Moufflou by Ouida (1899)

Name: Moufflou
Author: Ouida

Moufflou tells the story of a Florentine street family living in the shadow of Or San Michele, held together by the eldest brother Tasso, a hardworking gardener's boy, and centered on the crippled ten-year-old Lolo, whose devoted companion is a clever white poodle named Moufflou (a corruption of "moufflon," after the Corsican sheep he resembled as a puppy). When Tasso draws an unlucky conscription number and faces three years away from the impoverished family that depends on him, the boys' mother, Rosina, desperate for the thousand francs needed to buy a substitute soldier, secretly sells Moufflou to a wealthy English visitor whose sickly young son had been delighted by the dog's tricks. She sends Lolo away on a pretext so he cannot object, then hands Moufflou over and pockets the money, easing Tasso's fate but shattering Lolo, who collapses into a grief-stricken, feverish delirium bordering on meningitis when he learns the truth. As Lolo hovers near death, unable to be consoled even by his family's care, the English family unexpectedly departs Florence for Rome, taking the anguished Moufflou with them. Weeks pass with Lolo wasting away, seemingly beyond hope, until the local priest is summoned to administer last rites. At that very moment, Moufflou—starved, filthy, and bearing marks of a brutal journey—bursts into the room, having somehow traveled over two hundred miles on foot from Rome back to his true home. The shock of joy revives Lolo instantly, and the dog's devoted nursing presence restores him to health over the following days. Fearing the English family will reclaim their legally purchased dog, Tasso resolves to return the thousand francs and offer himself for military service after all rather than let Lolo lose Moufflou again; he carries the money to the hotel and pleads his case to the boy's father. Moved by the story of the dog's incredible loyalty and by his own son's realization that Moufflou never loved him as he loved Lolo, the Englishman refuses to take back the money or the dog, and also releases Tasso from his vow to enlist, offering instead to employ him as a gardener on an estate he is purchasing near Spezia. The family relocates there, Tasso continues as a gardener free from further threat of conscription, Lolo grows toward a future as a florist alongside his beloved Moufflou, and the English boy is comforted with a poodle puppy of his own. The narrative closes with the author appending two supporting anecdotes of dogs who undertook similarly astonishing journeys home—one poignant, one ending in a needless, heartbreaking act of cruelty—underscoring the tale's central meditation on animal fidelity, self-sacrifice, and the perils of tampering with fate for material gain.

By Ouida · First published 1899 · Genre: Sentimental Fiction, Animal Fiction, Children's Literature · 9,998 words

First lines

MOUFFLOU'S masters were some boys and girls. They were very poor, but they were very merry. They lived in an old, dark, tumble-down place, and their father had been dead five years; their mother's care was all they knew; and Tasso was the eldest of them all, a lad of nearly twenty, and he was so kind, so good, so laborious, so cheerful, and so gentle, that the children all younger than he adored him. Tasso was a gardener. Tasso, however, though the eldest and mainly the bread-winner, was not so much Moufflou's master as was little Romolo, who was only ten, and a cripple. Romolo, called generally Lolo, had taught Moufflou all he knew, and that all was a very great deal, for nothing cleverer than was Moufflou had ever walked upon four legs.

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Moufflou is listed on Textopian as a short story by Ouida, dated 1899 CE.

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Work type: Short story
Author: Ouida
Date: 1899 CE
Language: English
Genres: Sentimental Fiction, Animal Fiction, Children's Literature, Domestic Fiction, Social Fiction
Length: 9,998 words
Structure: 1 section, 168 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

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Genres

Sentimental Fiction — The narrative is dominated by emotional appeals and Victorian sentimentality, particularly through the depiction of Lolo's devastating grief, the mother's moral anguish, and the melodramatic stakes surrounding sacrifice and love.
Animal Fiction — The white poodle Moufflou serves as the central protagonist whose experiences, loyalty, and miraculous journey drive the entire narrative and emotional arc.
Children's Literature — The story features child protagonists and is written with accessibility for young readers in mind, presenting clear moral lessons about loyalty, sacrifice, and virtue.
Domestic Fiction — The narrative centers on family life, household relationships, and domestic circumstances, with the home and family bonds as the emotional foundation of the story.