The Conversation of the Cock and the Horse
Once upon a time, in the yard of a wide farm adorned with dazzling flowers, there lived a proud rooster and a faithful old horse. The owner of this farm was a man of weak character who feared everything and yielded to his wife's every word. As the sun sank and the shadows stretched, the two old animals came side by side in the sheltered corner of the barn. As the coolness of evening settled, the grey horse bowed its head to the ground with a deep sigh of weariness. The rooster, meanwhile, perched upon a high fence and began to survey his surroundings with keen eyes. The grey horse looked at the rooster ruffling his feathers and voiced his sorrow. "From morning until evening I pull our master's heavy loads, yet he begrudges me even a kind word," he said.
He added that he felt a deep shame because the man yielded to his wife and wailed at home over even the tiniest matter. The rooster crowed with a haughty air, shaking his red crest, and answered the grey horse. "Our master, alas, is a man utterly incapable of keeping order and discipline in his own house," he said. "Look at me: I have a full thirty ladies, and every one of them obeys at a single sign from me," he boasted. "If a wife forgets her own responsibility, one must firmly remind her where the authority lies," he went on. Just then the farmer, who was secretly listening to them from the garden, heard these words of the rooster and was deeply shaken. To hear of his own weakness and cowardice from the mouth of this little bird weighed very heavily on the man's pride.
The man drew a great lesson for himself from the wise and firm bearing of the rooster. At that moment he decided to face the responsibility he had avoided for years and to put an end to the unjust chaos in his home. First he went to the stable, put fresh hay before the grey horse and stroked the faithful animal's head. Then he entered his house and openly declared that from now on he would be a fair and strong head of the family. From that day on, the animals on the farm found the worth they deserved and peace was restored in the house. One who cannot keep order in his own house cannot lead others. The horse neighs after its master.