The Dogs' Petition
Once upon a time, beyond the green valleys, there was a cheerful country where people and animals lived together. The loyal dogs that lived in this country worked day and night and protected the houses and the flocks of their owners. But on the freezing winter days only dry bones were given to them, and this began to trouble their hearts more and more each day. At last the oldest and most learned dog of the village, big eared Pamuk, gathered all his kin under the great plane tree. His aim was to send an official petition to the Kingdom of the Sky in order to change their painful lives. The dogs prepared a long petition that told their troubles in ornate sentences and put it into a silver box.
To carry out this important task they chose from among themselves the two fastest and bravest messengers. The messengers set out on a long journey that reached beyond the clouds in order to arrive at the palace of the great king. After a hard climb that lasted for days, they came at last to the garden of the magnificent palace with golden gates. The splendour of the palace and the delicious smells of food that came from inside made the heads of the messengers spin. Just as they were about to come before the king, they heard the noisy steps of the palace guards and were seized by a great fear. While they ran here and there in great haste, they lost the silver box with the precious petition in the depths of the palace.
Fearing the anger of the king, the messengers could not deliver the petition, put their tails between their legs and at once went away from there. The other dogs who were waiting below with curiosity felt a great disappointment when they saw the messengers coming back with empty hands. When the messengers admitted in shame that they had dropped the letter, everyone set to work to look for the lost petition. From that day on the dogs began to smell one another in order to find which member of the embassy was hiding the message. Even now, whenever they meet at a street corner, they look over the tails of one another with the hope of finding the trace of that old petition. Work that is left half done out of fear of taking responsibility leaves behind an endless curiosity and confusion. Late repentance brings no benefit.