Once upon a time, a salt merchant moved from place to place selling salt. One day, he was walking on a bridge over a stream with salt loaded on the back of a donkey. "Yo-ho! Yo-heave-ho!"

Donkey and the Load of Salt

The donkey missed his step because he was too tired. "Splash!" The donkey fell into the water. The merchant set the donkey upright quickly. At that very same moment, the donkey realized his load became lighter¹ as the salt melted in the water.

So, the donkey fell down again on purpose. Now, all the salt melted, and his load became very light. The donkey returned home humming merrily. Without knowing the donkey's intentions, the merchant just thought he had bad luck.

The next day, the donkey arrived at the stream carrying salt. "Yo-ho! Yo-heave-ho!" The donkey remembered the incident yesterday. "Neigh! If I fall down in the water, my load will get lighter!' The donkey sunk down in the water on purpose.

Finally, the salt merchant realized the donkey's intentions. However, a lot of salt had already disappeared in the water. The salt merchant became angry.

Holding the donkey's behavior responsible, the salt merchant decided² to give him a hard time. First, he put a lump of light cotton into the salt bag and loaded it on the back of the donkey. 'What? It's weird³. Salt is too light today.'

The donkey could not suspect the salt merchant's trick. Again that day, the donkey fell down in the water intentionally⁴ when he arrived at the stream. Yet, the wet cotton lump became greatly heavy.

'Neigh! What makes it so heavy?' The donkey could not understand. The salt merchant said to the donkey groaning⁵ under a heavy load on his back, "You fool, donkey, you are caught in your own scheme." The donkey regretted that he tricked the merchant.