A Dog used to run up quietly to the heels of everyone he met, and to bite
them without notice. His master suspended a bell about his neck so that the
Dog might give notice of his presence wherever he went. Thinking it a mark
of distinction, the Dog grew proud of his bell and went tinkling it all over
the marketplace. One day an old hound said to him: Why do you make such
an exhibition of yourself? That bell that you carry is not, believe me, any
order of merit, but on the contrary a mark of disgrace, a public notice to all
men to avoid you as an ill mannered dog.
