A Farmer, His Son and Their Donkey Aesop’s Fables

One day, a farmer and his son were on their way to a town. They had a donkey which they wanted to sell there. On the way to the town they met some girls. “Look at those people,” said one of the girls, pointing to the man and his son. “They are walking behind the donkey when they can ride on it.” The girls laughed at them and went on their way home. The farmer heard this and told his son to get on the donkey. He walked beside the boy.

Soon they met some old men who were on their way home from the town. They saw the farmer and his son, and one of the men said: “Look at that! The old man is walking and the young man is riding.

Get down from the donkey, young man, and let your father ride on it.” So the farmer told his son to get down and got on the donkey himself.

Soon they met some women and children. “Look at that man!” said a woman. “How can he sit on the donkey and let that poor boy run behind him?” The farmer then told his son to get on the donkey and sit behind him on it.

They were near the town when a man stopped them. He said to the farmer, “Is this your donkey?”

“Yes, it is,” said the farmer.

“How can you, you two big men, sit on that poor donkey and make him carry you when you could carry the donkey instead?” said the man.

“We can carry him,” said the farmer. So they began to carry the donkey with its legs up. There was a bridge over a river on the way to the town. When the people on the bridge saw the two men with the donkey, they began to run after them and laugh. This frightened the donkey. The old man and his son could not hold it and the donkey fell from the bridge into the river and drowned.