a mule, frolicsome from lack of work and from too much corn, galloped about in a very extravagant manner, and said to himself: “my father surely was a high-mettled racer, and i am his own child in speed and spirit.” on the next day, being driven a long journey, and feeling very wearied, he exclaimed in a disconsolate tone: “i must have made a mistake; my father, after all, could have been only an ass.”