This merchant understood the language of
beasts. He obtained this privilege on the condition of not imparting
to any one what he heard, under penalty of death.
By chance[2] he had put an ox and an ass into the same stall; and
being seated near them, he heard the ox say to the ass: "How happy do
I think your lot. A servant looks after you with great care, washes
you, feeds you with fine sifted barley, and gives you fresh and clean
water; your greatest task is to carry the merchant, our master. My
condition is as unfortunate as yours is pleasant. They yoke me to a
plow the whole day, while the laborer urges me on with his goad. The
weight and force of the plow, too, chafes all the skin from my neck.
When I have worked from morning till night, they give me unwholesome
and uninviting food. Have I not, then, reason to envy your lot?"
[Footnote 2: The ass and the ox in the East were subject to very
different treatment; the one was strong to labor, and was little cared
for--the other was reserved for princes and judges to ride on, and was
tended with the utmost attention.]
When he had finished, the ass replied in these words: "Believe me,
they would not treat you thus if you possessed as much courage as
strength. When they come to tie you to the manger, what resistance,
pray, do you ever make? Do you ever push them with your horns? Do you
ever show your anger by stamping on the ground with your feet? Why
don't you terrify them with your bellowing? Nature has given you the
means of making yourself respected, and yet you neglect to use them.
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