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

5. THE DONKEY, THE ONAGER AND THE LION
Perry 411 (Syntipas 30)

An onager saw a donkey labouring under a heavy load and he made fun of the donkey's enslavement. 'Lucky me!' said the onager. 'I am free from bondage and do not have to work for anyone else, since I have grass near at hand on the hillsides, while you rely on someone else to feed you, forever oppressed by slavery and its blows!' At that very moment a lion happened to appear on the scene. He did not come near the donkey since the donkey's driver was standing beside him. The onager, however, was all alone, so the lion attacked and devoured him.
The story shows that people who are obstinate and insubordinate come to a bad end because they get carried away by their own sense of stubbornness and refuse to ask others for assistance.


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.