Ballads, Founded on Anecdotes Relating to Animals

Edward is about to plunge into an Indian river when Fido races ahead, trying desperately to stop him. The dog cannot speak—but will his master understand the warning?

William Hayley’s early-nineteenth-century ballads turn reported animal anecdotes into vivid tales of loyalty and courage. In India, Fido must protect Edward from a danger the heedless young man cannot see; elsewhere, a gentle elephant startles a gardener with an urgent rescue, while in a lonely Scottish valley Jessy and her children face a threat from above. Hayley’s verse finds tenderness and bravery where people might least expect them, and asks what humans owe their faithful companions. When danger comes, can devotion make itself understood in time?

With centuries of literature, it's inevitable that some will fall through the cracks. We hunt down public domain works and restore them so they're not lost to the world.

Who are we? We're Cairn Press. Our background is in design, publishing, typography, and technology. These skills fuel our mission to create the highest quality Public Domain eBooks available online, at an affordable price. We give them the treatment they deserve; our proprietary process restores books for a better overall user experience in design, readability, and e-reader compatibility.