asked the Snow Man of the yard-dog. "You havebeen here longer than I have; do you know them?"
  "Of course I know them," replied the yard-dog; "she has stroked myback many times, and he has given me a bone of meat. I never bitethose two."
  "But what are they?" asked the Snow Man.
  "They are lovers," he replied; "they will go and live in thesame kennel by-and-by, and gnaw at the same bone. Away, away!"
  "Are they the same kind of beings as you and I?" asked the SnowMan.
  "Well, they belong to the same master," retorted the yard-dog."Certainly people who were only born yesterday know very little. I cansee that in you. I have age and experience. I know every one here inthe house, and I know there was once a time when I did not lie outhere in the cold, fastened to a chain. Away, away!"
  "The cold is delightful," said the Snow Man; "but do tell metell me; only you must not clank your chain so; for it jars allthrough me when you do that."
  "Away, away!" barked the yard-dog; "I'll tell you; they said I wasa pretty little fellow once; then I used to lie in a velvet-coveredchair, up at the master's house, and sit in the mistress's lap. Theyused to kiss my nose, and wipe my paws with an embroideredhandkerchief, and I was called 'Ami, dear Ami, sweet Ami.' But after awhile I grew too big for them, and they sent me away to thehousekeeper's room; so I came to live on the lower story. You can lookinto the room from where you stand, and see where I was master once;for I was indeed master to the housekeeper. It was certainly a smallerroom than those up stairs; but I was more comfortable; for I was notbeing continually taken hold of and pulled about by the children asI had been. I received quite as good food, or even better. I had myown cushion, and there was a stove- it is the finest thing in theworld at this season of the year. I used to go under the stove, andlie down quite beneath it. Ah, I still dream of that stove. Away,away!"
  "Does a stove look beautiful?" asked the Snow Man, "is it at alllike me?"
  "It is just the reverse of you,' said the dog; "it's as black as acrow, and has a long neck and a brass knob; it eats firewood, sothat fire spurts out of its mouth. We should keep on one side, orunder it, to be comfortable. You can see it through the window, fromwhere you stand."
  Then the Snow Man looked, and saw a bright polished thing with abrazen knob, and fire gleaming from the lower part of it. The Snow Manfelt quite a strange sensation come over him; it was very odd, he knewnot what it meant, and he could not account for it. But there arepeople who are not men of snow, who understand what it is. "'And whydid you leave her?" asked the Snow Man, for it seemed to him thatthe stove must be of the female sex. "How could you give up such acomfortable place?"
  "I was obliged," replied the yard-dog. "They turned me out ofdoors, and chained me up here. I had bitten the youngest of mymaster's sons in the leg, because he kicked away the bone I wasgnawing. 'Bone for bone,' I thought; but they were so angry, andfrom that time I have been fastened with a chain, and lost my bone.Don't you hear how hoarse I am. Away, away! I can't talk any more likeother dogs. Away, away, that is the end of it all."
  But the Snow Man was no longer listening. He was looking intothe housekeeper's room on the lower storey; where the stove stood onits four iron legs, looking about the same size as the Snow Manhimself. "What a strange crackling I feel within me," he said."Shall I ever get in there?