Medieval Monopoly

An ancient law on the island of Sark forbids anyone but the island's hereditary lord to own a bitch. The only bitch on Sark in the last few years belonged to Sibyl Hathaway, the hereditary Dame of the island. She died two years ago. At that time a mousy radio repairman named Ernest Rand decided to quit London for the quiet of the Channel Islands. Knowing nothing of Sark's quaint laws, he sailed to the island taking with him his seven-year-old terrier, Jip. Officials permitted Jip to land without question and six months later Sark's constables came around to collect Jip's license fee without bothering to check on her sex.

Rand's neighbors were not so easily fobbed off. They proceeded to make the bitch-owning newcomer's life miserable by tossing an occasional brick through his windows and trampling his neat garden. Rand complained to a newsman on the neighboring island of Guernsey.

"Jip," promised the Guernsey editor, "will break this medieval monopoly about the keeping of bitches on Sark." He splashed Rand's story on his front page and awaited developments. They were not long in coming. Sark's constables showed up at Rand's house, told him curtly to get Jip off the island or shoot her within four days. Rand made arrangements to send his pet to Guernsey, but at the last moment he changed his mind. "We were together in the air raids," he stammered. "She stuck to us and we'll stick to her."

Last week Ernest Rand reached a solution of his relations with the Lord of Sark. He brought the local butcher to Jip, stood by while she was shot.

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