Explore "The Ass Carrying Relics" by Jean de La Fontaine on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
An ass, with relics for his load, / Supposed the worship on the road / Meant for himself alone, / And took on lofty airs, / Receiving as his own / The incense and the prayers. / Some one, who saw his great mistake, / Cried, 'Master Donkey, do not make / Yourself so big a fool. / Not you they worship, but your pack; / They praise the idols on your back, / And count yourself a paltry tool.'
'Tis thus a brainless magistrate / Is honour'd for his robe of state.[1]
[1]: Aesop; also Faerno.