fables folktales · Ages 6-8

The Dog Who Dropped Dinner for a Shadow

A dog mistakes his reflection for another dog with a bigger bone and loses the real meal he already had.

The whole story

1. At late afternoon, a small golden-brown dog with a white muzzle, floppy dark-brown ears, bright hazel eyes, a red collar, and a round brass tag trotted home with dinner.

2. He reached a little stone bridge and stopped to rest his paws. The stream below was bright and still.

3. Then he saw another dog in the water. That dog seemed to have a bone bigger than his own.

4. He leaned closer. His tail gave a hopeful wag, and his mouth began to water.

5. “If I bark, that dog may drop his bone,” he thought. He opened his mouth to bark.

6. “Woof!” he barked. His real bone dropped into the stream, and the other dog vanished at once.

7. The stream carried away the dinner he already had. The bigger bone had never been another dog’s bone at all.

8. He walked home with an empty mouth and a full lesson in his head. The bone he wanted had cost him the bone he had.

9. The next day, he shared a small biscuit with his reflection. This time, he kept his mouth closed.

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