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Aesop's Fables: Townsend (1867)

222. The Horse and the Ass (Perry 565)

A HORSE, proud of his fine trappings, met an Ass on the highway. The Ass, being heavily laden, moved slowly out of the way. 'Hardly,' said the Horse, 'can I resist kicking you with my heels.' The Ass held his peace, and made only a silent appeal to] the justice of the gods. Not long afterwards the Horse, having become broken-winded, was sent by his owner to the farm. The Ass, seeing him drawing a dungcart, thus derided him: 'Where, O boaster, are now all thy gay trappings, thou who are thyself reduced to the condition you so lately treated with contempt?'


George Fyler Townsend's translation of the fables, first published in 1867, is in the public domain and can be found at many websites, including Project Gutenberg. Illustrations come from: Aesop's Fables, by George Fyler Townsend, with illustrations by Harrison Weir, 1867, at Google Books.