Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)
10. THE DONKEY AND HIS MASTERS
Perry 179 (Chambry
There was a donkey who worked for a gardener. Because the gardener made
the donkey work very hard but gave him very little food, the donkey prayed
to Zeus to take him away from the gardener and give him to another master,
so Zeus sent Hermes to sell the donkey to a potter. The donkey also found
this situation unbearable, since he was forced to carry even heavier loads
than before. He called upon Zeus again, and this time Zeus arranged for
the donkey to be purchased by a tanner. When the donkey saw the kind of
work the tanner did, he said, 'Oh, it would have been better for me to
have kept on working for my previous masters in a state of starvation!
Now I have ended up in a place where I won't even get a proper burial
after I die.'
The story shows that slaves miss their former masters the most when
they have had some experience with their new ones.
is the supreme god of the Greek pantheon, and Hermes
is his messenger, often serving as Zeus's agent in earthly affairs.
For a similar fable about ever-worsening masters, see Fable
Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura
Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002.
cover, with new ISBN, published in 2008; contents of book unchanged.