Tale of a Dog

Plot

Buckwheat finds his friend Big Shot Jones moping about the train yard: it seems that Big Shot's father has ordered him to get rid of his dog. Instead of taking the dog to the pound, Big Shot intends to have him stow away on a train to Alabama. Buckwheat instead talks Big Shot into letting the gang adopt the dog, whom they name "Smallpox" (opting for a more interesting name for the spotted dog than "Spot"). However, when Froggy, Mickey, and Janet overhear Buckwheat and Big Shot's plans to "surprise them with S/smallpox," they fear the worst and call all their friends and the Greenpoint Board of Health. A panic grips the small town, with the gang's parents worried about their whereabouts and well-being, and the rest of the neighborhood kids running away from Buckwheat and Big Shot wherever they turn up.

Buckwheat and Big Shot are isolated (a term Buckwheat's mother misunderstands, resulting in her putting her child literally "on ice"), but when a doctor learns from Buckwheat that "Smallpox" refers to a dog, not the disease, the smallpox scare is declared a hoax. The mayor of Greenpoint lectures Froggy, Mickey, and Janet in spreading unsubstantiated rumors and sends them on their way. The gang agrees to adopt Smallpox...but make sure to change his name to "Spotty." Upon hearing the gang promise to feed him, Smallpox/Spotty turns to the camera and (via mouth animation) tells the audience (in a stereotypical southern African American dialect) "My, oh my; that shol' is good news!"

The Gang

Additional cast