Farmer Jones was kind and he was fair. So, all the animals liked to work for him. None complained, except Fred, the donkey. Fred spent all his time grumbling. He grumbled about the food. He grumbled about his stable. He grumbled at the work, at the weather and at the other animals… he just grumbled!
It was lucky that Farmer Jones never heard him. But all the animals were fed up of Fred.
“He needs something real to grumble about,” said the old horse, “He simply does not have enough work.”
“He does not have to give milk or lay eggs. No one asks for his wool. He doesn’t have to plough the fields or grind the corn. He is not used for food like the poor pig,” commented the goat.
“How can we get him to work? All he has to do is to pull the cart from the shed to the farm and once a week to the market with vegetables,” said the others.
“Let us all think and then decide how to stop Fred from grumbling,” said the hen.
So, the animals thought and thought. Then they met once again.
“I have one idea,” said the dog, “Let’s line the bottom of the cart with some bricks below the cloth on which the vegetables are piled. When he pulls it, it’s going to be much heavier.”
“That’s a good idea!” decided the group.
“Some of us should jump in when he goes to the market. No one will see us under the canvas and when he reaches there, we will hide and return in the cart again,” said the sheep.
“Oh, yes!” said the pig. “Me too! Me too!”
“I will put a lot of mud over him when he is outside. He will have to wash,” suggested the duck.
All the animals agreed. Suddenly, Fred found the load in the cart was very heavy. “It was so light earlier!” Then one day, he found he was covered in mud. “How did this happen?” he wondered.
He did not want to wash. Luckily, that day it rained. Fred was soaked. The mud washed off. He caught a cold, because he was too lazy to get rubbed dry!
When the sun came out, Fred felt happy standing in its warmth. He began to like his light loads, the sun and the rain. He liked the other animals who chatted with him now! Fred had stopped grumbling!
