One day, a father with his son and a donkey were traveling through the dusty streets of the city in the midday heat. The father sat astride a donkey, and his son led him by the bridle.
“Poor boy,” said a passerby, “his little legs can barely keep up with the donkey.” How can you lazily sit on a donkey when you see that the boy is completely exhausted?
His father took his words to heart. When they turned the corner, he got off the donkey and told his son to sit on it.
Very soon they met another person. In a loud voice he said:
- Shame on you! The little one sits on a donkey like a sultan, and his poor old father runs behind him.
The boy was very upset by these words and asked his father to sit on the donkey behind him.
- Good people, have you seen anything like this anywhere? - the woman under the veil began to cry. - Torture an animal like that! The poor donkey's back has already sagged, and the old and young idlers sit on it as if it were a sofa, oh unfortunate creature!
Without saying a word, father and son, shamed, got off the donkey. They had barely taken a few steps when the man they met began to mock them:
“Why is it that your donkey doesn’t do anything, doesn’t bring any benefit, and doesn’t even carry any of you?”
The father gave the donkey a handful of straw and put his hand on his son's shoulder.
“No matter what we do,” he said, “there will definitely be someone who will disagree with us.” I think we should decide for ourselves how we travel.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru