Why would Jupiter chastise Legrand with a "huge stick" if Jupiter is Legrand's slave? Clearly we see later that Jupiter cowers at Legrand's authority.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2000

Answers

I think that while Jupiter did respect Legrands authority, he also felt responsible for Legrands well being. At the beginning of the story, the author told us that Legrand's family sent Jupiter with him becuase they felt their son needed someone to take care of him because he had such wandering , absent minded ways. Jupiter knew that he was to look out for Legrand's safety and the "huge stick" statement was just another way of him saying that he was worried about his master and he felt like he needed to do something, not necessarily hit him with a "huge stick".

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2000

In the third paragragh of the story it says that Legrand's relatives "had contrived to instill this obstinacy into Jupiter, with a view to the supervision and guardianship of the wanderer." Jupiter is both a slave to Legrand and a guardian over him. Legrand sufers from some mental disorder which causes mood swings and unstablity, Jupiter is there to protect him from both outside dangers and from from himself.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2000