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."