18 May THE GOAT AND THE DONKEY
There was a man who kept a goat and a donkey. The goat was jealous of the donkey because he was given more to eat, so she made a deceptive proposal to the donkey, under the guise of giving him advice. ‘Look,’ said the goat, ‘you are always being punished, constantly having to turn the millstone or carry burdens on your back. Why don’t you pretend to have a seizure and throw yourself into a ditch?’ The donkey trusted the goat and did what she told him to do. As a result of the fall, the donkey was badly scraped and bruised. The donkey’s owner summoned a doctor to recommend a remedy. The doctor said that the donkey could be cured by a potion made from the lungs of a goat. So they slaughtered the unfortunate goat, who was thus trapped in her own snare while the donkey was saved.
Aesop
