A Dog of Flanders

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A Dog of Flanders is a novel about a boy Nello and his dog Patrache written by Marie Louise de la Ramée under the pseudonym Ouida in 1872. It is widely read in Japan, and has among others been made into an animated cartoon. The story is little known in Belgium, and then primarily because of the tourists it attracts to Antwerp; to accommodate Japanese tourists, there is a small statue of Nello and Patrache in the Antwerp suburb of Hoboken.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In the 19th century, a boy named Nello became an orphan at the age of two when his mother died in the Ardennes. His grandfather, Johan Daas, lived in a small village, Hoboken near the city of Antwerp took him in.

One day, Nello found a dog, who was almost beaten to death, and named him Patrasche. Due to the good care of Johan, the dog recovered from his wounds and from then on were Nello and Patrasche inseparable.

Since they were very poor, Nello had to help his grandfather financially by selling milk. Patrasche helped him pull the milk cart that Nello used to sell milk in the town.

Nello had a friend, Aloise, the daughter of a well-off man in the village. The father didn't want his daughter to have a poor sweetheart.

Although Nello was illiterate, he was very talented in drawing. He participated in a junior drawing contest in Antwerp, hoping that he could win the first prize, which was 200 francs per year. However, the jury elected somebody else as winner.

Afterwards his grandfather died and he was accused of causing a fire, his life became desperate.

As he had no place to stay, Nello wanted to go to the cathedral of Antwerp and see Rubens's triptych. But he didn't have enough money to enter. In the night of Christmas Eve, he and Patrache went to Antwerp and, by chance, found the door to the church open, where he found the painting he loved. The next morning the villagers found a boy with his dog frozen to death in front of the triptych.

[edit] Adaptations

The novel has been adapted for television twice, and for cinema three times:

A Dog of Flanders (1914), directed by Howell Hansel. [1]
A Dog of Flanders (1935), directed by Edward Sloman. [2]
A Dog of Flanders (1960), directed by James B. Clark. [3]
Flanders no Inu (Japan, 1975) - A Japanese animation series produced by Nippon Animation
Flanders no Inu, Boku no Patrasche (Japan, 1992) A remake of Flanders no Inu produced by Tokyo Movie Shinsha.
A Dog of Flanders (1999), directed by Kevin Brodie. [4]