The Dog and the Oyster

 The Dog and the Oyster

    Of all the fables about dogs, this surely is an unusual one. It concerns Old Ruff, a large gray hound who lived with his master near the sea and who, like most dogs, loved to eat. Ruff was always on a search for food. He snuffled around the neighbors' garbage cans, looking for meat scraps and bones. he sometimes sat on Mrs. Freethy's back porch and barked until Mrs. Freethy opened the door and gave him a bite of cheese or his very favorite treat, a raw egg.

    Each afternoon, Ruff would wander down to the wharf to take part in the lively activity on the docks. On this particular day, Ruff spotted the familiar face of a fisherman named Bill.

    Bill sat on the dock, cracking open the shells of fresh oysters and pouring the oysters into a large glass jar. Wagging his tail, Ruff approached Bill. Bill greeted Ruff, and when he saw that the dog was looking at the oyster, he offered it to Ruff. Thinking that the oyster was a raw egg, Ruff quickly slurped it down.

    The first thing Ruff noticed was that the oyster didn't quite taste like an egg, and he noticed that his stomach had begun to hurt. The pain grew so bad that Ruff walked miserably home and crawled under the front porch until he began to feel better.

    In the midst of his suffering, Ruff thought, "It's clear that the egg I ate was not an egg." He groaned for a bit and then thought, "I got exactly what I deserved for not being more careful." He let out another groan and fell gratefully asleep.