An Ass climbed up to the roof of a building, and frisking about there, broke in the tiling. The owner went up after him and quickly drove him down, beating him severely with a thick wooden cudgel. The Ass said, “Why, I saw the Monkey do this very thing yesterday, and you all laughed heartily, as if it afforded you very great amusement.”
Credits
Aesop was an ancient Greek storyteller, traditionally believed to have lived around the 6th century BCE, whose fables have shaped moral literature across cultures for over two thousand years. "The Playful Ass" is one of his shorter, sharper cautionary tales, using animal folly to highlight the danger of mimicking others without understanding why their actions succeed.
