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.

肉を一切れくわえたイヌが、小川にかかった橋をわたっていると、水にうつった自分の影を見た。イヌはそれを、自分の倍も大きな肉をくわえた別のイヌだと思いこんだ。イヌはすぐさま自分の肉をはなし、相手の大きな肉を奪おうと、もう一匹のイヌにはげしくとびかかった。こうしてイヌは両方とも失ってしまった。水の中でつかもうとした肉は影だったから、そして自分の肉は流れに押し流されてしまったからである。