The Dog And His Master's Dinner

by Aesop

He seized the best piece of chicken in the basket and left the rest for the others to enjoy.

A DOG had been taught to take his master's dinner to him every day. As he smelled the good things in the basket, he was sorely tempted to taste them, but he resisted the temptation and continued day after day to carry the basket faithfully.

One day, all the dogs in the neighborhood followed him with longing eyes and greedy jaws, and tried to steal the dinner from the basket. At first, the faithful dog tried to run away from them, but they pressed him so close that at last he stopped to argue with them. This is what the thieves desired, and they soon ridiculed him to the extent that he said: Very well, I will divide with you, and he seized the best piece of chicken in the basket and left the rest for the others to enjoy.

Moral:
He who stops to parley with temptation, will be very likely to yield.

Source:

Aesop's Fables
Copyright 1881
Translator: unknown
WM. L. Allison, New York
Illustrator: Harrison Weir, John Tenniel, Ernest Griset, et.al.