Buy the Book

  Bedtime Story Book Table of Contents

The Dog and His Shadow

(Expanded upon From Aesop)

One day the Dog was nosing about the farm. He liked to poke his nose into everything, sniffing around here and there. He sniffed in the barn, he sniffed in the shed, he sniffed in the bedroom, and in the kitchen.

"Are you under foot again?" asked the cook. "Get out of here!"

But the Dog just sat on the floor and panted happily.

"Can't you see I can't make dinner while you're around?" said the cook.

The Dog just barked.

Finally, the cook gave the dog a piece of bone, and pushed him out of the kitchen.

There was a hill not far from the house that would be the perfect place to bury the bone. So, off the Dog trotted down the road.

He came to the bridge, and happened to look down into the stream.

What did he see, but another Dog staring back at him?

Now, you and I know it was just his shadow, but the Dog thought it was another Dog.

And this Dog has a bone even bigger than his own bone!

"Give me that bone!" the dog barked, jumping into the stream. He attacked the other dog fiercely to get the second bone.

But as soon as he barked and bit at the other dog, his own bone fell from his mouth and dropped into the stream, where it was quickly washed away.

It took some time for the Dog to notice that his treasure was gone, because he was so busy attacking the other Dog. Eventually, however, it began to dawn on him that he was fighting up a storm, but not coming any closer to winning.

So he climbed back up on shore and shook himself off.

When he realized his bone was gone, he climbed back on the bridge, and looked down at the other Dog. The other Dog's bone was gone too.

He trotted back to the farm house, but the cook had locked the door, and ignored his howls.

Sometimes, the dog thought, it is better to be satisfied with what you have, and not to chase after shadows.

The END