What is the moral of "The Dog and Its Shadow"?

That grasping at a shadow loses the substance — greed for more costs you what you already have. The dog is not cheated by anyone; his own greed and his own reflection are enough to ruin him.

Why does the dog think the other piece is bigger?

Because a reflection in water can appear larger, and because greed makes him want it to be. Saying that it *seemed* larger, rather than that it was, keeps the story honest and prepares the reader for the ending.

Should I explain that it is a reflection?

Not at first. Describe what the dog sees and let the reader understand before the dog does — that gap is where the enjoyment lies. Explain it only in the closing paragraph, when the dog himself realises it and it is too late.

English · Completing Story

The Dog and Its Shadow

Completing story: a greedy dog snaps at its reflection and loses the meat.

A dog carrying stolen meat sees a bigger piece in the water and opens his mouth for it.

The story begins: A dog once stole a piece of meat from a butcher's shop and ran away with it. On his way home he had to cross a narrow bridge over a stream.

The Story

A hungry dog crept into a butcher's shop one afternoon, snatched a fine piece of meat from the block and ran off with it before anyone could stop him.

He wanted to eat it somewhere quiet, so he took the path that led out of the village towards the fields. On the way he came to a narrow wooden bridge across a stream.

The water beneath was clear and still. As the dog crossed the bridge he happened to look down, and there in the water he saw another dog looking up at him — and that dog also carried a piece of meat in his mouth.

It seemed to him that the other piece was larger than his own. Greed took hold of him at once. Why should he be content with the smaller share when a bigger one was there for the taking?

He growled fiercely at the dog in the water, but the dog only growled back at him without giving up anything.

Then the dog made up his mind. He opened his mouth wide to snatch the other piece of meat away.

The moment his jaws opened, his own meat fell out, dropped into the stream and sank. The dog in the water vanished at the same instant, and the surface broke into ripples.

Too late the dog understood that what he had seen was nothing but his own reflection, and that the meat he had tried to steal was the very meat he had been carrying.

He went home hungry, with nothing at all; for in grasping at the shadow he had lost the substance.

Moral: Grasping at the shadow loses the substance.