A farmer had a donkey and an ox. Just like every member of the family, these two animals helped the farmer with plowing the land and carrying heavy loads.
The ox had to do most of the heavy work. The farmer plowed the land with his ox, not his donkey. He would yoke the ox and go back and forth across the fields from early dawn until dusk, plowing the hard soil and then cultivating it.
With his donkey, he would go to the town market once a week. He would load the products he wanted to sell at the market into baskets onto the donkey, and then return from town with goods like salt, oil, and sugar. So, the donkey would carry loads to and from the town once a week.
The ox was very envious of the donkey's easy life. In the evenings, when they met in the stable, the ox would groan from exhaustion and scold the donkey for doing so little work.
After another exhausting day, as the ox was complaining about his life, an idea popped into the donkey's head:
– I have a tip for you, my friend. Our owner will bring us hay soon. Don't eat anything at all. Don't even stand up. Just lie down among the hay and rest your head on the ground. He'll think you're sick and won't bother you tomorrow.
Indeed, everything happened just as the donkey had said. The farmer thought the ox was sick and didn't take him to the field the next day. But to make sure the work wasn't delayed, he took the donkey with him instead.
– The ox is right. There really is no end to this work, – the donkey thought. The donkey was kind-hearted and felt it would be unfair to object to the ox resting for a day.
When he returned home in the evening, the ox was still lying on the ground. It seemed he had really enjoyed resting and planned to continue this little game.
So, the donkey had to work in the field in place of the ox for three whole days. Finally, one day when he returned home, he said to the ox:
– Listen, my friend, of course, this isn't my business, but I want to tell you something I heard today. Maybe it will change your mind: today our owner was chatting with his neighbor from the next field. Do you know what he told him? Our owner said that if our poor ox doesn't get better by tomorrow, he'll slaughter him and sell his meat, because otherwise, he doesn't get any benefit from him. Well, I've told you, now you know what to do.
The ox bellowed with fear and leaped up with such a roar that the farmer came running to the stable because of the noise. When he saw his ox standing up, he was overjoyed! The next day, the ox eagerly set off for the field.
From that day on, the ox never complained about working again.
