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

307. THE MAN AND THE NEW DONKEY
Perry 237 (Chambry 263)

There was a man who wanted to buy a donkey. He selected one donkey for further examination and led him to where his own donkeys were, leaving him by the feeding trough. The new donkey went and stood next to the donkey who was the laziest and greediest of them all, ignoring all the others. As the new donkey showed no signs of any better behaviour, the man led him away again, returning him to his former master. When asked whether he had given the donkey a fair chance, the man explained, 'I don't even need to put him to the test: I know what kind of donkey he is because of the company he keeps.'
The story shows that a person is considered similar to the people whose companionship he enjoys.


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.