An old edition of “Faust” with engravings by Jean-Paul Laurens and the poodle of Mephistopheles

I like to recall how, as a child, I pored over an old edition of "Faust", dated no later than 1890, with engravings by Jean-Paul Laurens, and, knowing no French, invented the stories that lay behind the illustrations. The monster alone is worth the price of admission: it would have frightened even Da Vinci, leaping out from behind a curtain! Later I read up on it and learned that it was merely a poodle, in whose shape Mephistopheles had appeared to Faust.

Is it not plain that there can be
No question of a ghost here?
See for yourself:
He lies down on his belly, wags his tail.
He growls...

Literal translation

You know, this really is the very discovery one ought to make in one's early years. Behind something harmless and friendly in appearance there sometimes lurks something else entirely. And even a dog wagging its tail may turn out to be an emissary of darkness