The dog stole a chunk of meat from the butcher but while crossing a stream with it in his mouth, he saw his own reflection in the water and thought it was another dog with a bigger piece of meat. When he barked and opened his mouth to scare it away, his own meat fell into the stream. He realized too late that it was just his reflection. Due to his greed, he lost the meat and had to go hungry.

1. The dog and his Reflection
Once upon s time, in a town somewhere in France, lived a greedy stray
dog. The filthy dog would always hang around the marketplace,
scavenging for food. He would jump into the rubbish dump and mess up
the place. This casued the people to be angry with him. They would always
chase him away.
One morning, the dog arrived very early and hid himself behind some
empty boxes. He was eying a large chunk pf freshly cut meat at a butcher's
stall nearly. The throught of the juicy meat made the dog salivate.
“Oh, boy! How wonderful if i can sink my teeth into that juicy meat,”
thought the dog.
While the dog was entertaining his thought, the butcher was busy
chopping and selling his meat.
For a moment when the butcher was not looking, the dog sprang up and
snatched the cunk of meat with his mouth, and ran off. The angry butcher
gave chase, but the dog was too fast for him.
The hungry dog had not eaten for two days. Therefore, he was very
happy for having stolen such a juicy chunk of meat. He decided to get
wasy as far as possible to enjoy eating the meat in peace.
Meanwhile, back at the marketplace, the butcher was cursing his luck
for lusing such an expensive piece of meat.
The dog kept on running with the chunk of meat in his mouth. A short
while later, he came to a narrow stream. To cross the stream, he had to
walk along a piece of plank which served as a temporary bridge.

2. While holding the meat firmly in his mouth, the dog trotted across the
river.
But half wasy through, he stopped. He peered into the stream below
because he thought he saw another dog with a bigger chunk of meat in his
mouth. The greedy dog did not know that it was only his own reflection in
the water.
“Wow! That dog has a bigger piece of meat,” he thought.
“ i must have it, too!”
Thinking that he could scare the other dog away, and then grab the meat
from his mouth, the greedy dog started to bark loudly. But, as a soon as he
opened his mouth, his own chunk of meat dropped into the stream and
sank to the bottom. Alas, he then realised too late that it was just his
reflection in the water.
How sad the foolish dog was! He was already on his way to enjiy a good
meal but due to his greed and foolishness he had to go hungry again.
The poor dog lamented his loss! “ How stupid of me! I have to go to the
market to look for food again!” said the dog.
Moral: A person should not be too greedy when he already has enough for
himself.
Glossary:
•scavenging – looking for food in a rubbish dump.
•salivate – to produce saliva
•cursing – speaking angrily

3. •reflection – the image of something in the water
•realised – suddenly understood something
•lamented – expressed sadness and regret
Questions:
1.What did the dog do in the marketplace?
2.What made the dog salivate?
3.How did the dog cross the stream?
4.What did he see in the water?
5.What dropped into the stream?
The rich man and the Cobbler
Once, a certain young man inherited a fortune from his grandfather who
had passed away. He became a very walthy man overnight. He never had
to waork anymore.
He lived in a very big house with a swimming pool and a tennis court.
Every evening, he invited his frineds to his house for a party. They had a
wonderful time eating, singing and dancing.
Although he was rich, he always appeared to be sad. He didi not smile or
laugh for a long time.
He could not sleep at night because he was worried that someone might
steal his money. During the day, he could not sleep either, becasue of the
singing and noises coming from the neighbour's house.
His neighbour was a cobbler. Although he earned just enough to feed his

4. family, he was a happy-go-lucky man. It was such a joy to see him singing
or whistling while he was working till late at nigh.
The rich man was irritated at the cobbler's singing. “I have to go and
shut him up!” shouted the rich man angrily.
On reaching the cobbler's house, the rich man asked, “Mr Cobbler,
seeing that you're working so hard, are you earning enough to feed your
family?”
“Enough, my frined,” relied the cobbler. “But no extra dor any saving.”
“How sad! Said the rich man. “You are an honest and hardworking man.
Please accept this bag of gold coins as a gift from me.”
“Thank you, Sir. You're very kind,” said the cobbler with a big smile.
Ehrn the rich man had left, the cobbler quickly kept the money in a
cupboard.
For the rest of the day, the cobbler could not work properly as him mind
was on the bag of gold coins. There was no msre singing.
At night, the cobbler could not sleep properly. He would repeatedly
dream of someone stealing the money in the cupboard. Then he would
wake up suddenly covered with sweat.
“I must hide the money elsewhere,” thought the cobbler. He dug a hole
under a mango tree behind his house, and hid the money there.
The cobbler had become a changed man. He could not concentrate on
his work and he could not sing anymore. At night, he could not sleep
because he was worried that a cat or dog would dig up the bag of gold and
hide it somewhere else.
“What should I do? Moaned the cobbler with anguish. “Return the

5. money?”
The next morining, the cobbler dug up the bag of gold and took it to the
rich man's house.
“Sir, I'm here to return the bag of gold,” said the cobbler. “Ever since I
received this money, I've been having sleepless nights and I could not
work prorely. It has brought misery to me and my family.”
Moral: A person can be just as happy even without a lot of money.
Glossary:
•inherited – received money or a property from someone who passed away
•fortune – a large amount of money
•irritated – angry
•repeatedly – many times
•concentrate – give attention
•misery – unhappiness
The donkey and the wolf
One morning, a frisky young donkey was enjoying himslef, grazing in a
meadow. The donkey had been grazzing there for several months.
“ I've heard the grass on the other side of the hilss is fresher and
sweeter,” said the donkey to himself. “Why don't I go there tommorow?”
Just as he had finished eating, he raised his head and looked around.
Suddenly, he saw a hungry- liiking wolf coming his way!

6. The wolf had already seen him and there was no was he could hide or
run away.
Then he had a plan. He pretended to walk with a limp towards the wolf.
Surprised at the donkey's action, the worf asked,
“Are you looking for trouble?” You kinow I'm going to eat you, and still you
walk towards me.”
the donkey answered, “There is nothing i can do about it. It's my destiny
to be eaten by you. So, why should I run away?”
“ I quite agree with you,” said the wolf. “But at least, you could make an
effort to hide from me. You can hide in the cave nearby or behind those
trees over there. We can play a game of hide and seek before I eat you.”
“That will be fun, won't it?” cimmented the donkey.
The donkey explained further, “But, Mr Wolf, before you eat me, I have a
request to make. Just now, while I was kumping over a ditch, a splinter
pierced into my left hind hoof. Could you be as so kind as to remove it, else
it might get stuck in your throat later?”
The wolf throught for a while, and he agreed with the donkey.
“ Thank you for telling me about the splinter. I know that if i'm not careful,
it can cut my throat or even choke me,” said the wolf.
So saying, he asked the donkey to raise his hind leg for him to pull out
the splinter.
“ Where's the slinter? Where's the splinter?” asked the wolf with his eyes
opened wide, liiking for the splinter.
“Here!” shouted the donkey, as he gave the wolf a really hard kick on the
gace with all his streangth.

7. The full impact of the kick forced the wolf to flee in pain with a bloody
nose and some broken teeth.
For a while, the badly injured wolf was not saeen again. While nursing
his wounds somewhere inside a dark cave, the poor wolf was heard
lamenting his bad luck, “My father has only taught me how to kill to be a
butcher, but I was trying to heal to be a doctor. It has brought about my
downfall.”
Moral: We should stick to what we can do best, and not try somthing we
are not familiar with.
Glossary:
•grazing – eating grass
•pretended – behaved as if it was true
•destiny – final outcome in the future
•splinter – a small sharp broken piece of wood
•impact – the force of one object hitting another
•heal – make someone well again
Questions:
1.What was yhe donkey doing ion the meadow?
2.What did the donkey see when he raised his head?
3.Where could the donkey hide?
4.When did the wolf run away?
5.What did the wolf's father teach him to do?

8. The Baker and the Wooden Barrel.
Once upon a time, in a small town in Scicily, there lived a baker named
Josh. He made the best bread in town. Everybody loved to eat his bread.
It was soft and delicious, and people did not mind queueing up to buy his
bread. The other bakeries in town had to close down becuase of his bread.
Josh owned a unique wooden barrel given to him by his great
grandfather. He used the barrel to collect the water from a mountain
stream nearby. The water became sweet when left overninght in the barrel.
He then used it to knead the dough until it became soft. He baked the
bread from the dough.
Words soon spread to the villages nearby and the nearest town, that
Josh made the best bread in the world.
Josh was not a selfish man. Although it was his family secret, he did not
mind telling people that it was the water in the barrel that did the trick.
When his friends and neighbours heard about his special wooden barrel,
they came and borrowed it from him.
Being a generouse man, he would always say,” Go ahead. You can use
it for a few days.”
Some of his neighbours even tried to make bread using the water, but
somehow it didn't turn out the same.
Josh's good friend, who was a wine merchant from the neighbouring
town, also heard about the barrel. One morning, he paid Jish a visit.
“Josh, I've heard about your wonderful barrel. May I orrow it for a few
days?” asked his friend. “Certainly,” replied Josh” Hope you'll find it

9. useful.?”
Several days later, the wine merchant returnmed the barrel to Josh. It
was still in yhe good condition. The cover was tight.
Jowever, when Josh opened it, he could smell the aroma of wine coming
from within the barrel.
Then he realized that his friend had used it to keep his wine. The wine
had seeped into the wood of the barrel. When Josh used it again, the
water smelt of wine. Whatever was kept inside the barrel also smelt of
wine. Whatever was kept inside the barrel would have the smell of wine.
“What should I do now?” thoughy Josh sadly.
He tried many ways to get rid of the smell. He filled it up with water, and
then added salt and vinegar. He washed it thoroughly Finally, he steamed
it over an oven. But all did not seem to work.
“Without the use of the barrel, my bread will never be the same again,”
moaned the baker.
Moral: Once a person has acquired a bad habit, such as smoking or
drinking, it is difficult for him to get rid of it.
Glossary:
•delicious – having a very pleasant taste or smell
•unigue – unusual being the only one of its kind.
•Secret – knowledge unknown to others
•generous – willing to help others
•aroma – a strong pleasant smell

10. •throroughlt -very carefully