Shirley the GreyHound: Warmth and Hope

Every good story reads as if there is a light shining into the heart. The story of Shirley the Greyhound is like this.

1. The story takes place during World War II, in a small town at the foot of the Alps, there is a little boy named Sebastian, who has lost his mother's love since childhood and was raised by the old shepherd Caesar. He had always dreamed that one day his mother would come back, holding him and loving him.

There is also a great white bear dog, who escapes from the farm under the abuse of its owner and becomes a "wild dog". Because of its huge size, it was mistaken for a beast that haunted the mountains and was the "behind-the-scenes murderer" who attacked the sheep, and the villagers decided to hunt it.

When the little boy meets the Beast, they gradually become friends who trust each other, and Sebastian is pleasantly surprised to discover that the Beast, who has always been thought of as a crazy male dog, is actually a white female dog. He gave it a name—Shirley.

It was World War II, and the Germans were capturing Jews in the town who wanted to cross the border to Switzerland...

2. This story has been made into TV series and movies many times. The book's film "Shirley the GreyHound Belle et Sébastien (2013)" by the author of the book, has won the Children's Jury Award at the Tallinn Black Night International Film Festival and the Youth Jury Award at the Seattle International Film Festival. This book is the novel version of this movie.

Shirley the Greyhound Chinese Simplified version

3. Next I select a few fragments from the novel to record my feelings and thoughts.

Rescue the little rock antelope Below the cliff is the little rock antelope that has lost its mother, the hunters hunted and killed its mother, it is trembling and overwhelmed, if no one rescues it, it will certainly not survive here. Caesar, the old shepherd, and Sebastian, the little boy, decided to rescue the poor little rock antelope. It's a scene of love and courage— Caesar hanging Sebastian down with a rope, a little boy rescuing a rock antelope from under a cliff with a rope and a backpack—a boy who has lost his mother from an early age rescues a little rock antelope who has just lost his mother.

Child-friendly Jules and Louise fled with their daughter Esther. The day before they prepared to cross the border to Switzerland, they lived in a cave. When it was time for dinner, Jules and Louise went outside to look for the children playing, "Esther and Sebastian were still chatting intently and did not hear them approaching", "the camaraderie in front of them was more touching than all the situations they had seen since the outbreak of war". "They only want to escape, they are chased day and night, forced to lie and hide, and have long forgotten the meaning of life", it is the happiness of the children that makes adults see the hope of life again!

In harsh environments, people lose their dignity and forget about happiness. It is the innocence, childlike fun and friendship of the children that awaken the memories of the adults. We are busy on weekdays, under the pressure of life, have we forgotten the meaning of life? Watching a movie, reading a good book, sometimes plays a role in "awakening".

In the fifth part of the novel, the boy Sebastian comes to the school to look for clues to his mother on a map. When he realized that his mother was not on the other side of the mountain, as Grandpa said, the Americas were on the other side of the blue sea! He could no longer control the disappointment in his heart and burst into tears.

Hearing this heart-rending sound, Shirley suddenly became worried, and it began to whimper, and it circled the boy, screaming in her throat. Seeing that he didn't react, it wanted to use its nose to pull away his stiff hands and use its tongue to lick his tear-wet face...

This description touched me very much. We often feel lonely because no one cares about our feelings. Shirley's cuteness is what keeps an eye on the feelings of her good friend Sebastian. The scene of Shirley comforting the crying Sebastian is really touching!

Reading this novel, I jumped to think of another "Life and Destiny" that I just finished reading, and the stories they tell are far apart in space, but the time point is about the same - before and after the Battle of Stalingrad. Although the stories told by the two works are very different, there is a similar theme at the end - the warmth and hope of life.