“If the rest of the world knew about what Rummins does at a mating, he’d world famous. It would change the whole science of dairy farming all over the world.”
The title story opens this collection and introduces the character of Claud Cubbage. Cubbage is the glue which holds the collection together; the straw that stirs the collective drink. In the Preface, Dahl explains how Cubbage was inspired by a friend name Claud and these stories are the result. They were not written specifically to put together into a collection, so while he holds it together, it’s not like the volume is a novel told in short stories. Thematically, however, they are strung together as a result of Claud’s gift for working up schemes which always seem to fail.
There would never be another dog like this Jackie, he told himself. How beautiful the slim streamlining, the small pointed head, the yellow eyes, the black mobile nose. Beautiful the long neck, the way the deep brisket curved back and up out of sight into no stomach at all. See how he walked up on his toes, noiselessly, hardly touching the surface of the road at all.
Another collection by Dahl is devoted exclusively Claud Cubbage. Someone Like You contains what have been referred to as “Dahl’s dog stories” in which Claud is the guiding protagonist. “Rummins” is one of the stories included in both short story compendia, but not many more. Thus, owning one does not guarantee that you will have access to the Claud stories contained in the other. But there is no question that in reading about Claud’s adventures making up the stories in this book, one definitely comes to a full understanding of just what place in the Cubbage universe canines stand proudly on their haunches.
Apart from the fact that he was at this moment disguised in the uniform of a clergyman, there was nothing very sinister about Mr. Cyril Boggis.
Speaking of the universe, astute readers may notice the name Boggis plays a big role in the Dahl multiverse. Walter Boggis is the gargantuan member of the conglomeration of chicken farmers who conduct war against the Fantastic Mr. Fox. No direct reference commits to the possibility that Mr. Cyril Boggis is actually a relative of Walter, but there is much in this story to suggest the same strain runs through their blood. Cyril Boggis is disguised as a clergyman because he is another schemer in a book in which Claud Cubbage is merely the one who recurs most often.
Unlike Claud, however, Boggis is quite successful at his which involves a scamming for valuable junk under the pretense of Society for the Preservation of Rare Furniture only to actually sell them for a huge profit as his Chelsea antiques store. If Walter and Cyril are not actually related by blood, they definitely ensure that the name Boggis is related by an utter lack of a soul. In addition, his presence also serves to underscore the secondary unifying aspect of the collection: schemers and their scams.
