The Ass and His Shadow

: Aesop's Fables

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.



In quarreling about the shadow we often lose the substance.



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