A camel, an ox, and a ram were traveling together. They found some grass and then quarreled about who should eat it.
"Let the one who's lived longest eat the grass!" said the ram. "As for me, I shared a pasture years ago with the ram that Abraham sacrificed for Ishmael."
"As a young ox, I pulled Adam's plow!" claimed the ox.
Meanwhile, the camel stretched out his long neck, seized the grass, and started munching.
"I don't need venerable old age to make my claim," the camel said, "when I am so tall and have such a long neck."
Inspired by: The English prose version of Rumi in More Tales from the Masnavi by A. J. Arberry.
Notes: This is story 187 in the book. On Abraham's sacrifice for Ishmael, see Wikipedia. Compare the Nasruddin story: Who Gets the Loaf of Bread?
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