Once upon a time there were two dogs who were great friends. One of them was small and one was large, and they were called Little Dog and Big Dog all the days of their lives, and had no other names.  
Little Dog barked at everything he saw. He barked at the cat and he barked at the kittens; he barked at the cow and he barked at the ; he barked at his own shadow; and he even barked at the moon in the sky with a "Bow-wow-wow!" and a "Bow-wow-wow!"
 
Big Dog had a very loud bark, "Bow-wow! Bow-wow!" but he barked only when he had something to say. And everybody listened to him.
 
Now one day as the two dogs sat together in the sunshine, Big Dog said to Little Dog:—
 
"Come, let us go to see our friend, the king."
 
Little Dog thought this was a splendid plan, and they started at once.
 
Big Dog walked along the road with his tail curled over his back, and his head held high. "There is no need of haste," he said, but Little Dog thought there must be.
 
"I shall get there first," he called, as he ahead, but presently he came back as fast as he had gone.
 
"Oh, Big Dog, Big Dog," he said, "we cannot go to see the king."
 
"Why not?" asked Big Dog. "Has he gone away from home?"
 
"I know nothing about that," answered Little Dog, who was almost out of breath, "but a little farther on there is a great river, and we can never get across."
 
But Big Dog would not turn back. "I must see this great river," he said, and he walked on as quietly as before. Little Dog followed him, and when they came to the river Big Dog jumped in, splish! splash! and began to swim.
 
"Wait, wait," cried Little Dog, but Big Dog only answered, "Don't be afraid."
 
So in jumped Little Dog, splish! splash! too, for he did not want to be left behind. He was terribly frightened, but he paddled himself along with his four feet just as he saw Big Dog doing, and when he was safe across the river, which was not half so wide as he had thought, he barked at it as if he had never been afraid at all.
 
"Bow-wow-wow-wow! You cannot keep us from the king," he said, and he was off and away before Big Dog had shaken the water from his coat. But in less time than it takes to tell it, Big Dog spied him running back with his tail hanging down and his ears .
 
"Oh, Big Dog, Big Dog!" he cried. "We cannot go to see the king, for in the wood yonder there is a bear, and she will eat us both for her supper. I heard her say so myself."
 
Then Big Dog made haste to the wood, barking loudly:—
 
"Bow-wow! Bow-wow! I am not afraid! I am not afraid!" and when the bear heard him she ran to her home as fast as she could.
 
"I can eat honey for my supper," she said; and the two dogs saw no more of her.
 
Now by this time Little Dog had run so fast and barked so much that he was tired. "I do not want to go to see the king," he said; and he lay down in the road and put his head between his two front paws.
 
But Big Dog said, "I smell a bone," and Little Dog jumped up in a hurry again. ! sniff!—where could it be? The two dogs put their noses close to the ground and followed the till they came to the turn of the road; and there sat a burner eating his supper of bread and mutton chops by his fire.
 
Little Dog wanted to run up and beg for something, but Big Dog would not go with him. "It is more polite to wait," he said; and he sat down on the other side of the road. Little Dog sat down beside him, and they waited and waited; but at last the man finished his chops and threw the bones to the dogs, which was just what Big Dog had hoped he would ............