The Donkey and the Onager (Aesopic Fables)
There are two Aesopic fables about a donkey and an onager. The first fable was recorded by Syntipas in the 11th century. The second comes from the French scholar Émile Chambry in 1925. It appears they disagreed with one another about what the moral lesson ought to be, giving us twin fables with opposite endings. They’re best when told together, as I’ve done here.
As is tradition, these are retellings in my own words.
Fable 1: The Donkey, the Onager and the Lion
One evening, an onager (a wild donkey) came upon a donkey standing in a meadow. The onager admired the donkey’s condition, noting his bulging muscles and ample belly.
A little while later, the onager returned, hoping to learn the donkey’s secret. This time, he found the poor beast labouring under a heavy load with a man following along behind, harrying him with a club.
The onager sneered at the donkey, saying, “Lucky me! You rely on your oppressive master to feed you, whereas I roam free through the mountains, grazing where I please!”
But a lion lay in wait in a nearby thicket. It dared not leap upon the donkey, for it feared the master’s club. Instead, it pounced upon the onager.
Fable 1: The Onager, the Donkey and the Driver
Sometime later, another onager wandered down from the hills. She, too, noted how robust the donkey was. She watched with admiration as he carried his great load down the narrow road.
Then she saw the donkey’s master following along behind, brandishing his club. She didn’t like that. She returned to the hills, thinking it better to be free than to carry the burden of prosperity.
The Moral
The moral of the first fable is that the insubordinate are free from both obligation and protection. And so, perhaps it is better to live in service to a community, or in service to a master, both helping and being helped. This is the more ancient moral lesson, first recorded in the 11th century in the Byzantine Empire.
The Byzantine Empire used a system called pronoia, similar to the feudal system in Western Europe. The emperor gave out land to his lords, and those lords had to fight for the emperor. Those lords were also responsible for protecting the peasants who toiled away on their farmland, not so different from the master who harries but protects his donkey.
The moral of the second fable is that prosperity often comes at a great price. Perhaps it is better to be free, even if that means living more humbly. It’s a more modern moral lesson, from France in 1925.
Both fables stand in conflict with one another. That’s why they work so well together.
If you liked this fable, you may also enjoy The Mouse and the Lion.
Juan Artola Miranda
I am Juan Artola Miranda, a fabulist living in the Mexican Caribbean. My friends know me by the name of my father's father, but that name grew into something bigger, my writing reaching tens of millions of readers. It was too strong for me to control. Artola Miranda is the name of my mother's mother. It's a better name for a fabulist.