The Dog

Story of the vow made by the dogs every winter that when next summer comes they will build a house for the winter.

In winter the dog feels cold and so small, that he says: “Having
such a little body, I must build a stone house.
When summer comes, I will build with my claws a stone house
against the cold.”
But when summer comes, his bones expand from the relief which
he feels, and his skin grows sleek,
And, when he sees himself stout, he says, “No house is large
enough for me.”
He grows stout and slinks into a shady place—a lazy, full-fed,
cowardly, self-opinionated creature!
His heart (conscience) says to him, “Get going, build yourself a
house!”
He says, “What house will be good enough for me?”
In the hour of pain the bones of your greed contract,
And you say penitently, “I will build a house: it will be a refuge for
me in winter”;
But when the pain is gone and things are not going rough, the
desire for the house departs from you, just as in the case of the dog.
Giving thanks for abundance, is sweeter than the abundance