A man once kept a horse and an ass as beasts of burden. He usually folded the horse heavily until he barely staggers under the weight but he allowed the horse to prance along with a very light load.
One day as they proceeding along the road, the ass who had been suffering from some ailment for the past few days, said to the horse, Will you relieve me of a part of my load for some distance? I feel dreadfully unwell, but if you carry a fair portion of the load today I shall get well again. This weight is killing me.”
The horse did not pay heed to his words and told him not to trouble him with his complaints. The ass staggered along for about a mile silently, and then suddenly fell to the ground dead.
Just then the master came to the spot. Noticing what had happened he removed the load from the dead ass and put it on the horse’s back. “Alas,” groaned the horse, as he started off with the heavy load and the dead body of the ass in addition, “now I am rewarded for my ill-nature. By refusing to carry my fair share of the load, I now must carry the whole of it plus the weight of my poor companion.”
Moral: A bad temper carries with it its own punishment.
