An ass carrying salt was crossing a river; he slipped and fell into the water. Then the salt dissolved, and he got up lighter, and was delighted with the accident. Another time, as he came to the edge of a river with a load of sponges, he thought that, if he let himself fall again, he would get up lighter, and he slipped on purpose. But it happened that the sponges, having soaked up the water, he could not get up and perished, drowned.
So sometimes people do not suspect that it is their own tricks that plunge them into misfortune.
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