there's no pleasing some folks

I bought First Spanish Reader - A Beginner's Dual-Language Book
edited by Angel Flores - because the left page of the story
is in Spanish and the right side is the English translation.

Wow! - I thought - I can learn Spanish quicker that way.

I never got past the right side of each story because the little stories
are all so good.


Here's one:

~~~


FATHER, SON, OR  HORSE?

By Don Juan Manuel


A farmer who lives in the country says to his son:

'Today is market day; let's go to town to buy a few
things that we need."

They decide to bring a horse with them in order to
carry their purchases. They leave very early in the
morning for the market:  the horse without a load and
they on foot.

Along the road they come upon some men who are
returning from town.  Those men then say that neither
the father nor the son seem very wise, for they are
walking while the horse goes without a load.  Upon
hearing this, the father asks for his son's opinion.  The
latter admits that the men are right and that, as the horse
doesn't have a load, one of them should mount it.  So,
the father orders his son to mount, and they continue
on their way.

A little later they meet another group of men returning
from the town.  These men state that the father is crazy
because, old and tired, he walks, while his son, so young
and robust, rides on the horse.  The father asks his son's
advice and the latter declares that, in effect, the men are
right.  And so the son gets down from the horse and the
father gets on.

Some minutes later other men who are returning from the
market criticize the father.  According to them a young boy
so weak should not walk.  Therefore the father has his
son mount the horse and neither of the two walk then.

Further on they meet other men who are also returning
from the town and they also criticize the father as well
as the son.  They say:

'How can a horse so scrawny carry two men so big and
heavy?"

The father asks his son what they should do in order not
to be criticized any more and finally they reach the conclusion
that the only alternative is to carry the horse.  So, father and
son arrive at the market with the horse on their shoulders, but
in spite of this, many criticize them.

~~~

you can please some of the people all of the time & you can
please all of the people some of the time but hard as you try
you can never please all of the people all of the time

just ask barack obama

~i said that