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When it was time to take to the road again they also heaped most of the booty and the heaviest on me, and this having been arranged we set out. I was soon exhausted, what with my beating and with carrying my load, and my hoofs were crushed by the road. At this point I made up my mind. to fall down where I was and never get up again, though they beat me to death, for I hoped great gain from this if my plan should work. My idea was that they would give up in despair, divide my load between the horse and the mule, and leave me to lie there for the wolves. But some jealous divinity perceived my plans and made them work just the other way. For the other ass followed the same train of thought as mine and fell down in the road. First they took to beating the poor wretch, bidding him get up; but as he did not respond at all to the blows, some of them took hold of his ears and some of his tail and tried to rouse him. When they were unsuccessful in this, and he lay like a stone in the road, utterly worn out, they argued among themselves that their efforts were useless, and that they were wasting their time for escape sitting by a dead ass; so they took all the gear he had been carrying and divided it between me and the horse. As for the wretched partner of my captivity and burdens, they laid hold of him, cut the sinews of his legs with a sword, and thrust him still quivering over the precipice, and down he went, dancing the death-dance.
