[Illustration: THE HORSE AND THE ASS.]
The Horse, adorned with his great war-saddle, and champing his foaming
bridle, came thundering along the way, and made the mountains echo with
his loud shrill neighing. He had not gone far, before he overtook an
Ass, who was labouring under a heavy burden, and moving slowly on in the
same track with himself. Immediately he called out to him, in a haughty
imperious tone, and threatened to trample him in the dirt, if he did not
break the way for him. The poor patient Ass, not daring to dispute the
matter, quietly got out of his way as fast as he could, and let him go
by. Not long after this, the same Horse, in an engagement with the
enemy, happened to be shot in the eye, which made him unfit for show,
or any military business; so he was stripped of his fine ornaments, and
sold to a carrier. The Ass, meeting him in this forlorn condition,
thought that now it was his time to insult; and so, says he, 'Hey-day,
friend, is it you? Well, I always believed that pride of yours would one
day have a fall.'