A man and his son led their donkey to market.
"Someone should ride!" shouted a bystander. So the man put his son on the donkey.
Along the way, another bystander scoffed. "Lazy boy! Why must your father walk?" The son dismounted and the father rode.
They met another critic, who said, "Cruel father, making your son walk!" So both rode.
Then another critic. "Poor donkey, carrying two riders!"
So they tied the donkey to a pole and carried him instead, but the donkey kicked and struggled, and thus the donkey fell into a river and drowned.
There's no pleasing everyone.
Inspired by: Fables of Aesop and Other Eminent Mythologists by Roger L'Estrange, 358.
Notes: This is Perry 721.
Here is an illustration by Walter Crane:
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