The Greedy Dog and the Bone
A Lesson in Contentment and Consequences
Once upon a time, in a small village nestled between green hills and golden fields, there lived a scruffy brown dog named Bruno. Bruno wasn't a bad dog—he was loyal to his master, playful with children, and quick to chase off any chicken thief. But Bruno had one flaw that everyone in the village knew too well: he was terribly greedy.
No matter how much food Bruno got, he always wanted more. If he had one biscuit, he would eye someone else's. If he was given a juicy bone, he would sniff around in search of another, even before finishing the first. The village children joked that Bruno didn’t just have one stomach—he had five!
One sunny afternoon, after a long day of lazing under the village baker's cart, Bruno decided to explore the nearby woods in hopes of finding something delicious. He sniffed around the tall grass, poked his nose into burrows, and chased a few butterflies along the way. Eventually, he reached the edge of the forest where an old butcher’s hut had once stood.
To his surprise, right beside a pile of logs, lay a large, juicy bone. It was thick, meaty, and smelled absolutely heavenly. Bruno’s tail wagged like a broom in a dust storm. Without a second thought, he grabbed the bone in his mouth and trotted proudly back toward the village.
On his way home, Bruno had to cross a narrow wooden bridge that stretched across a calm stream. The water beneath was clear, and it mirrored everything perfectly—the trees, the clouds, and even Bruno himself.
As he padded across the bridge, Bruno happened to glance down at the water. What he saw made him freeze in his tracks.
There, looking up at him from the stream, was another dog. And in that dog’s mouth was an equally big, equally juicy bone!
Bruno growled softly. “Another dog? With another bone? That bone looks just as good as mine—maybe better!”
He stared harder. The other dog stared back.
Bruno was gripped by temptation. “If I bark loudly and scare that dog,” he thought, “he’ll drop his bone. Then I’ll have two!”
He opened his mouth to bark—and in that very moment, his own bone slipped from between his jaws. Splash! It fell into the stream and sank to the bottom.
Bruno gasped. He peered into the water, hoping to see the other bone floating or the other dog retrieving it. But the reflection was gone. Only ripples remained on the surface of the stream.
It was then that Bruno realized his mistake. There had never been another dog. There had never been another bone. He had seen his own reflection—and in his greed, he had let go of what he already had.
Bruno sat down on the bridge, ears drooping, tail still. For the first time, his hunger wasn’t just in his stomach—it was in his heart. He had lost something good because he couldn’t be satisfied with what he had.
Ashamed and hungry, Bruno walked back to the village. He passed by the baker’s cart again, hoping for a scrap, but today the baker was busy and didn’t notice him. The children were playing a game and didn’t run over to pet him as they usually did.
He wandered to the edge of the field and lay down beneath a tree. As the sun dipped behind the hills, Bruno sighed. He hadn’t just lost a bone—he had lost trust in himself. He realized that sometimes, in trying to take more than we need, we end up with nothing at all.
From that day forward, Bruno changed. He still enjoyed food, of course—he was a dog, after all. But he stopped looking over his shoulder to see who had more. He began to appreciate each meal, each pat on the head, each warm place to sleep.
The villagers noticed too. One morning, the baker gave him two biscuits instead of one. “You’re looking wiser these days, Bruno,” the baker said with a wink.
Bruno wagged his tail gently and took the biscuits with a grateful nod—no snatching, no whining, no looking for a third.
And whenever he passed by the bridge over the stream, he would stop for a moment, peer into the water, and smile at his reflection. It reminded him of the day he learned one of life’s most valuable lessons:
“Be content with what you have—because greed can make you lose even what’s already yours.”
Moral of the Story:
Greed often leads to loss. It is better to appreciate and be content with what we have, rather than always chasing more.
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