The Ass's Shadow
A youth, one hot summer's day, hired an ass to carry him from Athens to Megara. At mid-day the heat of the sun was so scorching that he dismounted and would have sat down to repose himself under the shadow of the ass. But the driver of the ass disputed the place with him, declaring that he had an equal right to it with the other.
"What!" said the youth, "did I not hire the ass for the whole journey?" "Yes," said the other, "you hired the ass, but not the ass' shadow." While they were thus wrangling and fighting for the place, the ass took to his heels and ran away.