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Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)415. THE SOLDIER AND HIS HORSE War was raging, so the cavalryman was able to feed his horse with barley and give him good hay to eat, treating the horse as his noble companion in battle. Then the war came to an end and a time of peace ensued. The soldier was no longer given wages by the state so his horse now had to work all the time carrying heavy logs down out of the woods into the city. In addition, his owner hired the horse out to other people to carry their loads as well. All the while, the horse had as his food only the worst sort of chaff, and the harness he wore on his back was no longer that of a warhorse. Some time later, the clash of battle resounded once again around the city walls, and the trumpet summoned every man to dust off his shield, sharpen his sword, and ready his horse. The horse's owner put the bridle back on his steed, but when he led the horse out to be mounted, the horse collapsed and fell to his knees, having lost all his former strength. 'Go join the infantry!' the horse told his owner. 'You have transferred me from the horse regiment to the donkeys; do you really think you can just change me back again?'
 Source:
Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura
Gibbs.
Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002. NOTE: New cover, with new ISBN, published in 2008; contents of book unchanged.
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