The Donkey and the Pig
Once upon a time, at the edge of an old forest where cool waters ran with a merry sound, there lived an old farmer. In the stable of this farmer there was a hard-working donkey who laboured without pause from morning until evening. Every day the donkey carried heavy sacks upon his back and bore with patience the whole burden of the hard work in the field. Just beyond the wooden fences next to him, however, there lay a fat pig who passed his days doing no work at all. Every morning the farmer offered this fat pig the most delicious fruits and fresh grain in abundance. The donkey would look at the handful of dry straw set before him and heave a deep sigh. One evening, when his knees were giving way from weariness, he came up to his neighbour the pig with envious eyes.
"How lucky you are, my friend; all day long you lie idle in the shade," he said. "As for me, I wear myself out on the dusty roads with heavy loads on my back all day." The pig stretched himself where he lay with a haughty air and went on chewing the sweet apple in his mouth. "Our master knows my high worth, while for you he thinks only this worthless straw is fitting," he boasted. The donkey, grieving much at this unjust state that he thought so unfair, bowed his head and fell silently asleep. But a few days later the preparation of a great and joyful feast began on the farm. The farmer and his strong apprentices, with sharp knives in their hands, walked straight towards the pen of the pig.
The pig, who could not understand what was happening, gave bitter squeals and tried to flee in helplessness. But his master carried off the pig he had fattened with such care for so long, to make him ready for the table of the feast. The heart of the donkey, who watched what befell from the dark corner of the stable with horror, was wrung with a deep fear. In that moment he grasped the bitter truth behind all that effortless ease and all those delicious meals. Chewing his dry straw in peace, he understood how precious his own safe and simple life was. Rather than envying the perilous abundance of others, a modest peace won by your own labour is better than anything. A little food, a mind free of care.