An old blacksmith realized he was soon going to quit working so hard.
He picked out a strong young man to become his apprentice.
The old fellow was crabby and exacting.
“Don’t ask me a lot of questions,” he told the boy.
“Just do whatever I tell you to do.”
One day, the old blacksmith took an iron out of the forge and laid it on the anvil.
“Get the hammer over there,” he said. “When I nod my head, hit it real good and hard.”
Now the town is looking for a new blacksmith.
==============================================
An old man, a boy, and a donkey were travelling.
The boy rode the donkey while the man walked.
In the first town they went to, the people all said, “How hard for that old man who has to walk!”
The two travelers heard this and decided that the boy should walk and the old man should ride.
In the next town, people whispered, “What a shame, he makes the little boy walk!”
So the pair decided that they should both ride.
In the third town, people all muttered about how cruel it was to make the donkey work so hard.
So the boy and the old man decided to carry the donkey.
On the way to the next town, they had to go across a bridge. As they walked across it, they slipped and the donkey fell in to the river and drowned.
The moral of the story is – If you try to please everyone, you will eventually end up losing your ass.
