The Dog and the Shadow

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.