One morning a Mule, who had too much to eat and too little to do, began to think himself a very fine fellow indeed, and frisked about saying, “My father was undoubtedly a high-spirited horse and I take after him entirely.” But very soon afterwards he was put into the harness and compelled to go a very long way with a heavy load behind him. At the end of the day, exhausted by his unusual exertions, he said dejectedly to himself, “I must have been mistaken about my father; he can only have been an ass after all.”
一天早晨，骡子吃了很多东西，却没有什么事情要做，他觉得自己的确是个挺好的家伙，他欢跳着说：“我父亲肯定是一匹精神勃勃的骏马，我完全继承了他的优点。”但是没一会儿，他就被套上马具，拉着沉重的货物，要走上很远的路。那天过完，他因为这不同寻常的劳作而精疲力竭，他沮丧地说：“我肯定是搞错我父亲的事情了，他可能只是只驴。”