The Ass Loaded with Sponges, and the Ass Loaded

An ass-eteer drives two long-eared beasts, one carrying sponges and moving briskly, the other burdened with bags of salt and needing constant urging. When they reach a river ford, the driver rides the lighter ass and tries to lead the salt-laden one across. The reluctant animal steps into a deep hole, turns around, and comes back out. After being ducked several times, its salt melts away, freeing it from its load. The ass bearing sponges follows into the same deep water, carrying its rider and the sponges with it. The ass, rider, and sponges are all soaked, but the wet sponges become so heavy that the animal falls and risks drowning along with the ass-eteer. A helper arrives. The tale’s point is that not everyone can successfully imitate another’s actions.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1668 · Genre: Fable, Didactic Literature, Moral Tale · 386 words

First lines

A man, whom I shall call an ass-eteer, / His sceptre like some Roman emperor bearing, / Drove on two coursers of protracted ear, / The one, with sponges laden, briskly faring; / The other lifting legs / As if he trod on eggs, / With constant need of goading, / And bags of salt for loading. / O'er hill and dale our merry pilgrims pass'd, / Till, coming to a river's ford at last, / They stopp'd quite puzzled on the shore. / Our asseteer had cross'd the stream before; / So, on the lighter beast astride, / He drives the other, spite of dread, / Which, loath indeed to go ahead, / Into a deep hole turns aside, / And, facing right about, / Where he went in, comes out; / For duckings two or three / Had power the salt to melt, / So that the creature felt / His burden'd shoulders free. / The sponger, like a sequent sheep, / Pursuing through the water deep, / Into the same hole plunges / Himself, his rider, and the sponges. / All three drank deeply: asseteer and ass / For boon companions of their load might pass; / Which last became so sore a weight, / The ass fell down, / Belike to drown, / His rider risking equal fate. / A helper came, no matter who. / The moral needs no more ado -- / That all can't act alike, -- / The point I wish'd to strike.[1]

• Open reader

Similar titles

• The Lion And The Rat by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Raven Wishing To Imitate The Eagle by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Cat Metamorphosed Into A Woman by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Eagle And The Beetle by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Frog That Wished To Be As Big As The Ox by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Dove And The Ant by Jean De La Fontaine

Genres

• Fable — A brief animal-centered narrative culminating in an explicit moral: different individuals cannot safely imitate the same actions.
• Didactic Literature — The poem is designed to teach practical and ethical judgment through the contrasting outcomes of the two asses.
• Moral Tale — Its plot illustrates a moral lesson about imitation, circumstance, and the consequences of acting without understanding.
• Allegory — The animals' burdens and actions function symbolically, representing how identical behavior can produce different results depending on one's condition.

Tags

French fable · seventeenth-century literature · verse narrative · Aesopian tradition · moral allegory · animal fable · donkeys · pack animals · salt · sponges · river crossing · ford

What this Textopian page supports

The Ass Loaded with Sponges, and the Ass Loaded with Salt is listed on Textopian as a fable by Jean de La Fontaine, dated 1668 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

• Work type: Fable
• Author: Jean de La Fontaine
• Date: 1668 CE
• Language: English
• Genres: Fable, Didactic Literature, Moral Tale, Allegory, Narrative Poetry
• Length: 386 words
• Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
• Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)

Good citation fit

• Work identity for The Ass Loaded with Sponges, and the Ass Loaded with Salt by Jean de La Fontaine
• Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
• Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
• Readability and classroom-planning context
• Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph

More by Jean de La Fontaine

• To Monseigneur the Dauphin (1668)
• The Grasshopper and the Ant (1668)
• The Raven and the Fox (1668)
• The Frog that Wished to be as Big as the Ox (1668)
• The Two Mules (1668)
• The Wolf and the Dog (1668)
• The Heifer, the Goat, and the Sheep, in Company with the Lion (1668)
• The Wallet (1668)
• All works by Jean de La Fontaine