A dog was crossing a bridge over a stream with a piece of flesh in his mouth. He saw his own shadow in the water and mistook it for another dog, who seemed to have a piece of meat twice as large. He immediately dropped his own meat and fiercely attacked the other dog to steal the larger piece. In doing so, he lost both: the one he tried to grasp in the water, because it was merely a shadow; and his own, because the stream swept it away.