A DOG, crossing a bridge over a stream with a piece of flesh1 in
his mouth, saw his own shadow in the water and took it for that
of another Dog, with a piece of meat double his own in size. He
immediately let go of his own, and fiercely2 attacked the other
Dog to get his larger piece from him. He thus lost both: that
which he grasped at in the water, because it was a shadow; and
his own, because the stream swept it away. 一只狗嘴里衔着一片鱼尾纹过河,看到了自己在水中的影子,就把它当成了另一只狗的影子,一块肉的大小是自己的两倍。他马上放开了自己的手脚,拉德万斯卡向另一只狗发起了攻击,想从他那里拿到更大的一块。他就这样两样都输了:他在水中抓住的东西,因为是影子;还有他自己的,因为是小溪把它一扫而光。