Plot Summary
In the 19th century, a boy named Nello becomes an orphan at the age of two when his mother dies in the Ardennes. His grandfather Jehan Daas, who lives in a small village near the city of Antwerp, takes him in.
One day, Nello finds a dog who was almost beaten to death and names him Patrasche. Due to the good care of Jehan, the dog recovers, and from then on, Nello and Patrasche are inseparable. Since they are very poor, Nello has to help his grandfather by selling milk. Patrasche is shackled to a dogcart and helps Nello pull the milk into town each morning.
Nello falls in love with Aloise, the daughter of a well-off man in the village named Nicholas Cogez. Nicholas doesn't want his daughter to have a poor sweetheart. Although Nello is illiterate, he is very talented in drawing. He enters a junior drawing contest in Antwerp, hoping to win the first prize, 200 francs per year. However, the jury selects somebody else.
Afterwards, he is accused of causing a fire by Nicholas (the fire occurred on his property) and his grandfather dies. His life becomes even more desperate. Having no place to stay, Nello goes to the cathedral of Antwerp to see Rubens' The Elevation of the Cross, but he doesn't have enough money to enter. On the night of Christmas Eve, he and Patrasche go to Antwerp and, by chance, find the door to the church open. The next morning, the boy and his dog are found frozen to death in front of the triptych.
In another version, they go the village church. The pastor, finding them in the church, covers them with a woolen blanket, thus saving their lives. Two days later, one of the judges comes, and because he thought Nello was the true winner, he asks him to stay with him. As years pass, Patrasche dies, and Nello becomes a famous artist.
Read more about this topic: A Dog Of Flanders
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