Original content

English translation

One day in the season of spring, together with a group of friends, we went out for the pleasure of strolling and viewing the countryside and the plain. When we made our resting place in a delightful spot and spread out the meal-cloth, a dog saw it from afar and brought itself over to that place.

One of those present picked up a piece of stone and threw it before the dog as one would throw bread before a dog. The dog sniffed it and, without pausing, turned back; however much they called out to it, it paid no heed. The companions were astonished at this.

One of them said: Do you know what this dog said? It said: These wretches, out of miserliness and hunger, eat stones themselves; what expectation can one have of their table, and what enjoyment can be taken from their meal-cloth?

The master, when he had cast out his table near and far, Took his pleasure and his share from it without delay. If the poor man's portion, near at hand, is better as a stick, The helpless dog's share, from afar, is a stone.