The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Marie, Louise de la Ramée. A Dog of Flanders. Dover. 1992. Kindle.

A Dog of Flanders is narrated in third-person past by an omniscient narrator. Jehan Daas was an 80-year-old war veteran when his daughter passed away and his two-year-old grandson, Nello, came to live with him in his little hut outside the city of Antwerp. Although they were very poor, they loved one another very much.

Patrasche, meanwhile, was a dog who had been bred to be harnessed and pull a cart. When he was hardly more than a puppy, he was sold to a terrible man who used him to pull his cart all over the country while he abused and screamed at him. One hot summer day, the man refused to let Patrasche stop for a drink of water, so the dog eventually passed out. The man kicked him mercilessly, but Patrasche could not stand up, so he was left in a field.

Many people passed by the body of Patrasche, but no one stopped until Jehan and Nello walked by and saw the poor dog. Although it was difficult for Jehan, who was old and "crippled," he carried the dog back to his hut. He and Nello nursed the dog back to health for weeks. When Patrasche recovered, he found himself amazed to be surrounded by people who were kind and did not beat him. He vowed to have loyalty to his new family. When Jehan tried to take his cart into town on his own, Patrasche forced the old man to harness him in so he could help the family in the only way he could.

When Nello was six, Jehan became so "crippled" that Nello had to take over the cart. He and Patrasche worked together taking the cart back and forth between their hut and Antwerp each day. They spent many years living happily together, even though they had no money and often went hungry.

The only thing that troubled Patrasche was the cathedral in Antwerp where Nello always went inside by himself. One day, Patrasche followed him inside and saw that he was looking at a painting by Rubens. Nello bemoaned the fact that he could not see the other two paintings, which were covered by veils and only available to be seen by those who paid a silver coin.

Although Nello had never been taught anything, he was an innate artistic genius, and he had a deep desire to paint. He did not want to tell his grandfather, however, so the only ones he confided in were Patrasche and his friend, Alois, who was the daughter of the wealthiest man in town, Baas Cogez. When Nello was 15 and Alois was 12, Baas Cogez caught Nello drawing a portrait of Alois and was worried they might fall in love with one another. He took the portrait home and hung it on his wall, but he announced that his daughter was no longer allowed to see Nello.

Nello was sad, but he hoped to become a famous artist and win the respect of Baas Cogez, who thought Nello was worse than a beggar. For over a year, Nello had been preparing a painting of Michel the woodman for an art competition in Antwerp that promised to give the winner 200 francs a year.

Nello finished his painting and turned it in on the first of December, but the winner would not be announced until Christmas Eve. The winter was terribly cold, and Patrasche was getting very old, so he had trouble pulling his cart. One night, Nello found a little puppet in the snow, and decided to bring it to Alois as a gift. Once he went home, a fire broke out at the mill. Nello woke up and ran over to help put it out, but Baas Cogez accused him of starting the fire and sent him away.

Baas Cogez continued to spread the rumor around town, and everyone turned on Nello so that he no longer had any customers. The week before Christmas, Jehan passed away. Nello and Patrasche then found out that they were late on their rent payment. They asked the cobbler who owned the hut if they could have an extension, but he refused them and told them they would be evicted on the morning of Christmas Eve.

Nello and Patrasche left their beloved home and walked through a blizzard to see who won the award for the painting contest. When Nello found out that he had lost, he passed out. He and Patrasche walked back to their village and discovered a leather case that belonged to Baas Cogez with 2,000 francs inside. Nello took it to Alois’s house and gave it to her mother. He asked her to take Patrasche inside and feed him, and then Nello left before Patrasche could follow. When his wife told Baas Cogez what had happened, Baas Cogez promised to make amends to Nello by giving him a home and treating him like a son. However, since no one knew that Nello was homeless, they agreed to wait until the morning and continued on with a planned Christmas Eve party.

Patrasche snuck out of the house and found Nello’s scent. The dog tracked the boy to the cathedral in Antwerp. The moon came out and they looked at the paintings. Then, they froze. In the morning, everyone regretted how they had treated the pair, and they were buried together.