А никто случайно не ездил зимой с биглями например в Суздаль или другие русские города? Чтоб было снежно, с биглем и в русской экзотике?

Ну вот, статья готова, но пока только на английском  русский текст еще нуждается в редакции 

I Wish You a Merry Beagle Christmas…

   To me Christmas has always been the most wonderful time of the year. May be just because my birthday falls on the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. But most probably, because of the whole atmosphere of fairy tale that slowly, day by day, fills our lives during the last month of the year.
   In Moscow, as in many Northern cities, days become very short but early dusk does not make you feel dreary or stressed out – before the very first signs of it the city is already alight with street lamps and colorful electric garlands. All these lights are reflected in car windows, in the eyes of smiling pedestrians with cheeks rosy from the frost, in the shining shop windows from which many different images of Santa are beaming back at you… Huge and beautiful Christmas Trees on city squares, sparkling with myriads of little lights, keep the feeling of an ongoing holiday. The whole city suddenly turns out to be very cozy with many tiny corners and curves hosting hidden splinters of Christmas magic here and there. Even if you leave the center of Moscow and make your way towards the so called “bedroom districts” – the areas where the majority of Muscovites live – the train of Christmas enchantment will follow you there. A careful observer will certainly notice how Christmas Trees wink friendly out of apartment windows, generously sharing the warm depth and comfort that they give to their adoptive homes. How tired but contented parents carry piles of presents wrapped in shining paper. How in the instantly hospitable front yards of apartment buildings they are met by scores of smiling snowmen made by children during the day.
   My personal Christmas feelings are always concentrated around one and the same picture: Alvin and I, frozen and snow-clad, come back home after a walk. I come into the living room where our tall Christmas Tree stands in a corner, inhale the sharp smell of hot glintwein from the kitchen and sit down in the big arm-chair to watch TV. Alvin runs into the room after my husband has washed his paws. His ears are still cold. He jumps into my arm-chair and I move aside to give him room. He curls up and falls asleep at once. At that moment I usually can conclude: I don’t know about the rest of the World, but my personal “Merry Little Christmas” has already come and settled all around me.
   Indeed, I feel happy that my dog is close to me and wheezing comfortably in the warm arm-chair, and I will explain to you, why. Among old Russian beliefs there is one which says that right before Christmas all evil spirits creep out and hurry to cause as much harm as possible to people before the Christmas Day comes. Of course now we do not care about old beliefs all that much, but still somewhere deep in the subconscious there exists that old warning: be on guard in these long dark snowy evenings! Everything can happen before Christmas – and sometimes happens. Listen to this story.
   Once, on December 17, three beagles went for a walk with their master in the forest. Among the beagles there was one called Tonic. We must note that those three beagles were all hunting dogs, trained to chase and return at a shot.
   It was good snowy winter. The master was skiing and Tonic with the other beagles was running happily around him. Suddenly the beagles picked up the scent of a roe-deer. They immediately followed its track and disappeared in the woods. Heavy snowfall started. The master ran after them trying to call them back. Some time passed and two beagles returned, but Tonic – a young handsome male – did not. It was a heartbreaking shock: he had always come back. Snow was getting heavier. The master rushed back home for a gun to shoot, but when he reached the place again with the gun later that night, no beagle’s song came back to him in response.
   The whole family was plunged into despair. They engaged local residents, hunters and forest rangers, police, even TV and radio… Every day the master drove around the countryside, talking to people in nearby villages and cottages in the hope to find a trace of his little beagle. He learnt that the hunt masters had a helicopter and it took him quite a while to talk them into using it in his search for Tonic. But even the helicopter did not help. Days went by, and news about Tonic never came. The snowfall continued, and the hunters said that wolves had come into this forest. But the master did not give up. One day, together with the hunters, they drove three wolves away from the forest and in the process found a young hound puppy, but still there was no trace of Tonic. Day after day the master stubbornly searched the forest, shot his gun in the air and called for Tonic. It was very cold and the snowfall went on and on. Finally, when the energy driving him was almost exhausted, when practically all tears were cried out and all hopes seemed to have been in vain, the news came.
   On night of December 23 local residents saw a man who was pulling along a thoroughbred dog, lame in one leg, on a leash. This man was well known around the area for his poaching in the woods. The local residents called the hunters, the hunters called the police and Tonic’s master, and everybody rushed to the poacher’s house.
   Dreams come true and miracles do happen on Christmas – it was Tonic! Emaciated, hungry, frozen and frightened little beagle – but alive! He had spent six days under non-stop snowfall in a winter forest with wolves roaming around, with his leg caught in the trap set by the poacher for a mink. Fortunately, Tonic had no injuries except broken fingers on the trapped paw. The master had to go through a long argument with the poacher who insisted that the dog belonged to him. But after a week of an almost hopeless search, with Tonic, alive, now before him, nothing in the World could have stopped the master from getting his little pal back. He produced Tonic’s brand on the inner side of the ear, and all Tonic’s documents. There were witnesses and all of them spoke in his favor. At last Tonic was handed to his family, and black despair was replaced by limitless joy and happiness. 
   It is a real Christmas story, and thanks to Santa for its happy ending – it took master a year to heal Tonic’s injured paw. Now he is well and healthy, full of love and energy, which, it seems, never leaves beagles for long.
   It is wonderful that Tonic, as other beagles, was lucky to celebrate Christmas at home near a bright Christmas Tree and a table full of delicious festival food! What can be better for a beagle?! We all know how smart and inventive they may be, especially when it comes to food. I heard how it took one of them only 10 minutes to steal and eat all sausages from a Christmas table while the owners and their guests were smoking in the kitchen.
   So, old beliefs are worth remembering in the week before Christmas. But, then again – if the Christmas turkey suddenly disappears from your table, do not rush to blame all the devils and demons. Start from looking at your beagle’s satisfied shining muzzle, then look into his mischievous eyes. And feel happy that he is with you on this magic night.
   God bless you, and “Merry Beagle Christmas” to you!

Отредактировано everina (03.11.2008 18:02:31)