The Horse and the Donkey

The Horse and the Donkey is a variant of a fable type recorded since antiquity of which there is scarcely one version that concerns the same pair of animals. Included as one of Aesop's Fables and numbered 181 in the Perry Index,[1] its Greek sources also include a donkey and a mule, while the story is told of an ox and a donkey in the Mediaeval Latin version of Ademar. In the former the overburdened donkey asks its companion for help in carrying its load and dies when this is refused; the other is then forced to carry not only the original load but the dead animal's skin as well. In Ademar's story the two animals are yoked together but the ass refuses to pull its weight; when the ox dies of the strain, the ass is forced to continue pulling and also dies.

The horse and the dying donkey on a Spode Pottery platter from the early 19th century

There are references to the fable in two other texts six centuries apart. The Aramaic collection of wise sayings by Ahiqar, dating from 500 BCE, mentions that 'An ass which leaves its load and does not carry it shall take a load from its companion and take the burden which is not its [own with its own] and shall be made to bear a camel's load.'[2] The historian Plutarch has a version in which an ox and a camel feature where, 'as the ox said to his fellow-servant the camel, when he refused to ease him of his burthen, It won’t be long before you carry my burthen and me too: which fell out to be true, when the ox died.'[3]

The fable does not appear in William Caxton's collection of Aesop's Fables although it does in later English compilations. La Fontaine's Fables further popularised the story as "The Horse and the Ass".[4] This begins with the moral that is usually put into the mouth of the remaining animal in Classical versions:

Neighbours here should each other aid,

For if one dies, it’s on your back

His burden surely shall be laid.

References

Aesopica site
The Words of Ahiqar
Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals. Translated by Shilleto, A. R. (Arthur Richard).
VI.16

External links

Illustrations from books from the 15th - 19th centuries

Aesop
Aesop's Fables	The Ant and the Grasshopper The Ass and his Masters The Ass and the Pig The Ass Carrying an Image The Ass in the Lion's Skin The Astrologer who Fell into a Well The Bear and the Travelers The Belly and the Members The Bird-catcher and the Blackbird The Bird in Borrowed Feathers The Boy Who Cried Wolf The Cat and the Mice The Cock and the Jewel The Cock, the Dog and the Fox The Crow and the Pitcher The Crow and the Snake The Deer without a Heart The Dog and Its Reflection The Dog and the Wolf The Dove and the Ant The Farmer and the Stork The Farmer and the Viper The Fir and the Bramble The Fisherman and the Little Fish The Fowler and the Snake The Fox and the Crow The Fox and the Grapes The Fox and the Lion The Fox and the Mask The Fox and the Sick Lion The Fox and the Stork The Fox and the Weasel The Fox and the Woodman The Frog and the Ox The Frogs Who Desired a King The Goat and the Vine The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs The Honest Woodcutter The Horse and the Donkey The Horse that Lost its Liberty The Lion and the Mouse The Lion, the Bear and the Fox The Man with Two Mistresses The Mischievous Dog The Miser and his Gold The Mountain in Labour The Mouse and the Oyster The North Wind and the Sun The Oak and the Reed The Old Man and Death The Old Woman and the Doctor The Rose and the Amaranth The Satyr and the Traveller The Sick Kite The Snake and the Crab The Snake in the Thorn Bush The Tortoise and the Hare Town Mouse and Country Mouse The Travellers and the Plane Tree The Trees and the Bramble The Two Pots The Walnut Tree Washing the Ethiopian White The Wolf and the Crane The Wolf and the Lamb The Woodcutter and the Trees The Young Man and the Swallow
Apocryphal	An ass eating thistles The Bear and the Gardener Belling the Cat (also known as The Mice in Council) The Blindman and the Lame The Boy and the Filberts Chanticleer and the Fox The Dog in the Manger The drowned woman and her husband The Elm and the Vine The Fox and the Cat The Gourd and the Palm-tree The Hawk and the Nightingale Jumping from the frying pan into the fire The Milkmaid and Her Pail The miller, his son and the donkey The Monkey and the Cat The Priest and the Wolf The Scorpion and the Frog The Shepherd and the Lion Still Waters Run Deep The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Related	Jataka tales Panchatantra Perry Index The labyrinth of Versailles The Lion's Share Aesop's Fables (album)
Screen adaptations	Aesop's Film Fables The Grasshopper and the Ants
Print adaptations	Ysopet The Morall Fabillis of Esope the Phrygian "The Cock and the Jasp" "The Taill of how this forsaid Tod maid his Confessioun to Freir Wolf Waitskaith" "The Taill of Schir Chanticleir and the Foxe" "The Taill of the Uponlandis Mous and the Burges Mous" La Fontaine's Fables
Translators	Demetrius of Phalerum Phaedrus Babrius Avianus Dositheus Magister Alexander Neckam Adémar de Chabannes Odo of Cheriton John Lydgate Kawanabe Kyōsai Laurentius Abstemius Roger L'Estrange Gabriele Faerno Hieronymus Osius Marie de France Robert Henryson Jean de La Fontaine Ivan Krylov Nicolas Trigault Zhang Geng Robert Thom Zhou Zuoren

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