A man and his son were driving their donkey¹ along a country road. They saw some girls drawing water at a well.

One of the girls said, "oh, look! How silly they are! A man and a boy are walking along beside their donkey, and nobody is riding it." The man heard this and said to his son, "You had better ride our donkey. You are light, so you will not tire our donkey."

In a little while they met three old men. One of them said, "See here! The boy is riding a donkey and his old father is walking by his side. The young boy does of take care of his old father." And the man got on the donkey and his son walked along beside it. Now they were very happy.

But soon afterward² they met three women. Fastened it to a pole. They lifted it to their shoulders and carried it along to the town. When they came to a bridge, everyone laughed at them.

And the donkey did not like the noise and began to kick. It broke the rope, fell into the water and was drowned. So the old man had to take his son and go home. The man said to his son, "He who tries to please everybody pleases nobody after all."