伊索寓言 28狗和它的倒影 The Dog and His Reflection
Ralph is a dog. He is always hungry. His master is a very lazy man. He only feeds Ralph once a day.
Ralph: When will my master wake up? When will he feed me today? I’m really hungry right now. I can’t wait any longer. I’ll get some food by myself.
Ralph goes out of the house. He walks and walks. He looks for food. He can’t find any anywhere. Ralph also gets lost.
Ralph: I can’t find any food. And now I am lost. I should have stayed at home. My master might be awake by now. I am so hungry. Boo-hoo-hoo.
Ralph is very tired and sits down to rest for a while. He hears music coming from a house.
Ralph: Hey, what’s that sound? It’s music. It’s coming from that house. I’ll get closer and take a look.
Ralph looks inside the house through an open window.
Ralph: There are lots of people inside. Any it is very noisy. They must be having a party. Oh, I see lots and lots of food inside, too. How can I get some food?
Ralph tries to think of a way to get inside. Finally, he waits until no one is looking and quickly runs in. everyone is singing and dancing and having fun.
Ralph: Look at all the happy people. Look at all the food. They are not even eating it. I hope I can just get a piece of meat. Someone please throw me some meat. Oh, please, please, please.
Ralph closes his eyes and prays. He is so hungry. He is about to faint.
Man: Hey, look at that poor Dog over there.
Man2: He looks tired and hungry.
Man: Throw him something.
Man3: You’re right. What a poor Dog! I’ll throw him this piece of meat. Here Doggie, have this. It’s very good.
Ralph smells the meat and opens his eyes.
Ralph: Arf! Arf! Oh my goodness! It’s a piece of meat. My prayers came true. I wonder who threw it to me. That’s not important right now. I better just take this and run.
Ralph quickly takes the meat and runs out of the house.
Man: Look at that Dog run！He is really fast.
Man2: I guess he was really hungry. Poor Dog.
Ralph is very excited. He wants to take the meat to a safe place and eat it there all by himself. He looks for a good place to eat.
Ralph: Over there looks like a good place. I better cross that bridge first.
Ralph is crossing the bridge. He looks down into the water.
Ralph: Hey, who’s that Dog down there? He has a bigger piece of meat. What shall I do? I know.I’m a good swimmer. I’ll jump into the water and take the meat away from him. Then I can eat two pieces of meat. Yahoo! Today is my lucky day. Arf, arf, arf!!! Ralph jumps into the water.
Ralph: Where did that other Dog go? I can’t find him anywhere.
Ralph looks everywhere, but the other Dog is gone.
Ralph: Oh, forget it. I better get out of the water. I might catch cold.
Ralph gets out of the water and quickly shakes his whole body.
Ralph: That’s strange. I wonder where the other Dog went? But wait! Where is my piece of meat? I had it when I jumped into the water. Now it’s gone. Oh no! That’s it! I dropped it when I went into the water. My meat is gone now. Boo-hoo-hoo!
As he is crying, Ralph sees another Dog crying in the water, too. This time Ralph sneezes and the other Dog sneezes, too.
Ralph: Achoo! Hey look! He sneezes just like me. He also cries just like me. Who is he? Let me look closer.
Ralph looks closer into the water. He is surprised, because he sees himself in the water.
Ralph: This can’t be. It’s just me. It’s just my reflection in the water. Then the other Dog was also just my own reflection? I can’t believe it. I lost my piece of meat because of my reflection. Oh, how foolish I am!!! Today is my unlucky day! I’m lost. And I am still hungry. What shall I do? Boo-hoo-hoo!
MORAL
If you are too greedy, you may even lose what you have.
