1. The dog and his reflection

The Dog and hisThe Dog and his ReflectionReflection

1

1. The dog and his reflection

The dog and his ReflectionThe dog and his Reflection

Once upon s time, in a town somewhere in France, lived a

greedy stray dog. The filthy dog would always hang around the

marketplace, scavenging for food. He would jump into the

rubbish dump and mess up the place. This casued the people

to be angry with him. They would always chase him away.

One morning, the dog arrived very early and hid himself

behind some empty boxes. He was eying a large chunk to

freshly cut meat at a butcher's stall nearly. The throught of the

juicy meat made the dog salivate.

“Oh, boy! How wonderful if i can sink my teeth into that juicy

meat,” thought the dog.

While the dog was entertaining his thought, the butcher was

busy chopping and selling his meat.

2

1. The dog and his reflection

For a moment when the butcher was not looking, the dog

sprang up and snatched the cunk of meat with his mouth, and

ran off. The angry butcher gave chase, but the dog was too

fast for him.

The hungry dog had not eaten for two days. Therefore, he

was very happy for having stolen such a juicy chunk of meat.

He decided to get wasy as far as possible to enjoy eating the

meat in peace.

Meanwhile, back at the marketplace, the butcher was

cursing his luck for lusing such an expensive piece of meat.

The dog kept on running with the chunk of meat in his

mouth. A short while later, he came to a narrow stream. To

cross the stream, he had to walk along a piece of plank which

served as a temporary bridge.

While holding the meat firmly in his mouth, the dog trotted

across the river.

3

1. The dog and his reflection

But half wasy through, he stopped.

He peered into the stream

below because he thought he saw

another dog with a bigger hunk of

meat in his mouth. The greedy dog did

not know that it was only his own reflection in the water.

“Wow! That dog has a bigger piece of meat,” he thought.

“ i must have it, too!”

Thinking that he could scare the other dog away, and then

grab the meat from his mouth, the greedy dog started to bark

loudly. But, as a soon as he opened his mouth, his own chunk

of meat dropped into the stream and sank to the bottom. Alas,

he then realised too late that it was just his reflection in the

water. How sad the foolish dog was! He was already on his way to

enjiy a good meal but due to his greed and foolishness he had

to go hungry again.

The poor dog lamented his loss! “ How stupid of me! I

have to go to the market to look for food again!” said the dog.

4

1. The dog and his reflection

Moral: A person should not be too greedy when he already has

enough for himself.

Glossary:

• scavenging looking for food in a rubbish dump.–

• salivate to produce saliva–

• cursing speaking angrily–

• reflection the image of something in the water–

• realised suddenly understood something–

• lamented expressed sadness and regret–

Questions:

1. What did the dog do in the marketplace?

2. What made the dog salivate?

3. How did the dog cross the stream?

4. What did he see in the water?

5. What dropped into the stream?

5