The fable as recorded by Phaedrus concerns an old man who tells his ass to fly with him on the approach of an army. The ass asks if they are liable to double his load and on being assured not, replies that, since his lot is to be a beast of burden, he is indifferent who is his owner. Phaedrus comments on the story that "When there is a change in government, nothing changes for the poor folk except their master's name."Fable 15 Much the same conclusion is drawn in Hieronymus Osius's Neo-Latin poem, Asinus et vitulus (the ass and the herdboy).Fable 139
