A MAN wished to purchase an Ass, and agreed with its owner that he should try out the animal before he bought him. He took the Ass home and put him in the straw-yard with his other Asses, upon which the new animal left all the others and at once joined the one that was most idle and the greatest eater of them all. Seeing this, the man put a halter on him and led him back to his owner. On being asked how, in so short a time, he could have made a trial of him, he answered, “I do not need a trial; I know that he will be just the same as the one he chose for his companion.”
ある男がロバを買いたいと思い、買う前にロバを試させてもらうことで、持ち主と話をつけた。男はロバを家へ連れて帰り、ほかのロバたちのいるわら置き場に入れた。すると新入りのロバは、ほかのロバには目もくれず、すぐさま、その中でいちばんの怠け者で大食いのロバのそばへ行った。これを見た男は、ロバに端綱をつけて持ち主のところへ連れ戻した。持ち主から、どうしてこんなに短い時間で試すことができたのかとたずねられると、男は答えた。「試す必要なんかありませんよ。このロバが自分で選んだ仲間とまったく同じだということは、わかりきっていますからね。」
A man is known by the company he keeps.
人はつき合う仲間で知れる。