Greyfriars Bobby (Penguin Popular Classics) (Paperback)

Cheers, Mike.

The story of Greyfriars Bobby is both fascinating and well known, of course: it concerns the Skye Terrier that fell in love with his shepherd master to the extent that when the man, Auld Jock in the book John Gray in real life, died not only did the dog attend the funeral; but it spent the rest of its life sleeping on Auld Jock's grave in Greyfriars Church in Edinburgh.

This is a strange but true story that took place in the middle to end of the nineteeth century and I not aware of any similar story of mourning by a member of one species over the death of one from another … for so long. It would be fascinating to be able to get into the mind of the dog as we try to understand why it behaved in the way it did. After all, there are animals that have clearly been distressed at the death of an owner or companion but I think there's only one that has stood as guardian over a grave.

Atkinson takes the story along quite nicely and lets her nationality slip on the first page or so when she says "but the old kirk was built before ever the Pilgrims set sail for America"! Atkinson has weaved a story from what I assume are the bare bones of a much less involved story that she must have heard or read about. The urchins from the tenements are treated kindly, the landlord of the pub who feeds Bobby is treated well, the Policeman who turns out to be a smart Alek is treated badly, the Lord Provost is treated very well, Edinburgh itself is treated badly in parts.

All told I would say that Atkinson has essentially told a story of love and compassion to shame us all; but underlying the events is the question of the inexplicable why? Why did God choose a wiry Skye Terrier to demonstrate that there's more to life than material wealth and so on?

The narrator tells the story in standard English but the people of Edinburgh speak a rich dialect that leads to the need for footnotes and a glossary. Again, given that Atkinson didn't visit Edinburgh (or Scotland?) where did she pick up the vocabulary; and why did she use it in the United States, her intended first readership? After all, most people will find such a strong dialect difficult to follow both in the written and the spoken forms. Follow this if you can:

"The dog maun hae left the kirkyaird. Thae terriers are aye
barkin'. It'd be maist michty noo, gin he'd be so lang i' the
kirkyaird, an' no' mak' a blatterin'."

and

"I see 'im noo. Isna he bonny? I wish Bobby could bide i' the kirkyaird, but they wadna let 'im. Tammy, gin ye tak' 'im up to Maister Traill, he'll gie ye the shullin'!"

Nevertheless, this style enriches the story, it brings Scotland clearly into it.

Baroness Burdett Coutts features in the story and she was instrumental in having a statue and drinking fountain built in commemoration of the life of Bobby and it's still to be found in Edinburgh.

The cover says that the book was written for adults but I felt it was written more along the lines of a children's story: nothing wrong with that, just my viewpoint.

So, the big lesson from this well written and well crafted story? If a wee bit dog can do enough to warrant the erection of a statue, surely we can beat that? Let his loyalty and devotion be a lesson to us all.

The book finishes with "If there is not more love in this world than there is room for in God's heaven, Bobby would just have "gaen awa' hame."