The Faithful Dog
by Lakshmi Menon
(Bangalore, India)
A thief was roaming about the town on a bright morning. He was dressed well, and none suspected him to be a thief. He saw a big and beautiful house near the park and decided to burgle it in the night.
There was a white dog in front of the house. "This dog would bark in the night which would cause a problem for my work. I should prevent it from barking," thought the thief and left the place.
As he was walking away from there, he got an idea to stop the dog's barking. "I can please the dog by offering him some dog biscuits," he told himself and walked away with a smile.
He went straight away to a Provision Store and bought some dog biscuits. He waited for the sun to set and become night.
When it was midnight he eagerly walked towards the house. Without making any noise, he slowly climbed the fence and entered the compound.
Immediately the dog began to bark to let his master know that some thief has entered the compound.
"Don't bark, friend. I am your master's friend," said the thief with a friendly smile.
The dog was not ready to believe his words. He did not stop barking.
The thief decided to stop the dog from barking at him.
"Don't worry. I have got something for you. I am sure you'll like it," he took out two biscuits from his shoulder bag and gave to the dog to bribe him. He
thought the dog would definitely eat the biscuits and keep quiet so that he would be able to rob the house as planned.
But the faithful dog was not ready to cheat his master by accepting the biscuits from a stranger even though they were very tempting. He ignored them and continued to bark.
"Ok. Don't bark like this. I will give you more biscuits," said the thief. He took out more biscuits from his bag and offered them to the dog. But the dog was not at all ready to accept his bribe and cheat his master. He barked loudly to alert his master.
Hearing the dog's barking his master got up from the bed and switched the lights on. He came out of the house and looked around. "There must be something wrong. A thief must be trying to enter the house, otherwise my dog wouldn’t bark like this," he thought.
He was not wrong. He saw a man who was struggling to climb the tall fence to get out of the house.
Immediately he informed the police.
He saw the biscuits lying on the ground, untouched by his dog. He stroked him affectionately. "Thank you, my friend. You're my true friend. You didn't get tempted to eat these biscuits offered by the thief to bribe you even though they were your favourites. I'm so proud of you, my dear friend."
The dog was very happy to earn his master's grateful words.
Within minutes the police caught the thief.
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