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?

戰(zhàn)爭期間，一個士兵用大麥精心地喂養(yǎng)他的馬。然而戰(zhàn)爭一結(jié)束，那馬便被拉去服苦役，搬運沉重的貨物。后來戰(zhàn)火重燃，軍號吹響了，主人備好馬鞍，全副武裝騎著馬去迎敵。這時，馬卻毫無力氣，不斷摔倒，他對他主人說：“你還是趕快再去找一匹戰(zhàn)馬吧。因為你已把我變成一頭驢子，又怎么還能把我當戰(zhàn)馬騎呢？”