Once a hungry dog stole a loaf of bread from the baker’s shop and ran away with it as fast as he could.

Soon he came to a little stream, and across the stream there lay a log of wood that performed the function of  a narrow bridge. The dog jumped on to the log of wood, and was halfway across the stream when happened to glance down, and saw his own reflection in the water. He stopped and stared in surprise: who was that strange dog staring up at him from the water? And my, didn’t the other dog also have a loaf of bread in his mouth? The dog decided he wanted both loaves of bread, his own, and the other dog’s as well.

Without thinking further, he jumped into the water.  Opening his mouth to snatch away the other’s loaf, he dropped his own into the stream where the current carried it away; and needless to say, he couldn’t get the other loaf, for there was no other loaf to get!

He who covets what belongs to another, deservedly loses his own.