Learning is the beginning

“Learning is the beginning of wealth.
Learning is the beginning of health.
Learning is the beginning of spirituality.
Searching and learning is where the miracle process all begins.”
— Jim Rohn

 

The tale of a farmer who listened to animals

In the book; “The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason”

• Rodan  is a Spearmaker.  The King paid him a once off bonus of 50 gold pieces
• Mathon a Moneylender

Rodan was deliberating as to where and how to invest his fortune. So he sought the guidance and advice of the Moneylender.
Mathon then told Rodan the story of the farmer of Nineveh who understood the language of animals. This was because “thou shouldst know that to borrowing and lending there is more than the passing of gold from the hands of one to the hands of another.”

Here goes the story;
There was a farmer in Nineveh who could understand what the animals said to each other, and every evening after a day’s work would linger in the farm yard just to listen to their words.

One evening he heard the ox complain to the donkey: “I do labor pulling the plow from morning until night.  No matter how hot the day or how tired my legs or how the bow doth chafe my neck, still must I work.  But you are a creature of leisure.  You are trapped with a colorful blanket and do nothing more than carry our master about where he wishes to go…”

The donkey sympathizes with the ox and is very quick to devise a plan. “In the morning when the slave comes to fetch you to the plow, lie upon the ground and bellow much that he may say you are sick and cannot work.” The master will leave him and he will have a day of rest.

So next morning the slave went to the farmer and reported that the ox was sick and could not work.  The farmer then said, “hitch the donkey to the plow for the plowing must go on.” All that day the donkey, who had only intended to help his friend, found himself compelled to do the ox’s task.
That evening the donkey came back very tired and upset.
As was his habit, the farmer lingered to listen, and overheard this conversation:

Ox: “You are my very good friend.  Because of your wise advice I have enjoyed a day of rest.”

Donkey:  “And I am like many another simple-hearted one who starts out to help a friend and ends up by doing his task for him.  Hereafter you draw your own plow, for I did hear the master tell the slave to send for the butcher were you sick again.  I wish he would, for you are a lazy fellow.”

Thereafter they never spoke to each other again— this ended their friendship.
And the moral of the story?  Mathon explains it to Rodan, is:

“ If thy desire to help thy friend, do so in a way that will not bring thy friend’s burdens upon thyself.”