The Incredible Journey, Sheila Burnford’s 1961 novel, recounts the mission that three pets take across the Canadian wilderness in search of their human family members. The pet trio consists of the Siamese cat, Tao, the old English bull terrier, Bodger, and the young Labrador retriever, Luath. Although love for the human family members precipitates the journey, the love the pets share for each other becomes the focus of the story. Over the course of their journey, the three pets encounter new Canadian terrain, wild animals, and humans. Much of what they encounter in the wilderness threatens their survival. The pets express their love for each other through acts of patience, protection, and comfort, all which help the animals survive.

Patience

Although they all wish to be home quickly, the animals always wait for each other. Luath and Tao consistently show patience towards Bodger as they travel: “Leaving their resting place at daylight, they would jog steadily along by day, their pace determined mainly by the endurance of the old dog” (p. 51). Each day, the three animals proceed at the speed of the slowest friend. Luath and Tao refuse to let Bodger fall behind, although Bodger moves more slowly than Luath and Tao do. When the animals reach a rushing river, Bodger and Tao cannot swim across as easily as Luath can. To help his friends, “[Luath] stood on the far bank, barking encouragingly, but the old dog whined in such distress, the cat yowling in chorus, that he swam across again, paddling around in the shallows near the bank…three times he swam across, and the third time the old dog waded in up to his chest and started swimming” (pp. 62-63). Luath makes the swim first to show his friends how to cross, then offers them encouragement. When Bodger and Tao do not immediately follow him, Luath does not become angry, and he does not leave them. Luath simply continues to show Bodger and Tao how to make the crossing, and waits for them to cross as well. When Luath, Bodger, and Tao come upon a group of Ojibwe people, Bodger and Tao want to interact with the people. The Bull terrier and the Siamese cat both approach the people and savor the attention and food the people give them. Only Luath is able to resist the distraction. As Tao and Bodger socialize, Luath waits for his companions in the shadows: “All this time the young dog crouched on the hillside, motionless and watchful, although every driving, urgent nerve in his body fretted and strained at the delay” (p. 47). Luath wants to continue on the journey towards their home and owners. The pause makes Luath anxious, and the waiting demands a great effort from him. The wait is a struggle for Luath, but he allows Bodger and Tao to spend a nice time with the Ojibwe people before he calls for them. The empathy that the animals have for each other’s emotional and physical limits, allows them all to practice patience with each other.

Protection

While the animals exhibit great patience at some points, they also prove that they can react instantly when a friend needs help. Bodger suffers an unexpected attack from a bear, and Tao responds as soon as he sees the danger: “In one split second a terrible transformation took place; [Tao’s] blue eyes glittered hugely and evilly in the black masked face, and every hair on the wheat-colored body stood upright so that he appeared twice his real size…again and again he raked [the bear] with the terrible talons, hissing and spitting in murderous devilry…” (p. 35). When Tao sees that Bodger needs help, he acts immediately. Tao changes himself into a completely different being, so he seems larger and meaner, and better able to defend his friend. Tao scratches the bear and verbalizes his objection. Later in their journey, a collie attacks Luath, and Bodger comes to Luath’s rescue. In Luath’s time of need: “[Luath] was on his back with the collie on top, ready to give the final slash, when the old dog took over…[and] shot like a steel projectile to the collie’s throat” (p. 84). Bodger understands that Luath faces a certain death if he does not intervene. Bodger takes control of the situation, and seems to morph into a metal weapon against Luath’s attacker. Tao and Bodger both pit themselves against other animals when one in their trio needs help. In a similar way, Luath puts himself between Tao and a force of nature. When Tao finally decides to cross the river that the animals come to, the river begins to rush stronger than before. Luath has the option to save himself, but he decides to help Tao in the water: “The young dog saw the onrushing wave several moments before it reached them, and frantically tried to swim into a position upstream of the cat, instinctively trying to protect him” (p. 65). As water rushes toward Tao, Luath is afraid of what will happen to Tao, and he desperately tries to reach Tao. Luath’s instant and natural reaction is to go to Tao, not to leave him. All three of the pets choose to put themselves in harm’s way in order to protect their friend, whether the danger comes in the form of a bear, another dog, or a rushing river.

Comfort

For most of the journey, the animals have only each other for comfort. The very first night the three of them spend in the wild shows how necessary they are for each other: “…the young dog moved over and stretched out closely at [the old dog’s] side and the cat stalked over to lie between [the old dog’s] paws; and so, warmed and comforted by their closeness, the old dog slept, momentarily unconscious of his aching, tired body or his hunger” (p. 25). Now that they are in the wild, and they have no comforts except each other, the animals rely more heavily on each other. Their physical closeness during the night allows them to sleep well. After the bear attacks Bodger, he finds himself badly wounded. While Bodger struggles to move at all, Tao brings him food to strengthen him. When Tao brings Bodger a bird, “The old dog ate, crunching the bones ravenously with his blunt teeth. Even as his companions watched him, a miraculous strength slowly seeped back into his body. He dosed for a while, a feather hanging from his mouth, then woke again to finish the last morsel” (p. 38). Tao brings Bodger food so Bodger can rest and regain his strength. Like magic, Tao’s gift brings rejuvenates Bodger, and allows Bodger to survive. Both Bodger and Tao do the same for Luath when Luath becomes very sick due to an injury: “[Bodger and Tao] now allowed [Luath] first access to any newly killed and bleeding animal provided by the cat, and [Luath] lived solely on the fresh blood that could be licked from the carcass” (p. 103). Although all three animals are hungry in the wild, Bodger and Tao put Luath first when he is injured. Luath survives thanks to the food that Bodger and Tao bring him. The animals comfort each other with their physical closeness and gifts of food.

The young labrador retriever, Luath, initiates the titular incredible journey. One day, Luath simply heads west towards home, and Tao and Bodger follow him. The motivation for the journey is the reunion of the pets with their humans. As the animals illustrate over the course of the journey, however, their love for each other is just as strong as their love for their human family. The pets show each other love when they wait for each other. Whether one of the pets slow, needs to take a break with local humans, or feels scared to cross a river, the others show patience and wait. The animals also physically protect each other from various dangers. They protect each other from dangers such as bears, other dogs, and dangerous rivers. Finally, the animals consistently offer each other comfort. Sometimes the animals bring each other food, and sometimes they choose to sleep close together. All of their actions illustrate the choices that loved ones make in order to support each other.

References

Burnford, S. (2018). The incredible journey. Delacourte Press. (Original work published 1961).