An ass meeting a pair of horses, late one evening, said to them:
"It is time all honest horses were in bed. Why are you driving out at
this time of day?"
"Ah!" returned they, "if it is so very late, why are you out riding?"
"I never in my life," retorted the ass angrily, "knew a horse to
return a direct answer to a civil question."
This tale shows that this ass did not know everything.
[The implication that horses do not answer questions seems to have
irritated the worthy fabulist.--TRANSLATOR.]