The Dog and the Shadow

Summary

In this simple tale, a dog carrying a piece of meat crosses a bridge and mistakes his reflection in the water for another dog with a seemingly larger piece of meat. Driven by greed, he drops his meal to snatch the illusionary meat, losing both his initial possession and the imagined one. The story imparts a moral lesson on the dangers of greed and being satisfied with what one has, illustrating that unchecked desires can lead to unnecessary loss. It's often used to teach children the value of appreciation and the consequences of envy.

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A dog, crossing a bridge over a stream with a piece of flesh in his mouth, saw his own shadow in the water and took it for that of another Dog, with a piece of meat double his own in size. He immediately let go of his own, and fiercely attacked the other Dog to get his larger piece from him. He thus lost both: that which he grasped at in the water, because it was a shadow; and his own, because the stream swept it away.