During a large assembly of people, Demosten stood up to speak, but the people did not want to listen to him. He then said to them, “I just wanted to tell you a funny little story.” The people around him fell silent, and he began: “On a hot day, a young man hired a donkey to ride from Athens to Megara. Along the way, he got tired, got off the donkey, and lay down in the donkey’s shadow. The owner of the donkey objected to this, as he believed he had only rented the donkey to the traveler, not its shadow.” After these words, Demosten left the platform. The audience impatiently started questioning: “Wait! Tell us, how did the argument end?” Demosten sighed, “How come you are so interested in the donkey’s shadow, yet you don’t want to listen to what I would like to say for the benefit of our city?”
Selected by: Nataša Žaja