A Dog was crossing a plank bridge over a stream with a piece of meat in his mouth, when he happened to see his own reflection in the water. He thought it was another dog with a piece of meat twice as big; so he let go his own, and flew at the other dog to get the larger piece. But, of course, all that happened was that he got neither; for one was only a shadow, and the other was carried away by the current.
有一只狗嘴里叼着一块肉从一座平板木桥上过河，这时他刚好看到了自己在水中的倒影，但是他以为那是另一只狗，嘴里也叼着一块肉，那块肉看上去是自己的肉的两倍大。所以他松开了自己的肉，然后扑向那只狗，想要把那块大肉夺过来。当然，最后他一无所获，因为那只是个影子，而他却被急流给冲走了。