A Dog and a Lizard
Stephen Candia
Wiehan de Jager

Suffering is part of all living creatures. Dogs and lizards are examples of living creatures. Dog and the lizard were close friends. As they were conversing about a problem, the lizard said, "I suffer more than you do." The dog replied, "My friend lizard, you have not seen how I suffer during meal times." The lizard said, "Whenever I want to eat flies, they always fly away. How difficult my life is! Even though I hang on walls because of the bad weather, they throw stones at me. Oh my God! Why did you create me to face such a difficult life?" The dog replied with a pop sound, "Lizard! We suffer more than you."The dog then requested the lizard to hang around while they waited for their meals.

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As they were for their meals with the other family members, the lizard stayed hanging on the wall watching what was taking place. When the men started serving their food, the dog came near them and wanted to be served as well. As soon as the dog reached near the people, he was beaten and chased away with a very big stick, crying with a loud sound, "whoo. Whoo. Whoo," The dog could not run far because he was very hungry and instead returned for the food. He was given only one piece of food thrown on the dirty floor. All this happened as the lizard watched from the wall where he was hanging. The lizard nodded his head "kpa kpa kpa" in acceptance of what he was seeing saying, "Oc ogo midri candi dori dere ada ada." This means that truly the dogs really suffered a lot.

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And that is why wherever a lizard sees a dog it nods their head. So therefore, the lizard concluded that, someone's food is another one's poison. Never exaggerate your own problems to others because they may have more problems than you and even laugh at you.

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You are free to download, copy, translate or adapt this story and use the illustrations as long as you attribute in the following way:
A Dog and a Lizard
Author - Stephen Candia
Illustration - Wiehan de Jager, Magriet Brink, Leo Daly
Language - English
Level - Longer paragraphs