A Traveler hired an Ass to carry him to a distant part of the country. The owner of the Ass went with the Traveler, walking beside him to drive the Ass and point out the way.

The road led across a treeless plain where the Sun shone with all its might. The heat grew so intense that the Traveler at last decided to stop for a rest. With no other shade to be found, the Traveler sat down in the shadow of the Ass.

The heat had affected the Driver just as much as it had the Traveler, and perhaps even more, for he had been walking. Wanting also to rest in the shade cast by the Ass, he began to quarrel with the Traveler, claiming he had hired the Ass, not the shadow it cast.

And while the two were busy arguing, the Ass took to its heels.