A TRAVELER hired an Ass to convey him to a distant place.
The
day being intensely hot, and the sun shining in its strength, the
Traveler stopped to rest, and sought shelter from the heat under
the Shadow of the Ass.
As this afforded only protection for one,
and as the Traveler and the owner of the Ass both claimed it, a
violent dispute arose between them as to which of them had the
right to the Shadow.
The owner maintained that he had let the
Ass only, and not his Shadow.
The Traveler asserted that he had,
with the hire of the Ass, hired his Shadow also.
The quarrel
proceeded from words to blows, and while the men fought, the Ass
galloped off.


In quarreling about the shadow we often lose the substance.