The Princess’s Pet

Long ago in China, a small princess lived in a large palace. Her father, the emperor, allowed his daughter no playmates, thinking they would distract her from her royal training. The girl’s nursemaid took pity and smuggled in a tiny dog to keep her company.



The princess was delighted, and named him Peach Flower. Even when the two friends were not playing, she kept him bound tight in the sleeve of her robe, so that he father would not discover him.

She even slept with him that way. One day when the princess was in the garden with the emperor, a sound of snoring broke the quiet of the morning, and Peach Flower was pulled out of his hiding place. Upon seeing the dog, the Emperor exclaimed, “Little lion, are you a prince in disguise?"

Far from being angry, he was enchanted by her pet’s looks, for, from riding so long in the tight space of her sleeve, his sweet face had been squashed into a wonder of wrinkles. From then on, the three folds of skin on the Pug’s forehead were said to look like the Chinese character for “prince”.



(written by Madeleine Scott)

Source:
The Pug, Susan M. Ewing