A miller and his son set out to town, walking behind their donkey. On the road, they came across a group of girls. Seeing them walk like that, the girls began to laugh, “What fools to crawl at the donkey’s heels!”
The miller, when he heard this, instantly put his son on the donkey. But he himself continued to trudge behind. Not long after, they met two old men. “There!” exclaimed these men. “No respect is shown to the old nowadays!”
Upset by this new criticism, the miller changed places with his son. When they saw the child having a hard time to keep up, some washer women began to scold the miller shrilly. “You selfish man!” cried they. “You call yourself a father! You don’t deserve a son at all!”
“Oh. dear!” sighed the poor miller. “It seems I’ve done wrong again! Get up, sonney, and ride with me!” But in a short while a farmer saw them. “Nobody but a fool would overload his beast like that! You and that lad there are much better able to carry the donkey than the donkey is to carry you.”
The farmer was poking fun at him but the miller took the suggestion seriously. Down he got — and his son as well. Then, with a good deal of difficulty, they tied the donkey’s legs and slung it on a pole, which they would shoulder to cross the bridge in front of them.
But the donkey was too heavy for them. Down went pole and donkey with a crash, and away they rolled into the river. Only then did the miller lament over his mistake, “This is the result of taking one piece of advice after another! Next time I want to do a thing I will do it my own way.”
