Aesop's Fables

A Donkey that belonged to an herb seller who gave him too little food and too much work petitioned Jupiter to be released from his present service and provided with another master. Jupiter, after warning him that he would regret his request, had him sold to a tile maker. Shortly afterward, finding that he had heavier loads to carry and harder work in the brickyard, he petitioned for another change of master. Jupiter, telling him that it would be the last time that he could grant his request, ordained that he be sold to a tanner. The Donkey found that he had fallen into worse hands, and noting his master’s occupation, he said, groaning, “It would have been better for me to be either starved by the one or overworked by the other of my former masters than to be bought by my present owner, who will tan my hide even after I am dead and make me useful to him.”