Monthly Archives: August 2013
97.The Donkey and the Horse
A DONKEY asked a horse to spare him a small portion of his feed.
“Yes,” said the horse; “if anything is left over of what I am now eating, I will give it you for the sake of my own superior dignity. And if you come over when I reach my own stall in the evening, I’ll give you a little sack full of barley.”
The donkey said,
“Thank you. But I can hardly think that you, who refuse me a little matter now, will by and by confer on me a greater benefit.”
❖ The brave man sets out to bring about and even correct his position before he confers food and benefits to others.
❖ Some weak characters can be bought for food, not unlike Jacob’s brother Esau in the Old Testament.
96.The Donkey and the Grasshoppers
A DONKEY heard some grasshoppers chirping and was charmed. Wanting to make melodies as well as they did, he demanded to know what sort of food they lived on to give them such beautiful voices.
“The dew,” they answered.
The donkey decided that he would live only on dew, and in a short time starved to death.
❖ At times we have to examine ourselves to put our lives in order.
❖ We often do well when we stop longing for things that are not in our alley. Otherwise we can bring mishap on ourselves.
❖ We do well in pursuing nothing to our loss.
95.The Donkey and the Frogs
A DONKY who was carrying a load of wood was crossing a bog one day when he slipped and fell. Unable to rise because of his load, he groaned heavily. Some frogs in the pool heard all this moaning and said,
“What sort of noise would you make if you had to live here always as we do, when you make such a fuss about a mere fall into the water?”
❖ Men often bear little grievances with less courage than they do large misfortunes.
❖ “You may lament your corn on the foot till someone without a leg comes along.”
94.The Donkey and His Shadow
A TRAVELLER hired a donkey to carry him to a distant place. The day was intensely hot, and the sun was even hotter. The traveller stopped to rest and sought shelter from the heat under the shadow of the donkey. The owner who accompanied him, found no other shelter there, and the donkey shadow gave protection only for one.
Both the traveller and the owner of the donkey claimed it, and took to arguing violently as to whom of them the right to the shadow had. The owner claimed that he had let out the donkey only, and not his shadow. The traveller asserted that along with hiring the donkey, he had hired his shadow too. The quarrel went on from words to blows, and while the men fought, the donkey galloped off.
❖ In quarelling about the shadow we often lose the substance.
