Tara

9 Preparation

1	A Soldier during a great conflict took the utmost care with his trusted stallion.
2	As long as the war lasted, he looked upon him as his equal and fed him carefully with hay and corn.
3	But when the war was over, he only allowed him chaff to eat and made him carry heavy loads of wood subjecting him to much slavish ill-treatment.
4	When war was again proclaimed, the Soldier prepared his armor and then put on his horse its military trappings.
5	Yet when he mounted the horse, it immediately fell down, no longer equal to the burden, saying thus:
6	Alas oh Master! You must now go to the war on foot, for you have transformed me from a Horse into an Ass.
7	Verily, no man can expect one to turn in a moment of trial from an Ass to a Horse.