Etu istoriyu, ironichnuyu i grustnuyu, rasskazhet vam SHlyopik — vernyy i rassuditel'nyy pes. Rodivshis' s belym pyatnom posredi chernoy mordy, on vskore s nedoumeniem obnaruzhil, chto iz-za odnogo etogo schitaetsya sobakoy vtorogo sorta. No zato kak raz blagodarya pyatnu Mayor Torkil'dsen, zamechatel'nyy hozyain SHlyopika, i kupil ego v pitomnike za polceny! SHlyopik navsegda ostanetsya sobakoy Mayora, no Mayora bol'she net. Oni teper' s fru Torkil'dsen ostalis' drug u druga odni, uteshat'sya v gore kto chem: staryy SHlyopik — vsyakoy vkusnyatinoy, a staraya fru Torkil'dsen — "drakonovoy vodoy". Vmeste oni chitayut o puteshestvii Rualya Amundsena na YUzhnyy polyus, vo glave kotoroy, razumeetsya, stoyali vovse ne lyudi, a otvazhnye sobaki, lyudi lish' prisvoili sebe ih pobedu. Odnako skoro v dom pribyvaet SHCHenok fru Torkil'dsen s zhenoy, i vsya razmerennaya zhizn' idet naperekosyak… Lyudi, konechno, sushchestva strannye. Mnogie iz nih sobakami byli by kuda schastlivee!
