Three Hundred Æsop's Fables/The Mischievous Dog

THE MISCHIEVOUS DOG.

A Dog used to run up quietly to the heels of everyone he met, and to bite them without notice. His master suspended a bell about his neck, that he might give notice of his presence wherever he went. The Dog grew proud of his bell, and went tinkling it all over the market-place. An old hound said to him: "Why do you make such an exhibition of yourself? That bell that you carry is not, believe me, any order of merit, but, on the contrary, a mark of disgrace, a public notice to all men to avoid you as an ill-mannered dog."

Notoriety is often mistaken for fame.