AESOP'S FABLES

The Peddler and His Donkey -AESOP’S FABLES (you can fool someone only so many times / the same measures will not suit all circumstances)


A peddler used to make his pack

Of salt-cakes from the sea.

He piled them on his donkey’s back –

As many as could be.

The laden beast once reached a stream,

Staggered and stumbled in.

Now was it true, or did he dream

The salt dissolved -grew thin?

His burden lightened, he had learned

A trick worth any five.

Seeing another stream, he turned

And made a splashing dive.

The salt now served the peddler ill;

So after several plunges,

He hastened, for a change, to fill

His bags with nought but sponges.

When next the scheming donkey threw

His pack where currents flowed,

The sponges, taking water, grew

Into a leaden load.

In craft and guile he found that two

Can take the selfsame road.

Leave a Reply