A Dog's Tale is the fourth episode of the series Harold and the Purple Crayon that aired on January 19, 2002.
Summary[]
Harold was in bed, but he just couldn't sleep as he felt a bit lonely. He got up with his stuffed dog, Lilac, and attempted to play fetch with her. Harold knew that while he loved Lilac, she wasn't quite the same as a real dog. He gets out of bed with his purple crayon and draws up some land and then draws Lilac as an actual life-sized dog. Harold gives Lilac a few treats and she also does tricks, then he draws a hose when she gets thirsty. Lilac drinks the water and plays in it.
The two have more fun together and when they go sledding, they bump into snow that falls and unveils a hidden cave. Harold and Lilac adventure into it, and Harold draws a flashlight too. They find a grizzly bear which wakes up and isn't too happy at them either. Harold draws a pot of honey, which it starts to lick off his hands, and the two sneak out of the cave. Harold decides to draw not just a doghouse for the dog, but an entire large dog palace that is actually built for both of them. There were two of everything just for them, two sets of clothes for Harold and Lilac, and also two fridges for both. Harold's fridge is full of pies, while Lilac's is filled with steak, that she cleans out entirely quickly.
Next the two go play in the playroom. Harold doodles two toy boxes, both containing toys for Harold and dog toys for Lilac. Lilac plays roughly with the squeeze toys, biting them and throwing them everywhere creating a mess. Lilac also is proven to not be a good listener, knocking down Harold's block house and snatching Harold's blue car toy. Lilac is even messier and runs around the palace knocking more things over and causing destruction.
Harold chases her around and gets pooped, but she gets even worse when she rips a part of his sweater. The last straw hits Harold when she continues to run around, and her tail starts erasing the palace, so he calls her a "bad dog" and Lilac walks away saddened. While Harold was relieved that Lilac was gone for a moment, he drew a comfy chair and sat down to wait for her, as he knew that she would come back. But time passed and Lilac was still not back yet. Harold was getting lonely, so he drew a fish in a bowl and tried to throw a ball at it, but the boring fish just swam passed it. Harold still wanted a dog, but a quieter one. He sketched up a quiet dog, but it appeared to be too quiet and all it did was sleep. He then drew a livelier dog that was eager to play fetch, but he would rather play with the ball himself than with Harold.
Harold realized how much he was missing Lilac and became worried that she was never coming back. He began getting sad and lonely, as the world seemed bigger without his beloved buddy. Harold created a lighthouse in the dark to search for Lilac, and he finds her running by. But when Harold goes out himself, she is no longer there. He follows her footprints in the snow and leads himself to the bear cave. Harold goes in there in hopes that he wouldn't wake the bear up, but the bear does wakes up. However, it is actually helpful, and it shows Harold to more footprints. He thanks the bear by giving him another pot of honey, then follows the footprints to the dog. Lilac runs away and Harold chases her, until he trips and loses grip of the purple crayon, causing it to fall and create a jagged cliff that Lilac ends up falling down. Harold didn't know what to do, until he takes a piece of string from his sweater, unravels it and ties the yarn to the cliff point, then he goes down. The yarn snaps and he fall, but Lilac catches him. At first unsure how to get back up, Harold creates a seesaw and with the help of Lilac jumping on the other side, Harold flies up to the surface. He also helps Lilac by drawing a big bone to spring her up as well. Harold apologizes to Lilac for yelling at her because he feels bad about hurting her feelings. He promises never to do it again, then plays with her again until he starts getting tired. He draws his bedroom and goes into the bed, but Lilac gets sad as her friend is leaving her, but Harold invites her to come sleep with him. As long as Harold and Lilac are there for each other, Harold will never feel lonely again. The purple crayon drops to the floor and Harold falls asleep.
Quotes[]
Harold: Bad dog, Lilac!
Trivia[]
- The scene where Harold and Lilac give a honey pot to the grizzly bear is a reference to A. A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh.
- In the second musical sequence, Busy, it's revealed that Harold might have a grandma named Mo.