32. THE DOG AND HIS
REFLECTION
By Tony Payne
When Patch was young he was a
good dog. He was warm and soft
and had the sweetest breath, and
he licked the tip of your nose if you
let him.
And because he was so good he
was allowed to stay in the farm
kitchen. The other farm dogs lived
outside in a kennel.
But just because a dog is warm and
soft and good when he's a puppy,
and licks the tip of your nose if you
let him, it doesn’t mean he will
grow up like that.
Once, when Patch was a fully
grown up dog he pulled the cloth
off the table and all the family’s
dinner crashed to the floor.
He had eaten it all up before the
farmer's wife came running in.
'Bad dog!' scolded the farmer's
wife.
He barked at the children and bit
their legs when they rode their
bikes.
'Bad dog!' cried the children.
He pulled up all the flowers outside
the kitchen door, dug five holes in
the lawn and did his business in the
farmer's hat.
'Bad dog!' yelled the farmer.
So Patch was sent outside with the
other dogs. And because people
only said ‘bad dog!’ to him, every
one forgot he'd once been called
Patch. Now he was called simply,
'Bad Dog'.
At feeding time every dog had their
own bowl of biscuits and scraps
from the table, but Bad Dog would
get to them first.
He would growl and snarl and turn
up his lips to show how sharp his
teeth were.
1The other dogs had to wait, lick
ing their mouths until Bad Dog had
finished eating. When he had eaten
all the meat and the gravy, and all
the dog biscuits from the bowls,
all that was left was dry bread and
carrots and broccoli, and lots of
other things that farmers eat but
dogs don't.
But then one day he went too far.
The smell of roast meat was waft
ing out from the kitchen. Bad Dog
ran in, snatched the huge bone
with the meat still on and ran off
with it.
'Bad Dog,' screamed the farmer,
running after him. 'Come back
with that meat now, or you'll never
come back again!'
Bad Dog took no notice. This was a
whole big bone with the meat still
on, not scraps, and he wanted it
more than anything.
So Bad Dog ran away with it.
He ran for a long time until at last
he came to a little bridge. This
would be a good place to stop and
eat his stolen dinner.
He looked over the side of the
bridge.
And had such a shock!
Below him in the still water was
another dog. A big, fierce, ugly dog
- and this dog had a bone with all
the meat on too!
Bad Dog had to have it. Two joints
of meat! His lips turned back in
a snarl, and so did the lips of the
other dog. He opened his mouth to
growl…And so did the other dog!
And the bone fell from Bad Dog's
jaws into the water and was taken
away by the stream.
It had been his own reflection in
the still water he had seen, and
now instead of two bones he had
nothing.
Bad Dog felt sad. He had lost
everything that was important.
'From now on,' he said to himself, 'I
shall try and be better. I shall be
good instead of bad and nice instead
of nasty. Then one day...
...everyone will love me again.'
And that is what happened.
If you are too greedy, he realised,
it's easy to end up with nothing.
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