A merchant had done good business at the fair; he had sold his wares,
and filled his bag with gold and silver. Then he set out at once on his
journey home, for he wished to be in his own house before night. He
packed his bag with the money on his horse, and rode away.
At noon he rested in a town; when he wanted to go on, the stable-boy
brought out his horse, and said,—
“A nail is wanting, sir, in the shoe of its left hind foot.”
“Let it be wanting,” answered the merchant; “the shoe will stay on for
the six miles I have still to go. I am in a hurry.” In the afternoon,
when he once more got down and had his horse fed, the stable-boy went
into the room to him, and said,—
“Sir, a shoe is wanting from your horse’s left hind foot. Shall I take
him to the blacksmith?”
“Let it still be wanting,” said the man; “the horse can very well hold
out for a couple of miles more. I am in a hurry.”
He rode forth, but before long the horse began to limp. It had not limped
long before it began to stumble, and it had not stumbled long before it
fell down and broke its leg. The merchant had to leave the horse where it
was, and unstrap the bag, take it on his back, and go home on foot. And
he did not get there until quite late at night.
“That unlucky nail,” said he to himself, “has made all this trouble.”
Make haste slowly.
—OLD TALE