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Aesop's Fables: Townsend (1867)

215. The Goat and the Ass (Perry 279)

A MAN once kept a Goat and an Ass. The Goat, envying the Ass on account of his greater abundance of food, said, 'How shamefully you are treated: at one time grinding in the mill, and at another carrying heavy burdens'; and he further advised him to pretend to be epileptic and fall into a ditch and so obtain rest. The Ass listened to his words, and falling into a ditch, was very much bruised. His master, sending for a leech, asked his advice. He bade him pour upon the wounds the lungs of a Goat. They at once killed the Goat, and so healed the Ass.


George Fyler Townsend's translation of the fables, first published in 1867, is in the public domain and can be found at many websites, including Project Gutenberg. Illustrations come from: Aesop's Fables, by George Fyler Townsend, with illustrations by Harrison Weir, 1867, at Google Books.