A Tale of Two Dogs

Maaddee was quite old when I met her. Some people regarded her as a “wise women” but the members of her family were always acting embarrassed by the things she said and did. No one said anything but I think they thought she was a bit off. Maaddee has been gone many years now. I will always remember how she always had a unique way of looking at things.

One time I was telling Maaddee the story of how I had met a villager in Peru who lived along a river with his family and an assortment of animals including dogs, monkeys and birds. None of the animals were kept in cages.

"We used to have two dogs", the man explained, "but one of the dogs chased and worried the other animals so, we ate him for dinner."

I explained to Maaddee that I could not understand why he had not tried to train the dog instead. Maaddee looked at me, smiled, and said…

"The man knew that he need not waste his time trying to train the dog, and the dog knew he was not going to be around long. That's why he worried the other animals so fiercely while he still could."