马与兵 The Horse and His Rider

A HORSE SOLDIER took the utmost pains with his charger.  As long as the war lasted, he looked upon him as his fellow-helper in all emergencies and fed him carefully with hay and corn.  But when the war was over, he only allowed him chaff to eat and made him carry heavy loads of wood, subjecting him to much slavish drudgery and ill-treatment.  War was again proclaimed, however, and when the trumpet summoned him to his standard, the Soldier put on his charger its military trappings, and mounted, being clad in his heavy coat of mail.  The Horse fell down straightway under the weight, no longer equal to the burden, and said to his master, "You must now go to the war on foot, for you have transformed me from a Horse into an Ass; and how can you expect that I can again turn in a moment from an Ass to a Horse?

战争期间，一个士兵用大麦精心地喂养他的马。然而战争一结束，那马便被拉去服苦役，搬运沉重的货物。后来战火重燃，军号吹响了，主人备好马鞍，全副武装骑着马去迎敌。这时，马却毫无力气，不断摔倒，他对他主人说：“你还是赶快再去找一匹战马吧。因为你已把我变成一头驴子，又怎么还能把我当战马骑呢？”