An Ass and Mule carried cargo. The Ass tired and asked for help but got none. The Mule ended up carrying the dead Ass.
[Note: The indexing of this fable seems to have some problems. The story associated in many collections with this Perry number is often identical with Perry 263 as we see in Chambry’s version here. Others, however, tell the fable as an Ox and Ass yoked together with the Ass not helping when asked. The Ox later dies and is loaded on the Ass who, overloaded, also dies. A flock of birds talks about how, if the Ass had helped, both might have lived. I have not yet found that version linked to a different Perry number.]
Chambry (The Donkey and the Mule)
Note: The Chambry collection is published in Greek. AI was used to translate the Greek to this text:
A driver, having placed loads on a donkey and a mule, was driving them. The donkey, as long as they were on level ground, held up under the weight. But when they came to a certain mountain, unable to bear up, he entreated the mule to receive a part of his load, so that he himself might be able to carry the rest. The mule, paying no attention to his words, did nothing. The donkey, having fallen down a precipice, was torn apart. The driver, perplexed about what to do, not only placed the donkey’s load onto the mule, but also, having flayed the donkey, piled him on top. And the mule, excessively burdened, said to herself: “I have suffered justly; for if I had agreed to lighten him a little when he asked, I would not now be carrying both his loads and him as well.” Thus also, some creditors, out of greed, in order not to grant small relief to their debtors, often lose even the principal itself.
How do you think an AI might simplify this fable? Here is one answer, and the illustration above was made from this simplification:
Once a donkey and a mule carried heavy loads up a steep mountain. The donkey grew weary and begged the mule to help carry a small part of the burden. The mule refused, thinking only of herself. Soon, the donkey collapsed and died. The driver then put all the donkey’s load and even his skin onto the mule’s back. Now crushed under the double weight, the mule lamented, “If only I had helped a little, I would not bear so much now.”
Moral
A small kindness given in time can spare you a far greater burden later.
Perry. #181