SGORT STORY WEDNESDAY: TAPPAN'S BURRO

"Tappan's Burro" by Zane Grey  (first published in Ladies' Home Journal, June 1923; reprinted in Pearson's Magazine, September 1923; in the author's Tappan's Burro (also published as Tappan's Burro and Other Stories), 1923; in Great Tales of the American West, edited by Harry E. Maule, 1945; in Zane Grey's Western Magazine, November 1951 [and in the Australian edition, February 1955]; in The Western Hall of Fame, edited by Bill Pronzini and Martin H. Greenberg, 1984; in The Best Western Stories, edited anonymously and published by Hamlyn, 1986; in The Best Western Stories, edited anonymously and published by Mallard [ different book from above], 1990; as "Prospector's Gold" in Prospector's Gold/Canyon Walls by Zane Grey, 1990; in A Century of Great Western Stories, edited by John Jakes; and in Stories of the Golden West:  Book Three, edited by Jon Tuska, 2002, later reprinted as The Golden West, 2003; also available online at Project Gutenberg)

From Google's AI Overview (take it for what it's worth):  "It follows the perilous desert adventures of a lonely prospector named Tappan and his Jenet, his exceptionally faithful and intelligent burro.  The narrative focuses in the deep bond between the prospector and the burro as they navigate the scorching heat of Death Valley and blinding blizzards in Arizona.  Jenet repeatedly saves Tappan's life by locating hidden waterholes and guiding him through brutal terrain.  The story is best known for exploring themes of loyalty, survival, and the harsh realities of the untamed American frontier."  AI gets some of the plot right, but misses a lot, while lifting some of its overview from a GoodReads review:

" 'Quite by chance, as he was looking for some of his burros, he struck his pick into a place no different from a thousand others there, and hit into a pocket of gold.  He cleaned out the pocket before sunset, the richer for several thousand dollars.  "You brought me luck," said Tappan, to the little gray burro staggering around its mother.  "Your name is Jenet, You're Tappan's burro, an' I reckon he'll stick to you." '  -- from the book.  Prospecting was a lonely business for Tappan, but his burro Jenet was good company, and more.  She knew the trails and waterholes better than Tappan, from the scorching heat and poison air of Death Valley to the blinding blizzards of Arizona's mountains, Jenet tracked with him, faithful, his only friend.  And he repaid her loyalty, with a final supreme effort of heart, will, and spirit."

A tale of friendship and of human betrayal, with a harrowing final elongated scene of bravery, as Tappan attempts to bring himself and his burro through the bone-chilling deep snows of the Rim Rock country in Tonto Basin.

A magnificent bit of writing which defies my description.

Zane Grey (1872-1939) wrote adventure stories to offset the tedium of his dental practice and became one of the first millionaire authors.  His romanticized American West and view of Manifest Destiny was based on extensive research.  Although early critics panned his work, the reading public did not.  He wrote over ninety books, some published posthumously, and his sales reached 40,000,000.  His works have been adapted into at least 112 films, two television episodes, and a television series.  

Erle Stanley Gardner said of Grey that he "had the knack of tying his characters into the land, and the land into the story.  There were other Western writers who had fast and furious action, but Zane Grey was the one who could make the action not only convincing but inevitable, and somehow you got the impression that the bigness of the country generated a bigness of character."  Which goes a long way to explaining why Grey was one of the greatest all-time author of westerns and remains highly popular today.