She nurtured him for a few months and thought he was old enough to wear a collar. She bought him one - a very special and expensive one. The pup was now ready to be allowed to wander about in the small garden by himself.

On day, they passed by a house. There was an old man sitting alone on the porch. The pup went up, wagging his tail and licked the old man's hand. The old man picked him up and cuddled him. He took him into the house and gave him a meal. The pup decided to leave the pack and stay with the old man. The old man treated him with love and care. His affection for him often reminded him of the widow and he worried about her, wondering how she was. He longed to see her again.

A month later the pack of stray dogs passed by the house and saw the pup on a leash tied to a post waiting for the old man to take him out for a walk. The leader of the pack laughed at him and shouted, "You should never have left us. Look at you, being tied to a post. Where is your freedom now?"

The pup, thought, and answered, "But surely, real freedom is the freedom to choose who to be enslaved by. Independent freedom is simply the choice to be enslaved by yourself." This was too much for the pack; they turned and went away laughing: "What a fool, he deserves what he gets." They then went about their business scavenging and terrorising the town.

After a while, the people in the town began to complain bitterly to the authorities and demanded action against the pack of stray dogs. They were hunted by police and even shot at sometimes. The leader decided it was getting too dangerous to stay in this town. He ordered the dogs to disband, spread out and move to other towns, even though they might be lonely without one another.

In the meantime, the pup was happy staying with the old man until one day when the old widow walked slowly past the house. The pup recognised her and rushed up to her, barking and wagging his tail. She picked him up and hugged him. It was then that she recognised his collar; the one she had bought him months ago. She carried him into the house and explained to the old man that the pup was the one she lost sometime ago and that the collar was the proof of her ownership. She assured the old man that she would treat the pup well. She gave him her address and invited him to come and visit the pup whenever he felt like it. She looked very kind and so the old man turned the pup over to her. At any rate he was too tired to argue about it.

Although the pup was a little disappointed that he was not given the right to choose between them, he was content and was grateful that he was spared the pain of making the very difficult decision.