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Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)

224. THE GNAT AND THE CAMEL
Perry 137 (Ademar 60)

A gnat happened to land on the back of a camel and lingered there on top of the baggage. When he finally decided to disembark, he said, 'I will let myself down now as fast as I can so as not to burden you any longer, weighed down as you are.' 'Much obliged,' said the camel, 'but I was not even aware that you had landed, and your departure is not going to lighten my load.'
If you pay no attention to rank and try to rival your superiors, you will earn our scorn.

Note: The Greek versions of this fable are about a gnat and a bull, not a camel.

Source: Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura Gibbs. Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002.
NOTE: New cover, with new ISBN, published in 2008; contents of book unchanged.