The donkey went to Greece, an emigrant,He went out seeking work as morning dawned.
The bear strapped on his packsaddle like a bridge:“Now go down to the river and fetch me stones!”
And so the donkey went, heavily loaded,Body and soul burdened for a day's work.
Still he kept thinking, “Just a little more.Once I make some money, I’ll throw off this packsaddle.”
Days and months passed, and as autumn drew to a close,Among the dry leaves, he spotted the tortoise's nose:
“Ah! You have a packsaddle too, my honored friend,But you look so light, you aren't loaded down!”
“I am off,” said the tortoise, in a sweet voice,“Right nearby here, I will sleep all winter!”
“But how will you live, without working at all?”“I will consume the fat I have stored up!”
“May I come with you, my dear friend?All these months I haven't had a holiday!”
The tortoise picked up her house, into the leaves she fled,And the fabulist wrote down the words she said:
“The bear will be sleeping, what are you talking about?He put on fat from wearing you out!”
