Barnaby the Beagle was a dog with a very happy wag in his tail. Why? Because he had just found a wonderful, juicy piece of meat! It was the best piece of meat he had seen all day, and he couldn't wait to eat it.

"I'll take this to a quiet spot," he thought, holding the meat carefully in his mouth. He trotted along, his nose in the air, feeling very pleased with himself.

Soon, Barnaby came to a little wooden bridge that crossed over a clear, still stream. As he started to walk across, he glanced down into the water.

What did he see? Another dog looking up at him! And this other dog also had a piece of meat in its mouth. Barnaby stopped and stared. "Hmm," he thought, "that dog's meat looks even bigger and juicier than mine!"

Barnaby was a bit of a greedy dog. He wanted that other, bigger piece of meat too. "If I bark loudly," he decided, "I can scare that other dog. It will drop its meat, and then I can have both!"

So, Barnaby opened his mouth wide to let out a big, scary "WOOF!"

But as soon as he opened his mouth, *plop!* His own juicy piece of meat fell out, splashed into the stream, and quickly sank out of sight.

Barnaby looked down. The other dog in the water had vanished too, and so had its meat, because, of course, it was only his own reflection.

Now, poor Barnaby had no meat at all. He stood on the bridge, feeling very silly and very hungry. He learned that day that if you are too greedy and try to get more, you might lose what you already have.

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