Von Hollas Rocken : Märchen

The story opens with a penniless tailor who, while wandering through a dark forest, encounters a friendly dog that invites him to join its pack. One by one the other two dogs appear, and before long the tailor finds himself leading a small, noisy procession of three eager companions. His simple, generous heart contrasts with the practical worry of feeding four mouths on a shoestring budget, setting a tone of hopeful improvisation.

Soon the quartet reaches the edge of a village where a lively tavern beckons from behind a bridge. The tailor, buoyed by the dogs' encouragement, strides in as if he were a prosperous merchant, ordering a feast for four and drawing curious glances from the innkeeper and his wife. The scene crackles with comic tension as the dogs behave with surprising decorum, while the tailor tries to keep up his charade in a place that smells of money and good food.