One day, a small dog found a big bone. While jogging with the bone, he saw a big dog from the distance coming towards him. He began to run fast.

The big dog saw the small dog running with the big bone. He thought how lucky he must be. He barked and sprinted towards the small dog.

Fear entered the small dog. He would live but to fight another day. If he found a bone today, he would find another tomorrow. He dropped the bone and fled for his life. After making a distance, he stopped and turned back.

Sitting on his haunches and mourning over his loss, the small dog watched the big dog bite into the bone. The small dog’s stomach groaned, as his tongue salivated his lost prospect. He began to feel a little bit drowsy and slept off.

The big dog enjoyed the delicious bone, there was no time to waste. He knows the essence of time and fate. What you think you have now, you may lose the next moment. He picked every piece of marrow and bone on the grass and licked his whiskers clean. It must have been a goat, or a sheep, it was so delicious, and he had to put in little effort to get it. He turned and saw the small dog sleeping on his haunches. The big dog began to bark repeatedly.

The small dog woke up suddenly and sprinted away, stopping only when the barking stopped. He could not understand why he slept off during such an important moment. The big dog was no longer standing. The big dog had fallen.

The small dog went closer. A torrent of foam came out from the big dog’s mouth and hardly any remains of the once big bone.  He saw the big dog kick his legs in the air like an upturned tortoise, his once strong voice only now a feeble groan, and his strong body twitching helplessly like a sacrificial lamb. The big dog was dead because it ate the big bone.

A poisoned bone! A trap! Must be the reason why he slept. He had been poisoned as well, but not as much as the big dog. A blessing in disguise! The small dog took off in a gallant sprint. When he thought he had lost the big bone, he did not know that it was his life that he saved.

Written by: Atibila Atalebe.