27/06/2024
L’œuvre du sixième jour
Marie Noël
THE WORK OF THE SIXTH DAY
(Translated from the original French)
As soon as the dog had been created, he licked the hand of the Good Lord and the Good Lord patted the dog on the head: “What do you want, dog?”
“My Good Lord, I would like to stay with you, in the heavens, on a mat in front of your door.”
“Certainly not, said the Lord, I do not need dogs, since I have not yet created thieves.”
“When will you create them, Sire.?”
“Never. I am tired, as it has been five days that I have been at work. It is time for me to rest. Here you are, dog, my best creature, my masterpiece, better that I stop right now. It is not advisable that an artist go beyond his inspiration; if I were to continue to create, I might be capable of messing up everything. Go, dog, go quickly and settle down on Earth and be happy.
The dog let out a deep sigh:
“What will I do on Earth, Sire?”
“You will eat, you will drink, you will grow and you will multiply.”
The dog sighed more sadly.
“What more could you need?”
“You, my Sire, Master. Couldn’t you, couldn’t you also come down to Earth?”
“No, said the Good Lord, “no, dog, I assure you, I cannot come down to Earth to keep you company. I have many other things to do. (I have other fish to fry.) These heavens, these angels, these stars, it is all so much trouble.”
Then the dog lowered his head and began to go. But he returned:
“Oh, if only, Good Lord, if only there were a master such as you there?”
“No, said the Lord. “There are none.”
The dog made himself very small, very low and begged some more:
“If you wanted to, Lord, you could always try….”
“Impossible, said the Lord. “I have made what I have made, my work is finished, never will I create a better creature than you… If I were to create another one today, I feel it in my right hand, that one would be a failure.”
“Sire, Good Lord, said the dog, “it doesn’t really matter if it were a failure, so long as I could follow him wherever he went and lie down in front of him whenever he stopped.”
Then the Good Lord was so astonished to have created a creature so good and He said to the dog:
“Go, it will be done according to your wishes.” And returning to his studio, He created man….
Man was a failure, as expected, God had already predicted this…
But the dog was completely happy.
In memory of my perfect dog, Emily Elizabeth
