The Dog and the Shadow
The Dog and the Shadow – learn English with fairy tales from Aesop’s fables with a podcast, list of useful words and phrases, illustrated flashcards and text-to-speech, ideal for young learners and beginners.
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.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
New words and expressions
- Flesh: meat
- Stream: river
- Fiercely: angrily
- Grasped: held, gripped
- Swept away: took away, brushed away, snatched
About The Dog and the Shadow
The Dog and Its Reflection (or Shadow in later translations) is one of Aesop’s Fables and is numbered 133 in the Perry Index. The Greek language original was retold in Latin and in this way was spread across Europe, teaching the lesson to be contented with what one has and not to relinquish substance for shadow. There also exist Indian variants of the story. The morals at the end of the fable have provided both English and French with proverbs and the story has been applied to a variety of social situations.
The dog and the shadow by Aesop reminds us that it is better to hold onto something you already have than to risk losing it by trying to get something better. For instance, when you have a stable job that pays well, but you receive an offer for a job that might pay more if the company grows. It is better you pay attention to value the certainty of your stable income over the uncertain potential of the new job.
You’ve correctly identified the central lesson of “The Dog and the Shadow.” Aesop’s fable serves as a cautionary tale against greed and the pursuit of illusory gains. The dog’s loss of its real bone while grasping for its reflection perfectly illustrates the danger of prioritizing potential, often uncertain, future rewards over the tangible, present benefits we already possess. Your example of the stable job versus the risky opportunity effectively translates this ancient wisdom into a modern context, highlighting the enduring relevance of valuing certainty and contentment over the fleeting allure of “something better.”