James Skemp's StrivingLife

Humble reader, what is the saddest story?

On November 27 2002 I read Guy de Maupassant's Coco (as collected in The Dark Side). Since then I have yet to read another story as sad.

This morning I read of a farm in Wisconsin where various animals, including two miniature horses of some sort, had died. One had been stabbed (a few other animals had met there end in a similar fashion) and one had been beaten.

Here then, are two sad stories; one fictional, and one not. What do you submit?