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Abandoned (Ithaca III)

He had been lucky today: he had caught a hare. It was thin and old and the flesh was stringy and tough, but at least it was meat. It didn’t matter to Argos that the hare had exhausted itself from struggling for hours in a snare before he caught it.

Argos dragged the hare to his den under the myrtle bush in sight of the master’s house and watched as he devoured his meal. He never entered the house any more. The men in the hall beat and kicked him. The women who swept the floors and made the delicious smells come from the kitchen weren’t much better. The master’s mate and his son seemed to have long since forgotten him, and Argos had not seen the master himself for such a long time.

After dinner and a long nap during the heat of the day, Argos settled to groom. His fur was badly matted and soiled, and he quickly gave up the effort. Still hungry, he rose and went to visit the man that looked after the pigs, one of the few people not unfriendly toward him. With luck, he’d get a few more scraps of food today.

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