A farmer and his son were driving to donkey to the market where they were going to sell him.
They have not gone far on a group of bystanders shouted, “Aren’t you foolish to be trudging along on foot when one of you can be riding the donkey?”
When the farmer heard this, he told his son to get on the donkey. And they went happily on the way until they do you encountered another group of bystanders.
”My, my!” said one of the men. “Just look at that young fellow riding in comfort while this poor father has to walk.”
”Get off that donkey was lazy boy,” shouted another, “and let your father ride!”
Right away, the son got off the donkey, his father taking his place. Before long they encountered yet another group of bystanders. "How can you ride when you’re poor tired child can hardly keep up with you?"
So the farmer reached down, pulled his son up behind him onto the donkey’s back. Further down the road, there was another bystanders, probably from the Society for the Prevention of cruelty to Animals.
“Aren’t you ashamed,” they asked, “to place such a burden upon that donkey? The two of you should be carrying him.”
“You are right!” agreed the farmer. And he and his son got down from the donkey’s back. Then they tied the donkey’s feet together, sliding a pole between its legs enabling them to vary the donkey on their shoulders.
Upon reaching the town, a whole crowd of people had gathered. They shouted and laughed at the site of the farmer and his son carrying the donkey.
Now, outside the town, it was a bridge crossing a stream of water. The donkey, upon hearing all the commotion kicked free in the ropes, tumbling into the water, where he soon drowned.
The moral of the story is:
You cannot please people all the time. And if you attempt to do so you may lose what is most valuable in the process.
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