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« The Earth-for-All Calendar: December 18 -- Voltaire | Main | a Doxology from 1903 »

December 18, 2012

The Rich Man and the Mule

A rich man had a piece of land on which a young mule was grazing.

"I shall harness you," said the man to the mule, "and make you plow this land to grow melons on, of which I am very fond, while the stalks will supply you with food."

To which the mule replied: "If I consent to toil on your terms you will have all the melons and I shall be worse off than now, inasmuch as I shall have to eat dry stalks instead of the fresh green grass. I'll not do it, sir."

"How unreasonable you are," remonstrated the land owner; "your father never had any food but thistles, and yet worked sixteen hours a day without grumbling."

"Alas! that is true," retorted the mule, "but then, you know, my father was an ass."

— Social Justice -- quoted in The American Cooperator (1903).  It appeared in 1888 in Chicago Express

 

 

Posted on December 18, 2012 at 09:27 PM in all benefits go to landholder |

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