Counting the Donkeys

As a farmer rode home from market, he decided to count his donkeys. "One, two, three, four, five," he counted. "Oh no! Where's the sixth?"
The man looked left and right, and then back down the road. "I've lost a donkey!" he cried in despair. "My wife will never forgive me."
He got home, stabled the donkeys, and then went to give his wife the bad news.
"Let's see!" she said. They went to the stables. "One, two, three, four, five, six," she counted. "All's well!"
Her poor foolish husband had forgotten to count the donkey he was riding.

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Inspired by: Fables of Aesop and Other Eminent Mythologists by Roger L'Estrange, 372.
Notes: This fable is not part of the classical Aesop tradition, but similar stories are told of fools like Nasruddin and Joha

(donkeys)