The Tail and the Body of the Serpent

One day the serpent's tail claimed the right to lead and to go first. The other parts said to it, "How will you lead us, you who have neither eyes nor nose, like the other animals?" But they did not persuade it, and in the end good sense got the worst of it. The tail took command and led, dragging the whole body blindly, until at last it fell into a hole full of stones, where the serpent bruised its spine and its whole body. Then the tail turned, fawning and imploring, to the head: "Save us, please, mistress; for I was wrong to enter into a struggle with you."