A Traveler hired an Ass to convey him to a distant place. The day being intensely hot, and the sun shining in its strength, the Traveler stopped to rest, and sought shelter from the heat under the Shadow of the Ass. As this afforded only protection for one, and as the Traveler and the owner of the Ass both claimed it, a violent dispute arose between them as to which of them had the right to the Shadow. The owner maintained that he had let the Ass only, and not his Shadow. The Traveler asserted that he had, with the hire of the Ass, hired his Shadow also. The quarrel proceeded from words to blows, and while the men fought, the Ass galloped off.
Credits
Aesop was an ancient Greek storyteller, believed to have lived around 620–564 BCE, whose fables have endured for over two millennia through countless retellings and translations. "The Ass and His Shadow" is one of his wittier cautionary tales, using a ridiculous legal dispute to expose how petty arguments over trivialities can cause both parties to lose everything.
