The Old Dog|سگ پیر

By ( 70 )

Once upon a time,

A king had an old dog, and loved him very much. The king always talked to his dog. One of the days the king decided that he needs his dog to talk back.

The king announced: “If anyone could teach my dog how to talk, I will award him one thousand gold coins. And if the trainer failed and my dog couldn’t talk after the lessons, I will order to execute that person.”

The amount of the award was so high, that made a few covetous to try to teach King’s dog to talk. And of course, the dog didn’t learn and they got executed.

The king increased the 1000 to 2000 gold coins, but people were afraid of losing their lives and never volunteered.

Until one day that an old man walked to the palace and said: “I will teach your dog to talk under three conditions.”

The king got excited and asked for the old man’s three conditions.

The old man said: “First I need a great comfortable habitant for my family, me and your dog.

Second, I don’t want the 2000 gold coins, but need a very good monthly salary. And third, I want ten years’ time with no pressure on me at all, as this is a very hard job to be done.”

The excited king accepted the conditions and signed a deal.

The friends and families of the old man remonstrated him for his stupidity; “The dog would never talk and you will be executed.”

The old man replied: “I gave ten years of great life, to my family. I am an old man; the king is an old man and the dog is old. In these ten years one of us will die and there won’t be an execution.”

It reminds me of all the promises the politicians give, who knows who will survive, to be able to see the results.

Categories: bedtime story, fable, fiction, folk tale, moral, parable, Short StoryTags: , , , ,

70 comments ›

  1. GirlwithInk
    June 3, 2021 • 8:06 am

    I really liked the piece! Well written!

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply ↓
  2. petrel41
    June 3, 2021 • 8:24 am

    Thanks for the beautiful story, Laleh! In some countries, one must be cautious when talking about royal dogs: https://dearkitty1.wordpress.com/2015/12/15/years-in-jail-for-insulting-thai-royal-dog/

    Liked by 2 people

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  3. utahan15
    June 3, 2021 • 8:29 am

    shoot the moon
    gone none too soon
    be it shah reza
    or ayatollah somebuoy
    assad
    or sadam
    madame
    say hallo to marie pa leese

    Liked by 2 people

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  4. hassanmosleh
    June 3, 2021 • 10:04 am

    What a smart old man ,he made his family live comfortable for ten years. Beautiful story.

    Liked by 3 people

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  5. Martina Ramsauer
    June 3, 2021 • 10:45 am

    I always enjoy the profound endings of your stories!:) Many thanks

    Liked by 3 people

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  6. positivesideofcoin
    June 3, 2021 • 11:24 am

    Hahaha, the last line is totally perfect…this story goes really well with all the politician around the world.

    Liked by 3 people

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  9. freiedenkerin
    June 3, 2021 • 12:09 pm

    The perfect play on time of the old man.

    Liked by 3 people

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  10. santiagogaliciarojonserrallonga
    June 3, 2021 • 7:15 pm

    Laleh Chini, tus publicaciones son muy interesantes. Me permitiré compartir tu página en mis dos cuentas de facebook para que mis lectores tengan oportunidad de conocer temas de actualidad e interés. Saludos con afecto y amistad.

    Liked by 2 people

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  11. anne leueen
    June 3, 2021 • 9:00 pm

    The wisdom of the elders is in this story . Nice one Laleh!

    Liked by 3 people

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  12. Marje @ Kyrosmagica
    June 4, 2021 • 2:57 am

    A lovely piece I like the tone and humour of it very much. 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

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  14. Dave Kingsbury
    June 4, 2021 • 6:20 pm

    Politicians don’t have to be very effective in such uncertain times – they just need to convince us that their rivals will do a worse job – low standards all round, alas! Enjoyed your story, thanks.

    Liked by 3 people

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  15. GD
    June 5, 2021 • 5:15 am

    Wonderful Laleh! Which is the best place to start with reading your stories? This taster is so my kind of thing xx

    Liked by 2 people

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  16. Kanchan Balodi
    June 5, 2021 • 7:23 am

    What a wise man! Another great story 😇

    Liked by 3 people

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  17. Sebastian
    June 6, 2021 • 4:01 pm

    Lovely story.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
  18. Alexander Lautsyus
    June 7, 2021 • 7:52 am

    You have endless source of wisdom stories. I love it. Thank you for sharing.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply ↓
  19. fantasynovel1
    June 8, 2021 • 2:14 am

    This is so so beautiful story. So true the politician never keeps their promises to us just like that old man… 😂😂 and we the foolish King

    Liked by 1 person

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  21. Trishikh
    June 11, 2021 • 6:41 am

    A great lesson in life. The old man was very intelligent to think in this way.

    Liked by 1 person

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  22. Cindy Georgakas
    June 17, 2021 • 10:51 am

    you can definitely teach an old man new tricks… dogs.. ?🤣❤️

    Liked by 1 person

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  23. bwcarey
    July 2, 2021 • 10:56 pm

    kind story, a bit of the Solomon too,are there any easy references to the1952 uprising in Iran in those days, when the leader was removed, I want to write a legacy peace from the point of view of truth, from the Iranian side,rather than the bias i’m so often sold, amen, colonialism

    Liked by 1 person

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  25. fulvialuna1
    July 28, 2021 • 3:05 pm

    A però che astuzia!

    Liked by 1 person

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