The Dog and the Shadow

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.


The Dog and the Shadow

It happened that a Dog had got a piece of meat and was
carrying it home in his mouth to eat it in peace.  Now on his way
home he had to cross a plank lying across a running brook.  As he
crossed, he looked down and saw his own shadow reflected in the
water beneath.  Thinking it was another dog with another piece of
meat, he made up his mind to have that also.  So he made a snap at
the shadow in the water, but as he opened his mouth the piece of
meat fell out, dropped into the water and was never seen more.

Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.