Once upon a time there was a miller who lived in a little house beside
his mill. All day long he worked hard, but at night he went home to
his wife and his little boy.
One day this miller made up his mind that he would take his ass to
the fair and sell it. So he and his boy said farewell to the dame and
started off. They had not gone far when they met a number of girls
coming from the town.
"Look!" said one of them. "Did you ever see such stupid fellows? They
are walking when one of them might be riding."
When the miller heard this he bade the boy get up on the ass, while he
tramped along merrily by its side. Soon they came to a number of old
men standing by the side of the road talking together.
"Look at that," said one of them, "Look at that young rascal riding,
while his poor father has to walk. Get down, you idle fellow, and let
your father ride."
Upon this the son got down from the ass, and the miller took his
place. They had not gone very far when they met two women coming home
from market.
"You lazy old man!" they cried at once. "How dare you ride when your
poor little boy is walking and can hardly keep pace with you?"
Then the miller, who was a good-natured man, took his son up behind
him, and in this way they went to the town.
"My good fellow," said a townsman whom they met, "is that ass your
own?"
"Yes," replied the miller.
"I should not have thought so, by the way you load him," said the man.
"Why, you two are better able to carry the beast than he is to carry
you."
"Well," said the miller, "we can but try."
So he and his son got down, and tied the legs of the ass together.
Then they slung him on a pole, and carried him on their shoulders. It
was such a funny sight that the people laughed and jeered at them.
The poor ass was very uncomfortable, and tried hard to get off the
pole. At last, as they were passing over a bridge, he pulled his legs
out of the rope and tumbled to the ground. He was so frightened that
he jumped off the bridge into the river and was drowned.
Do you know what this story teaches you?
_If you try to please everybody, you will please nobody._
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