The shepherd gathered to visit his owner in the city. He dragged the poor donkey out of the stall by the ears and began to outfit him for the journey.
The shepherd put a bedding on the donkey, a wooden saddle on the bedding, and a sheepskin saddle on the bedding. I pulled the girth tighter, looked - okay, now I can load the goods.
The shepherd took four large pumpkin bottles with milk and hung them on the donkey - two on the right, two on the left. Then he brought eight circles of sheep’s cheese and loaded them on the donkey: four on the right, four on the left. Well, he thinks, that’s enough! But that was not the case: just the day before, two of the owner’s sons arrived at the cheese factory - we need to take them too! There was nothing to do, the shepherd took two rugs, threw them on the saddle on top of the homespun, and sat the children on them, not just any way, but with their backs to each other, so that they wouldn’t fight on the road and scratch each other’s eyes out.
The shepherd was tired. Standing there, wiping the sweat from his face. Suddenly - out of nowhere - a flea jumped onto the shepherd's sleeve, from the sleeve onto the donkey, looked to the right, looked to the left, and hid in the folds of the soft bedding. “I’ll sit,” he thinks, “in the shade. It’s a hot day today. I’ll pine for an hour, and then I’ll see what happens.”
The shepherd took a stick in his hands, whistled, shouted and drove the donkey along the road to the city. The sun is scorching, and the shepherd keeps going and going - you know, he’s urging his donkey on. Sweat is pouring from the shepherd, the children are completely exhausted, the donkey’s legs are bending from the weight, but what about the flea? He sleeps on a soft bedding, on a donkey's back, like in a cradle, rocking!
Only in the evening did they reach the city and enter the owner’s yard. Then the flea woke up. She jumped out from under the bedding, looked around, and when she saw what a mountain was rising on the donkey’s back, she boasted and shouted:
- Oh yes I am! Look, good people, what a burden I was carrying! What a hero I am! No one can compare with my strength!
That's what the flea said and jumped onto the shepherd's sleeve.
The shepherd carries luggage into the house, and a flea sits on his sleeve and laughs:
- And I don’t care about this burden! This is the kind of cheese I carry!
The shepherd unloaded the donkey and began to loosen the girth in order to remove the wooden saddle from the donkey.
Annoyance took over the flea:
- Look! I carried such a burden on myself and didn’t make a sound, and the shepherd is looking after the foolish donkey. And the donkey is good - he stands, hangs his head, bends his legs, almost falls on his side - he is completely limp. I'm smaller than his ear and I'm not complaining. Let me teach him a lesson, you lazy fellow!
Without thinking twice, a flea jumped straight onto the donkey’s face and bit with all its might.
The donkey shuddered, kicked, knocked over the bottles and spilled all the milk. The shepherd got angry and hit the donkey with a stick - right in the place where the flea was sitting. So he knocked - nothing remained of the heroic flea.
Well, that’s what she needs: she didn’t work, so don’t brag.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru