Explore "The Horse and the Ass" by Jean de La Fontaine on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
In such a world, all men, of every grade, / Should each the other kindly aid; / For, if beneath misfortune's goad / A neighbour falls, on you will fall his load.
There jogg'd in company an ass and horse; / Nought but his harness did the last endorse; / The other bore a load that crush'd him down, / And begg'd the horse a little help to give, / Or otherwise he could not reach the town. / 'This prayer,' said he, 'is civil, I believe; / One half this burden you would scarcely feel. ' / The horse refused, flung up a scornful heel, / And saw his comrade die beneath the weight: -- / And saw his wrong too late; / For on his own proud back / They put the ass's pack, / And over that, beside, / They put the ass's hide.[1]
[1]: Aesop.