39 THE DOG AND HIS SHADOW

Once there was a big dog.

When he got a bone he always hid it.

He never gave a bit to any other dog.

If he saw a little dog with a bone he would say,

“Bow-Wow! Give me that bone! ”

Then he would take the bone.

One day he took a bone from a little dog.

“The little dog shall not find this bone, ”he said.

“I will take it far away.

I will go across the brook and hide it.”

So the big dog ran to the brook.

There was a little bridge over the brook.

The dog ran out on the bridge.

He looked down into the water and thought he saw another dog there.

He thought the dog had a bone, too.

“I will take that bone, ”said the big dog.

“Then I shall have two bones.

Bow-wow! Bow-wow! ”said the big dog.

Then his own bone fell out of his mouth.

It fell into the brook.

The big dog could not get it out.

There was no dog in the water at all!

The big dog had seen his own shadow.

(Retold from a Fable by Æsop)

Word list

bone: the hard part of an animal that dogs like to chew on

brook: a small stream

You Practice

A) Answer the following questions.

1) What did the big dog always do when he got a bone?

2) Why would the big dog hide his bones?

3) What did the big dog think he saw when he looked into the water?

4) What can we learn from this story?

5) Tell about a time when someone would not share and how it made you feel.

B) Adjectives—Adjectives are words that describe. For example, in this sentence,“The little bug sat on the red flower”,little and red are adjectives. In the following sentences, fill in the blank with an adjective.

1) If he saw a dog with a ________ bone, he would take it.

2) The big dog ran to the _________ brook.

3) The dog ran out on a __________ bridge.

4) The bone fell out of his __________ mouth.

5) The __________ dog could not get it.

C) True or false? Read the following sentences carefully, write true or false for each one.

1) _____ The dog liked to share with other dogs.

2) _____ At the end of the story, the dog had two bones.

3) _____ The dog's bone fell into the brook.

4) _____ The dog was fooled by his own shadow.

5) _____ The dog thought he could get another bone.