32 The Dog and his reflection

32 The Dog and his reflection

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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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