A dog was crossing a river with a piece of meat in his mouth. Seeing his own reflection in the water, he took it for another dog carrying a bigger piece of meat. So he let go of his own and lunged to snatch the other's. The result was that he got neither: the one was beyond his reach, since it did not even exist, and his own was carried off by the current.
*In grasping for an imagined greater gain, the greedy may lose what they already possess.
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