天方夜谭英文故事：The Bull and The Ass

Long ago there lived a gifted farmer. He had a bull¹ and an ass² in his form. The former was able to understand what the animals spoke³. It was a gift by given god from his birth. The bull was used to plough the fields and the ass to carry the goods to the market for sale. So both the animals helped him very much. 

 

On a particular day the bull and the ass were taking their food in the garden. When they were eating their fodder⁴, the ass was talking to the bull in a low voice. At that time the farmer passed by. He heard the voice of the ass and quickly hid himself behind a big tree to listen to the talk. 

 

The ass pitied the bull for it was working hard all the day in the field. But the ass just carried very little load only in the evening. It also said, “I am eating food the whole day, but I work very little. But you work hard for the whole day with the same food I have".

 

The bull replied that it was right, but it could do nothing against the master farmer. The ass gave an idea to the bull that it should pretend as if it was sick. The bull also accepted it happily. The farmer heard all these and was ready to face the situation. 

 

The very next day the farmer went to the backyard with an idea. He went near the bull to take it to the fields. The bull quickly said in a low voice that he could not even move his legs. Now the farmer readily⁵ agreed and said, “Ok, you take rest today. I will take the ass today". 

 

So he moved towards the ass and dragged the ass with him to the filed to plough. That day the ass had to work in field very hard. The ass came back in the evening in a totally exhausted⁶ condition. The bull cheered the ass and said, “I shall act to be sick tomorrow also and take rest". 

 

“No, No" the quick voice came from the ass “don’t pretend further". 

 

The ass said, “The farmer was very angry with you today because. I couldn't satisfy him". Further the ass told the bull that the farmer was ready to sell it to a butcher if it acted further. So the ass asked the bull to get up early in the morning. “We should not hesitate to do our work the Ass said. 

 

The farmer heard the conversation He smiled and thought that the ass had learnt a lesson. It also advised the bull to work faithfully for its master. 

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