A dog racing through the water in search of his ball.
ONCE upon a time, there was a dog whose habit it was to bite people in secret.
But his master fashioned a little copper bell and fastened it around the dog’s neck, so everyone far and wide would know whether the dog was at their heels.
The dog was tremendously pleased with his bell, and went strutting about the town square, tinkling away merrily.
But an aged dog came up to him and said, “Wretched thing, what on earth do you have to celebrate?
“You aren’t jingling some medal for virtue or easy temper. You’re tolling a judgement on your own bad character.”
And the moral of that is, that it is easy to mistake notoriety for fame.
Précis
A dog habitually nipped at the heels of visitors, so his embarrassed master made him a little bell, to warn people of his presence. The dog was very pleased that everyone now looked at him wherever he went, but an older dog explained that in this case, there is such as thing as bad publicity. (55 / 60 words)
