A Peasant went to town to fetch some oats for his Horse. He had barely
left the village, when the Horse began to turn around, toward the house.
The Peasant struck the Horse with his whip. She went on, and kept
thinking about the Peasant:
"Whither is that fool driving me? He had better go home."
Before reaching town, the Peasant saw that the Horse trudged along
through the mud with difficulty, so he turned her on the pavement; but
the Horse began to turn back from the street. The Peasant gave the Horse
the whip, and jerked at the reins; she went on the pavement, and
thought:
"Why has he turned me on the pavement? It will only break my hoofs. It
is rough underfoot."
The Peasant went to the shop, bought the oats, and drove home. When he
came home, he gave the Horse some oats. The Horse ate them and thought:
"How stupid men are! They are fond of exercising their wits on us, but
they have less sense than we. What did he trouble himself about? He
drove me somewhere. No matter how far we went, we came home in the end.
So it would have been better if we had remained at home from the start:
he could have been sitting on the oven, and I eating oats."