Prana was a beautiful dog, whose name means “breath of life”. Although he died several years ago, I can still remember the days we spent together and what he has taught me about love.

    I have two apple trees in the garden. Prana loved apples. When he went outside, he'd catch an apple and take it into the house to eat later. The apples had been on the ground and were often dirty so I wasn't always happy that Prana had brought them into the house.

It was an autumn day in America, but it was very cold. A big snow fell and we had not done anything for its coming. On that special day, Prana went outside and I watched him through the window. I noticed that he was madly digging(挖) holes and bringing the apples to the ground so they could be seen above the snow. I did not know why he was doing this. He seemed to want to do something special.

    When I called him back, he had his usual one apple in his mouth. About five minutes later, I looked outside. The garden was completely covered with birds. Prana had dug up all those apples for his bird friends to eat. He knew that they wouldn't have stored enough food for the coming winter!

Our village carpenter（木匠）, John Hill, came one day and made a dining table for my wife. He made it just the right size to fill the space between the two windows. When I got home that evening, John was drinking a cup of tea and writing out his bill（账单）for his job.

My wife said to me quietly, “That's his ninth cup of tea today.” But she said in a loud voice, “It's a beautiful table, dear, isn't it?” “I'll decide about that when I see the bill,” I said. John laughed and gave me his bill for the work. I read:

One dining table                        10^th November, 2011

      Cost of wood                  ＄17.00

      Paint                         ＄1.50

      Work, 8 hours(＄1 an hour)       ＄8.00

      Total                         ＄36.50  

When I was looking at the bill, John said, “It's been a fine day, hasn't it? Quite sunny.”

“Yes,” I said. “I'm glad it's only the 10^th of November.”

“Me, too,” said John, “you wait—it will be a lot colder by the end of the month.”

“Yes, colder—and more expensive! Dining tables will be ＄20 more expensive on November 30^th, won't they, John?”

John looked hard at me for half a minute. Was there a little smile in his two blue eyes? I gave his bill back to him.

“If it's not too much trouble, John,” I said, “please add it up again. You can forget the date…”

I paid him ＄26.50 and he was happy to get it.

    Emily is a music teacher. She has always made some money by giving piano lessons. She had a student named Robby. He was 11 years old when his mother took him to his first piano lesson. Emily thinks that students should begin at an earlier age, which she explained to Robby. But Robby said that it had always been his mother's wish to hear him play the piano, so she took him as a student. But from the beginning Emily thought he was a hopeless learner. He was not talented in playing the piano. But Emily had to say he tried hard. One day, Robby stopped coming back and told her that he wanted to play in public. He said his mother had been ill, so he had to practice at home. Emily hesitated(犹豫) because she thought he couldn't play the piano well enough, but finally she agreed.

    The night for the public show came. The high school hall was full of parents and friends. When Robby began playing, Emily was surprised at what she heard. He played so well that everyone in the hall was moved. Emily ran up to him when he ended. "I've never heard you play like that, Robby! How could you do it?" "Well, Miss Emily … do you remember that I told you my mom was sick? Well, in fact, she was so sick that she died this morning. And well … she was born deaf, so tonight was the first time she ever heard me play. I wanted to make it special."

    When Emily heard this, she felt that he was the teacher and she was the student. For it was he that taught her the meaning of love and believing in yourself.