neck,[FN#31] made him work as wont; but the Bull began to shirk
his ploughing, according to the advice of the Ass, and the
ploughman drubbed him till he broke the yoke and made off; but
the man caught him up and leathered him till he despaired of his
life. Not the less, however, would he do nothing but stand still
and drop down till the evening. Then the herd led him home and
stabled him in his stall: but he drew back from his manger and
neither stamped nor ramped nor butted nor bellowed as he was wont
to do; whereat the man wondered. He brought him the beans and
husks, but he sniffed at them and left them and lay down as far
from them as he could and passed the whole night fasting. The
peasant came next morning; and, seeing the manger full of beans,
the crushed straw untasted and the ox lying on his back in
sorriest plight, with legs outstretched and swollen belly, he was
concerned for him, and said to himself, "By Allah, he hath
assuredly sickened and this is the cause why he would not plough
yesterday." Then he went to the merchant and reported, "O my
master, the Bull is ailing; he refused his fodder last night; nay
more, he hath not tasted a scrap of it this morning." Now the
merchant farmer understood what all this meant, because he had
overheard the talk between the Bull and the Ass, so quoth he,
"Take that rascal donkey, and set the yoke on his neck, and bind
him to the plough and make him do Bull's work." Thereupon the
ploughman took the Ass, and worked him through the live long day
at the Bull's task; and, when he failed for weakness, he made him
eat stick till his ribs were sore and his sides were sunken and
his neck was hayed by the yoke; and when he came home in the
evening he could hardly drag his limbs along, either fore hand or
hind legs. But as for the Bull, he had passed the day lying at
full length and had eaten his fodder with an excellent appetite,