The Dog and the Deer

Once upon a time, there was a dog. One day, it went for a walk outside the city and saw deer competing in a race. The dog stopped, watched them, and felt envious: the deer ran so easily and quickly!

The dog kept watching them and finally couldn't resist—it started running with them. But the deer ran fast, while the dog was slow, and it kept falling behind every time. The dog both envied and admired the deer. It was frustrated with itself but didn't lose hope that someday it, too, could run as fast.

The dog decided to learn from the deer and approached their leader:

"Brother deer," it said with emotion, "I liked how you run so much that I joined you, but I couldn't keep up. Please explain to me, what's the secret? Can I learn to run as fast as you?"

Hearing this, the deer was very flattered and moved, but it couldn't figure out how to help the dog. It stood there pondering for a long time when suddenly its gaze fell on the dog's tail.

"Oh, now I understand why you can't run fast!" it said. "It's because of your tail. If you didn't have it, you'd run as well as we do."

The dog looked at the deer and saw that they had no tails. It believed the leader and, gritting its teeth in pain, cut off its own tail.

But the dog remained a dog. Without its tail, it didn't run any faster than before. Only then did it realize how foolish it is to blindly trust others' words—you might fall behind your own kind and never catch up to the others.

More fairy tales

• The Tale of the Younger Brother
• The Beggar's Handkerchief
• The Obedient Student
• The Drunken Sparrow
• Tsar Bacha and the Ants