragment of human speech. I was told that when his master leaves the house he climbs the railing. of the garden and, raising one paw, waves him farewell greet- , ing exactly as he has seen the members ol the family do. I was myself the happy owner of a puli lor thirteen years. He bowled me over completely when as a puppy of eighteen months, he jumped after me into Lal-e Balaton fully determined to save j my life, although he had nevei been in deep water before. As it happened, it was I who had to catch him up in my arms to save him from being drowned, but that did not make his action any less heroic. Later on he became the best of companions, always lively and good-humoréi, but perfectly obedient and with a strongly developed sense of humor. He was very human,, even in his faults. He was, f i instance, not above lying if it served his purpose. I had strict, y forbidden him to eat anything outside his one daily meal; but it occasionally happened that he was plied with delicacies at the houses of friends whom he went to see. This naturally impaired his appetite and he refused to touch his dinner when he came home. Nevertheless he would come into my study afterwards and make a point of announcing, as on other days, with happy barks and as assiduous wiping of his shaggy mouth on the carpet, that he had just had an excellent meal. If he had been naughty and my man threatened to give him a beating, he would suddenly give the bark with which he was in the habit of warning him that someone had rung the front door bell; and while the man, falling into the,trap, would run to the door, he would prudently withdraw to some secret hiding place where none of us could find him It had never occurred to me to try to teach him human spec h, just as I never taught him aev tricks. But in his own way he could express himself very well. He recognized the step of all my usual callers, and we could tell hy his bark whether it was one of the family, a friend, a stranger or a beggar who stood outside the door. He never bit anyone. There was only one person he loathed with all his heart, and that was the man who occasionally came to carry away my paper-backed books for binding. He could not forgive him for carrying things out of the house. That he subsequently brought them back again made no difference to his hatred. The puli is a capitalist at heart. Such as he is now, he was a cóuple of thousand years ago. Science, which has given him the name of canis ovilis villosus hungaricus, has traced his origins back to the regions of Tibet and has established that he is probably a descendant of the ancient Asiatic shepherd dog whose family includes the Russian oftcharka. This Asiatic descent is perceptible to this day in the puli’s behavior. He is hardy, cunning and enduring, but not brave according to European standards, although if he has to die he dies like a hero, without a thought of saving his life. History has taught us the mode of warfare of the ancient Magyars. It was their habit to throw the enemy's lines into disorder by feigned flight, which once accomplished they would turn and attack with lightning swiftness. The Magyars, adapting themselves to European customs, abandoned this mode of fighting a thousand year ago. But the puli is Still at the old game. Whether in play or in earnest, he never attacks, and again and again pretends to run away, but he never runs far. It is wholly impossible to catch him—he is much too quick and dexterous, but take your eye off him for a single minute and he is back with the swiftness of an arrow, ho? bitten you and run away again. His method of fighting is a continuous _ offensive-defensive. He fias brought down with him through the ages the ancestral qualities of an Asiatic race which in the meantime has acquired citizenship in Europe. He is at the same time very Asiatic and very Magyar; no man can be more Magyar than he and no dog more intelligent, therefore he ministers to our na- I tional vanity more than any other creature. —Fiom The Hungarian Quarterly BRANCH 434 South Bend, Indiana A special meeting of Branch 434 was called on December 5th to elect new officers for the coming year, i In the name of Branch 434 I wish to thank Joseph Nagy, Jr., our past president of 1940. for his worthy efforts and splendid services, i and also to welcome the new president, Charles Toth, who 1 begins his duties on January , 1st. The following is a list of the new officers and the offices which they hold: President, Charles Toth. Vice-President, Joseph Hoi'fer. i Secretary-Treasurer Mrs. Wendell Lukacs. Recorder, Kathie Jankovits. j Trustees, Carl Benko, Ilya Vuhasz, Frank Hoffer, Mrs. : Catherine Szabó, Mrs. Mary Pilarski, George Toth, Jr. Sergeant at Arms, Mary Vida. Standing Chairman of En-TOPICS IN MUSIC By JOE VARGO Branch 248—Lorado, W. Va. Home at night we settle down into a comfortable ior t,,e ,adi» and dial a favorite statjon ■The music is soothing and we ,I» folget our day’s «Olk and cares, and perhaps even dl,ft into dreamland -- we wonder how many are interested in the ÍkfUnd of this wonderful thing we call Music— the orchestras, concert bands, school bands, symphoy, singers, performers, songeroe? and mUSic Polishers- For here alone Music fn im00"16 a major industry n ihls country, a magnificem mdustry of enterfain*ew fields have opened up n the past decade and car!!ra m music has become q . ahty. Good musicians are m demand; new orchestras have sprung up all over the country. in this mad wartom world man seeks re•uge in music. As we hum out the latest bit tune of the day we bonder how many of us realize that there is a stnmgle going on in the music industry at the present time. The ASCAP. American Society of Composers. Authors and Publishers, with a membership of little more than a thousand, who turn out three fourths of our song bits, have been accused bv the radio industry of chargmg too much for their music. So radio officials have banded together and formed a firm known as Broadcast Music. In^. Thev plan to supply their own music and at the same time boycott music controlled bv ASCAP. B.M.I. has already turned out some hit songs, and this flare-up promises to give additional opportunity to new tunesmiths. In writing and composing a song and having it sung and performed by a whole nation, there is an exalted feeling ol pride and satisfaction that is hard to obtain in any other field of endeavor. A composer once said: “Let me but write the songs a nation sings and I caie not who makes its laws.” And so we have a fair scope of the importance and influence this great industry of music plays in our everyday life. tertainment Commit tee, Charles Hoffer. All members of the Branch extend their best wishes to the new officers. Fraternally. Kathie Jankovits, Recorder.
