The Washerman's Overloaded Donkey
Hitopadesha Stories · 1 min read
A washerman with a small donkey found that each additional bundle of clothes he loaded onto its back saved him a trip to town, so he began adding just a little more, week after week, and the donkey, patient and uncomplaining, always somehow managed to keep walking.
Encouraged, the washerman grew bolder, loading heavier bundles and even a stone or two he needed carried, telling himself each time, "It has managed every load so far — surely it can manage one more."
One morning, already burdened with more cloth than ever before, the donkey was loaded with one final sack of wet laundry, the heaviest yet. Its legs buckled halfway down the road, and it collapsed entirely, unable to rise again no matter how the washerman coaxed or pushed. The clothes were ruined in the mud, the donkey injured badly enough to need weeks of rest, and the washerman lost far more time to a single overloaded trip than he had ever saved by loading a little extra, week after week.
Moral of the story
Just because a burden can be carried once more doesn't mean it should be — every limit is real, even the ones that seem to keep bending.