2.      In the opening scene of the story a few minor characters are introduced, including the narrator, the Green Linnet, a little bird with tiny wings. The narrator tells this story to a water-rat, an old rat with bright, beady eyes and stiff grey whiskers. He felt it pertained to the rat because of how critical the rat was being of the pure white mother duck that had bright red legs. All she was trying to do was teach her children, who looked like little yellow canaries, how to fit into society and the rat was making rude comments.

3.      As the Linnet told the story, he told about Hans, a little man with a funny, round, good humored face. Hans had a very kind heart and was an extremely devoted friend. This was proven throughout the story in him neglecting his garden to help his dearest friend, Hugh the Miller. The Miller was a big man who was fairly well off, he had a hundred sacks of flour, six cows, and a flock of sheep. He took great advantage of Hans because Hans believed they were best friends and the Miller often reminded him of that. The Miller used guilt to manipulate Hans into doing whatever he needed done, without ever returning the favor.

4.      The tone throughout the story is mostly a happy tone. However, you get a sense of sorrow for Hans after he is taken away from his garden to help the Miller day after day. You know how badly he wants to keep to his garden but also how he is distressed about helping his friend. You also feel sorry for Hans when he is forced to sell his belongings to get through the winter because the Miller takes from his garden and leaves him with nothing to sell in the market.

5.      The plot helps build the theme, a devoted friend is one that is with you, and will do anything for you, until the very end, by giving examples of how unselfish Hans is and the lengths he goes to help the Miller. For example, Hans never says a word about the Miller taking from his garden. He keeps his mouth shut even though he knows it is the only thing that is going to make money for him. He needed the money to last through the winter and to buy back all the items he had to sell to get through the last winter.

6.      Hans shows how a friend helps out another friend by giving his last piece of plank up to the Miller to fix the roof on his barn. Hans needs the plank to fix the wheelbarrow that the Miller has promised Hans, but he gives it to the Miller anyway, just because he is his friend. To top it off, he also fixes the Miller’s roof instead of tending to his garden. That shows how much the friendship between Hans and the Miller means to Hans.

7.      A few more examples of how far Hans went to help his friend are when the Miller asked him to carry a sack of flour to the market for him. It was a scorching hot day and the roads were very dusty, yet Hans marched the sack all the way into town, not even stopping to rest. He sold the flour for a fair price and neglected his garden for an entire day, but it was worth it to help a friend. He also took the Miller’s flock of sheep all the way into the mountains and back, again neglecting his garden, but helping his friend.

8.      The cream of the crop, however, of Hans’ devotion to his friend, is when the Miller’s son fell off of a ladder and injured himself. The Miller should have gone and fetched the doctor himself, instead, he fetched good old Hans to go and get him. It was a terrible rain storm with high winds and the night was pitch black. Hans asked to use the Miller’s new lantern, but the Miller would not give it up and sent hans on his way in the dark. Hans reached the doctors, but lost his way coming back and drowned in a large pool of water in the moor.

9.      The conflicts of the story are quite obvious. There were several different types of conflicts but just a few that really stood out. First is Appearance versus Reality. It appeared that Hans was always willing to help the Miller and that he was very happy to do so, but in reality, he was very distressed about helping him because it meant that he would neglect his garden. It also appeared to the Miller’s wife that the Miller was a great friend. Always teaching Hans how friends are supposed to act and always thinking of Hans, when in reality, the Miller was a horrible friend to Hans because he kept him from his garden and when he didn’t have Hans doing things for him, he was taking from Hans’ garden his most beautiful flowers and best fruits.

10.      The second most obvious conflict in the story was Thought versus Action. Hans was always thinking how much attention his garden needed and by helping the Miller he would be neglecting his garden, yet he always did exactly what the Miller asked of him without hesitation. The Miller also knew exactly how to manipulate Hans by using guilt, and he put that into action every time he needed something done for him.

11.      "The Devoted Friend" was a perfect example of how much friendship means to some and how little it means to others. It showed how easy it was to manipulate others and be manipulated by others. But, the most important thing it showed was just how far a person would go to help a friend even though it means sacrificing many things.

(1) I. Introduction and Thesis: A devoted friend is one that is with you, and will do anything for you, until the very end.

II. Characterization

(2) A. Opening characters

1. Water-rat: Old rat with right beady eyes, stiff grey whiskers, and a long tail that looked like black India-rubber.
2. Little ducks: Look like a lot of little yellow canaries.
3. Duck’s mother: Pure white with bright red legs. She was very motherly trying to teach her young ones how to fit into society.
4. Green Linnet: The author of "The Devoted Friend" story, telling it to the water-rat. A little bird with tiny wings.

(3) B. Main Characters

1. Hans: A little man with a funny, round, good-humored face. He had a very kind heart which was shown throughout this story in him neglecting his garden to help his dearest friend. That also shows that he is a very devoted friend.
2. Hugh the Miller: Hans’ very dearest "friend." A big man, fairly well off, who took advantage of Hans and how nice and devoted he was. Knew how to use guilt to manipulate Hans into doing whatever the Miller needed done. Also, thought he knew everything and thought he was the best friend anyone could have.

(4) A. The tone of the story is a happy one throughout most of the story. You get a sense of sorrow for Hans after a while because of how he wants to tend to his gardens but he keeps getting pulled away by the Miller.

(5) B. Hans never says a word to the Miller during the entire story about him taking flowers and fruit from his garden even though Hans knows it is the only thing that is going to make him money for the winter and to buy back all the things he had to sell in order to make it through the last winter.

(6) C. Hans gave up his last piece of plank, even though he was going to use it to fix the wheelbarrow that Miller had promised him, to Miller to fix his barn. Hans was then stuck fixing the barn on top of giving up the plank.

(7) D. Hans also took some flour of Miller’s down to the market through the heat and dust and sold it for a fair price just because Miller asked him too. He then took his sheep into the mountains which again took another day away from tending to his garden.

(8) E. The cream of crop, however, of Hans’ devotion to his friend Miller is when Miller needs him to fetch the doctor for his fallen son. It is a terrible storm and Miller doesn’t even give him a lantern. Hans fetches the doctor and dies after loosing his way in the storm and drowning in a large body of water from all the rain.

(9) A. Appearance/Reality

1. Hans always acted happy to help Miller but in reality he was distressed about his garden but he helped anyway because he was his friend.
2. Miller’s wife is always saying how great of a friend he is and how well he speaks when in reality he is not a good friend at all. He uses Hans for whatever he wants.

(10) B. Thought/Action

1. Hans knew he should be tending to his garden but he helped the Miller anyway.

2. Miller knew Hans would help him if he used guilt about the wheelbarrow, so he acted on it and got what he wanted out of Hans.