“On the following day, the plowman came to the merchant’s house and, taking the ox, placed the yoke upon his neck and worked him at the plow, but the ox lagged behind.”
“Maybe the ox is sick and feeling unwell,” the plowman thought to himself. Instead of the ox, the plowman brought in the donkey to do all of the work. The next day, the same thing occurred. The ox refused to work and the donkey took over once again. When the third day came around, the donkey believed the extremely exhausting work he was forced to do needed to come to an end. He missed being lazy and rarely being worked. When the donkey confronted the ox about the issue he exclaimed, “I cannot do this anymore! You win! Please take back your job!” But the ox refused. The donkey was now furious. When the ox fell asleep, the donkey had found a poisonous plant that he planned to make the ox eat. However, on his return back to the farm, he had misplaced the plant and decided he would look for it after he fell asleep. When he woke up the next morning, he discovered that the ox had already eaten the plant, but he did not seem to be affected. The ox came over to the donkey and said, “Thank you for the delicious plant. I have never had anything like it before. Where did you get it from?” The donkey then told him where he had found it but also wondered why the plant did not kill him. He then decided to try the plant himself and quickly was killed. The ox had tricked the donkey into thinking he actually ate the plant, but he knew very well that the plant was poisonous and recognized what was happening. When the plowman came out to work the donkey, he saw that he had died and thought he must have had something poisonous. However, the plowman did not turn to the ox for help. He turned to another ox to take over the job. He decided the ox must have reached old age and was suffering deeply and due to this, he could no longer do his job. To put the ox out of its misery, he killed the ox as well. Eventually, another donkey had come along and gave the new ox some advice…
The other Donkey arrived and the advice he gave the new Ox some advise to free them both. When the plowman arrives he advise the new Ox to be a sly an sneaky as possible, while the Donkey distracts the plowman and attack the plowman. So the new Ox was down for the cause! and wanted to be freed. As the Plowman arrived the Donkey started making noises and jumping around the plowman went to check on the Donkey and them jumps from the tree the Ox bites the Plowman in the neck and kills him and they both escape.