August 24
Man lives not by care for himself, but by love.
What Men Live By (freely rendered)
The Dog First
Man lives not by care for himself, but by love.
A dog came every day to the royal elephant's stable and ate the rice that fell to the ground. Soon the two were inseparable. The dog would swing on its friend's trunk.
One day the elephant keeper sold the dog to a villager. The elephant stopped touching its food. It would not drink, nor would it bathe. One of the king's advisers made enquiries at the stable and learned of the vanished dog.
The king had it announced that the man who was keeping it would be punished. At that, the buyer let the dog go. It ran back to the stable. The elephant lifted it onto its head with its trunk. Then it set the dog down, let it eat first, and finally took its own food.
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