Meanwhile
they began at once to talk with each other about
the girl.



 



"What shall we do with the runaway?" asked
one of them.
"There is nothing to do," said another, "but
throw her down on top of our old woman.
She
has robbed us of as much treasure as she could,
and was on her way to betray our whole establishment. For be assured, my friends, that if she
had reached her kinsmen not one of us would
have been left alive, for our enemies would have
fallen on us with every preparation and captured
us all. So let us take our revenge on the foe,
but not by giving her such an easy death as falling onto the rock. Let us invent for her the
most painful and lingering death, and one that
will only kill her after keeping her a prisoner in
long torment."
Then they set themselves to think out a form
of death, and some one said, “I know you will
applaud my invention. We must kill the ass who
is a nuisance, and, moreover, pretends at present
to be lame, and helped and ministered to the girl's
flight into the bargain. Let us slaughter him,
then, early in the morning, cut open his belly,
take out all his vitals, and place this virtuous
maiden in the ass. We will let her head project
so that she may not be stifled at once, but all the
rest of her body shall be hidden inside. Then
we will stitch her securely in and throw them
both out to the vultures, preparing them a novel


 


breakfast. Note, my friends, the horror of the
torture: in the first place, to live in the dead body
of an ass, then to bake with the beast in the hottest sun of summer, and to die of lingering starvation, unable even to strangle herself. And,
finally, the vultures will make their way in through
the ass, and tear her flesh along with his while she
is yet alive." 
A general shout of applause greeted this monstrous idea as though it were something delightful; but I bewailed my lot. I was destined to be
slaughtered, and not even after death to lie a
peaceful corpse, but to serve as the tomb of an
unhappy and innocent girl.
But before day had fairly come a crowd of soldiers suddenly appeared who had come to attack
these villians, and they forthwith clapped them
all in irons and carried them off to the governor
of the country. And it happened that the girl's
fiancé came with them, for it was he that had given information as to the whereabouts of the robbers' headquarters. So he took charge of the girl,
set her on my back, and led her thus to her home.
When the villagers caught sight of us still at a
distance they knew the expedition was successful, for I brayed the good tidings to them, and
they ran to meet us, embraced us, and led us in.
The young girl had a great deal to say about
me, doing justice to her partner in captivity, in


 



flight, and in the danger of that common death.
And by my mistress's orders a breakfast was set
before me, consisting of a bushel of barley and
hay enough for a camel. But it was then most
of all that I cursed Palaistra for having changed
me into an ass by her art and not into a dog, for
I saw the dogs sneaking into the kitchen and
gorging themselves with plenty of food, such as
is served at the wedding-banquet of a wealthy
pair. A few days after the marriage my mistress
declared in her father's presence that she was indebted to me, and longed to make me a just return; whereupon he gave orders to turn me out to
grass in the pasture with the mares. "For if he
is at liberty," said he, "he will enjoy life." And
this recompense would have seemed perfectly just
if the matter had come before an ass as judge.
So he called one of the grooms and handed me
over to him, and I was delighted at the prospect
of doing no more work.
When we arrived at the farm the herdsman put
me with the mares, and led the drove of us into
the pasture. But even here it was fated that I
should have the same experience as Kandaules;
for the man in charge of the mares left me in
the possession of his wife, Megapole, for domestic service, and she harnessed me in the mill, and
made me grind wheat and barley at her bidding.
It is true that it was no great evil to a grateful ass


 

to turn a mill for his own masters, but the worthy
woman hired out my wretched neck to the other
peasants of the district, who were numerous, taking her pay in flour. And she would also roast
the barley allowed me for my breakfast, put it before me for me to grind, make cakes of it, and eat
them whole, leaving me to breakfast on the bran.
So I grew thin and ugly in a short time, for I had
no.comfort in-doors at the mill, nor out-of-doors
in the pasture, because my fellow-grazers fought
with me. Moreover, I was often sent up into
the mountain to fetch wood on my shoulders, and
this was the crown of my sorrows. In the first
place, there was a high mountain to be climbed
by a terribly straight road, and in the second
place, I was barefoot on a steep and stony path.
Besides this they sent with me as driver a wretch
of a small boy, who found a new way to torture
me every time. First he used to flog me even
when I was trotting faster than I should, and not
with a trimmed stick, but one covered with sharp
knots. He always used to strike the same spot
on my haunch, so that he opened a wound there
with his club, and he always aimed at the sore
place. His next idea was to lay a burden on me
that would have been too heavy for an elephant.
The descent from the mountain was steep, but
even there he used to flog me. And if he saw
that my load had slipped and was hanging to one


 



side, so that some of the sticks ought to be taken
off and added to the lighter side to make it balance, he would by no means proceed in this way.
No; he would lift great stones from the mountainside and put them on the side of my fardel that
was lighter and slipping up, and I would go on,
poor wretch, carrying in addition to the wood an
equal weight of useless stones. Moreover, there
was a stream that crossed the road and was never dry, and the boy, to save wetting his shoes, used
to perch on my back behind the wood, and thus
cross the river. 
If ever I fell down, worn out with carrying my
load, that would be the occasion of unendurable
suffering. He who ought to have dismounted
and given me the assistance of his hand by raising me from the earth, and, if need were, taking
off my load, would neither get down nor lift a finger to help me, but from his seat he would batter
me with his stick, beginning at my head and ears,
until the blows aroused me. And he played an
even more intolerable trick on me than this. He
collected a fagot of the sharpest thorns, tied
them with a cord, and hung them behind on my
tail. As may be imagined, they dangled and fell
forward against me as I descended the mountain
and pricked my hind-quarters till they were covered with wounds. I was helpless to protect myself, for the source of my pain followed me at


 


each step, hanging from my own body. If I advanced gingerly to avoid the thorns I was halfkilled with the club; if I shunned the club then
that horror at my back attacked me sharply. In
fact, my
driver's one object in life was to kill me.