In April’s Cavaliers as Companions we featured a couple of short folk tales about Cavaliers. Both these stories had been doing the rounds for years and nobody seems to know who wrote them. Different versions of the story feature different breeds, we just made them Cavaliers. This one here though is an original (written by me, Dennis)

THE TRICOLOUR AND THE DONKEY

Their house was quite spacious but rather shabby. Evelyn and Wilfred cared little for flashy furnishings and the latest mod cons. Their lounge contained several scratched and battered armchairs and numerous bean bags all for the use of their many cats and dogs. Their home was full of rescue animals. As well as the cats and dogs, there were parrots, rabbits and guinea pigs plus an assortment of cages containing hamsters, mice and gerbils. If any animal was in need of a home Evelyn and Wilfred would always oblige. They gained much satisfaction in turning their home into a sanctuary for waifs and strays.

Their garden, which was fairly large, was the home to quite a few rescue goats, but their latest addition was an elderly and somewhat scruffy old donkey. Nobody seemed to know his history, he was found tied to a post just outside the village, simply abandoned. A local policeman knew that Evelyn and Wilfred were involved with rescued animals and asked if they knew of anyone that would be willing to give him a good home, but being such a soft touch they decided to take him in themselves.

When they brought him home all of their other animals took very little notice of him except for Treacle, a tricolour Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. He seemed almost enchanted by the old donkey and immediately made friends with him, rarely leaving his side. This behaviour intrigued the other dogs. "Why does he constantly follow that old donkey around?" remarked Bacchus, the brindled lurcher. "He’s a typical stupid Cavalier", replied Bertram, the old rescue greyhound. "A very strange lad, I haven’t a clue as to why he wants to make friends with that useless beast." But despite this criticism Treacle would spend most of the day in the garden with the old donkey.

To help with the upkeep of feeding all their animals Evelyn and Wilfred would often buy and sell things at boot fairs and auctions. One day, after purchasing a number of items at a sale, they unloaded their wares in their garden. From out of the back of their rusty old van they brought out a series of old jugs and vases, a few old clocks, some porcelain figurines and a rather old and faded oil painting in a somewhat chipped and battered frame. On seeing this painting the old donkey became quite excited and let out a very loud neigh.

"See what I mean?" remarked Bacchus. "That donkey is completely nuts. I mean why get excited over such a grubby old picture? After all, you can’t eat it. And why Treacle hangs around with that old beast amazes me."

Wilfred though that he might make a few quid on the old painting if the frame was cleaned up a bit. The picture was not that spectacular, just a country scene of a few trees in a field and an old ruined castle in the distance. Until he had time to work on it Wilfred hung it on a hook in the hallway. The donkey, however, appeared very intrigued with the painting and would spend hours just gazing through the window at the picture. They had erected a horsebox in the garden where the donkey could sleep and quite often Treacle was to be found in there at the side of his new found friend.

It was just two weeks after they had acquired the painting that Evelyn was awakened early one morning by the wind blowing hard against the bedroom door. "What was that?" she cried out.

"What’s what?" Wilfred exclaimed.

"There’s a noise downstairs. I can hear something rattling."

Wilfred jumped out of bed and grabbed a big stick before cautiously opening the bedroom door and nervously creeping down the stairs. "There’s nobody here," he cried out. "But I think that we may have had intruders because the front door is wide open."

They switched on the light and began checking all around. Nothing appeared to be missing and the cats and dogs were all snoozing on their beds except for Treacle who was nowhere to be found. They were quite perplexed as all the windows were closed and they always bolted the back door. However, the bolt had been opened from the inside and the latch was pulled up. "How could this have happened," they wondered.

They went out to check the garden and found, to their distress, that the horse box door was wide open. When they peered inside they discovered the old donkey was missing but Treacle was fast asleep in there. They spent the following day driving all around the area and questioning people in the village in the vain hope of finding the donkey. But what they found most puzzling was the fact that the garden gate was still padlocked, so how could he have got out?

They finally went home, feeling both disappointed and perplexed. But the day of mystery deepened further when Evelyn casually looked at the painting. "That’s strange!" she exclaimed. "I’ve never noticed that before!"

"Noticed what?" enquired Wilfred.

"This picture", said Evelyn. "Under one of the trees is a unicorn. And look! I’m sure that the castle in the distance was an old ruin and yet it now appears to be restored in all its splendour. And look, there’s a rainbow in the sky. I’m sure that wasn’t there before!"

Bertram nudged Bacchus and said, "What’s the betting that Treacle’s got something to do with all this. He’s a weird one, let’s find him."

They both ambled over to the horse box where Treacle was snuggled up on the hay. "Right!" said Bacchus. "What have you been up to? Don’t deny it, we know that you’re involved in that donkey’s disappearance."

"He’s not an old donkey", said Treacle. "He is in fact a unicorn".

"What do you mean, a UNICORN?" demanded Bertram. "He’s just a scruffy, moth-eaten donkey."

"No, you are so wrong," replied Treacle. "You see, us tricolour Cavaliers have secondary sight. With these tan markings above our eyes we can see into other dimensions. As soon as they brought home the ‘so-called’ donkey I was able to see straight away that he was a unicorn in disguise. Everyone else saw an elderly donkey with a grubby old coat, but I saw beyond his disguise. He was an elegant unicorn stallion with a brilliant white coat and a most exquisite golden horn. He had lost his way and needed to return home. A lone unicorn is highly vulnerable, hence the need for his disguise. When he saw that painting he immediately recognized it as his homeland so between us we hatched a plan to get him home."

"But how did you do it?" asked Bacchus.

"It was quite simple really. I nudged open the bolt and the latch on the door with my nose and then went and let the unicorn out. He came into the hallway and quickly evaporated into the painting."

"You mean to say that he is in that painting?" asked Bertram in puzzled amazement.

"No, that was simply the transition stage. He is now back home with his family."

Bacchus and Bertram were both stunned by Treacle’s confession. "Do you mean to say that it’s only tricolour Cavalier King Charles Spaniels that can see unicorns?"

"Not at all," replied Treacle. "Tricolour and Black & Tans Cavaliers do have an advantage by possessing these extra-sensory eyes in our tan eye patches which does make it is easier for us. But anyone can see both unicorns and all sorts of other magical things if they really look hard enough for them. Peacocks have loads of eyes in their tail feathers and should be able to see a multitude of magical things, but sadly they are such vain creatures that they never seem to look beyond their own show-off image."

"When I gaze at things I always look beyond the obvious. If a human picks us up and we look into their eyes we see more than just two round watery beads of either brown, green, blue or hazel. What we see is love, affection, heartache, pain and all sorts of other things. You’ve simply got to look beyond the obvious. You need to appreciate that light, no matter how dim, is precious in a world that is dark. And if you are looking for beauty there is no need to travel long distances, just look at a flower and gaze deeply at a petal. And remember that although a glimpse of a shooting star is extremely brief, its short duration does not make it any less spectacular. If you truly believe in something you are able to open a door into a world of miracles and awesome wonder. And you never know, you too may even find a unicorn!"