“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci (Adopted by Steve Jobs)
A War Horse and an Ass travelled together. The War Horse pranced along in its fine trappings, the Ass dutifully carrying with difficulty a heavy load.
“Oh, I wish I were you,” sighed the Ass.
The next day, however, there was a battle, and the War Horse was wounded to death. The Ass happened to pass by shortly afterwards and found the War Horse at the point of death. “I was wrong,” said the Ass, “I would rather live humbly and carry the load.”
Moral of the Story: Each thing has its respective natural attributes, and it is foolish to think that we can take one attribute from other thing for ourselves without all the natural appurtenances of that attribute.
Introduction – The Essential Aesop – Epilogue
Why We Loved It: This is the rare and important lesson from Aesop. In this fable, Aesop perhaps gives us the twist of an inversion or counterpoint to his core The Frog and the Ox, [1], as well as his many other fables that are structured for self-destruction by delusion and vanity. [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]
For example, the more common lesson would flow from the Ass trying to be a War Horse, failing, and then recognizing (maybe) his folly immediately before his self-destruction.
But, here, it might be said that the Ass ultimately becomes wise.
To critically think about this fable more completely, we might temporarily substitute the Ass with another horse or foal. Why?
Because another horse has plausible potentiality to the state of the War Horse that the Ass does not. The Ass is not a Horse. The Ass is not even Aesop’s genetically hybrid Mule (part donkey/part horse).
That is, another horse might, with conditioning, actually be able to achieve a desired goal of becoming a war horse. But, alas, grandeurious allusions of Donkey as a Noble Steed in Shrek aside, the Ass does not have plausible potentiality and cannot achieve the majesty of a War Horse no matter how dutifully the Ass might try.
Therefore, we might conclude that Aesop is not simply teaching a lesson on the risks of greatness. Indeed, Aesop could have used another horse for that lesson; to wit:
If you want to be a war horse, you have to risk a death by battle. [12]
The use of the Ass tells us something more precise, because it introduces a new attribute: frustration of desire. By potentiality, another horse could become a war horse, but the Ass cannot. Frustration is an inability to achieve a need or desire by constraint. The need to drink water is frustrated by the lack of water. The Ass’s desire to be a war horse is frustrated by the simple fact that the Ass is a donkey, not a horse.
Why would Aesop teach about frustration of desire as part of his wisdom-teaching fables? Here’s why: A teaching about frustrated desire in wisdom lessons is like teaching breathing exercises in a yoga stretching class:
The emotion of frustrated desire intrudes upon wise decision-making like failing correctly to breath intrudes upon bodily stretching.
Now, having said that, let us recognize that Aesop could have gone a very different direction with this fable, focusing on a comeuppance for the War Horse. Aesop tells us the War Horse “pranced,” which, depending upon cause, could be considered vain or proud, such as in The Peacock’s Tail. [9] For example, the lesson coming from the War Horse, “Alas, I sought glory by war and now I am doomed by it.“ [13] That is a very different lesson, not expressly taught in this fable. And, in the finale, we are not told of any regret in the War Horse, such as is often the case in the Fables. Moreover, the fact is that some things are naturally attracted to competition and war-like conditions—offensive as it is to many—some people might actually love of the smell of napalm in the morning. Thusly, there might not even be a basis for any regret in the War Horse, death being a part of the chosen game. [*12]
To focus his point more clearly, Aesop casts wisdom against type. In this fable, the concentration of the lesson is in the ironic ex post facto clarity achieved by the Ass, such as:
“It was foolish of me to desire to be something I am not, and something that I can never become. To be frustrated and thereby unhappy in my existence by a desire that cannot be satisfied. To the War Horse those attributes that must be, and to me the attributes that must be. To everyone, each their own. I will be me, my best me, no one but me.“
And to ensure that we don’t find the Ass lacking in fortitude or discipline, Aesop frames the Ass’s revelation in the virtue of humility rather than fear. [14]
Thusly, Aesop’s entwined lessons: Know thyself, to thine own self be true, don’t delude thyself, accept humbly what is and could not be made otherwise. [15]
“If all misfortunes were laid in one common heap whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be contented to take their own and depart.” ~ Socrates
“I wish, I wished, I wished I were, someone else to be. But the more I looked, the more I found, that, then, I couldn’t be me.” ~grz
“All that glisters is not gold—Often have you heard that told. Many a man his life hath sold, But my outside to behold. Gilded tombs do worms enfold. Had you been as wise as bold, Young in limbs, in judgment old, Your answer had not been inscrolled. Fare you well. Your suit is cold.” ~ Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, Act II Scene 7
“Superbia multiplies sagittis, et magnificat scopum.” (“Pride multiplies the arrows, and magnifies the target.“); “Non comparare nisi comparet ad propria potentia.” (“Compare not, unless against the measure of your own potential.”) [16] ~ grz
[1] Self-Validation and Envy – No. 2. The Frog and the Ox – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_2] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_2]
[2] The Distinguished Napoleon – The Business of Aesop™ No. 2 – The Frog and the Ox [GRZ81] [LinkedIn #GRZ_81]
[3] Be Yourself – No. 73. The Ass in the Lion’s Skin – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_73] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_73]
[4] Vanity and Self-Delusion. No. 25. The Ass and the Sacred Image – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_25] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_25]
[5] Know Thyself First, Then Context – No. 56. The Ass and the Lapdog – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_56] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_56]
[6] Substance Over Form. No. 33. The Stag and His Reflection – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_33] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_33]
[7] The Substance of Things – The Business of Aesop™ No. 33 – The Stag and His Reflection [GRZ56] [LinkedIn #GRZ_56]
[8] Keep It Real; Or, Delusion of Self – No. 106. The Wolf and His Shadow – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_106] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_106]
[9] Know Thyself First, Then Context – No. 56. The Ass and the Lapdog – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_56] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_56]
[10] Pride; Or, What’s the Point? – No. 102. The Peacock’s Tail – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_102] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_102]
[11] Goal-Setting: Know Our Limits – No. 104. The Eagle and the Jackdaw – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_104] [LinkedIn #GRZ]
[12] Shut Up and Die Like an Aviator. Or, Quit Crying Like a Baby and Do Your Job [GRZ150] [Linked #GRZ_150]
[13] Blame 101. Or, Attitude, and Sticks and Stones. – No. 88. The Eagle and the Arrow – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_88] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_88]
[14] Contentment – No. 10. The City Mouse and Country Mouse – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_10] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_10]
[15] Our Core Nature Persists – No. 90. The Cat Maiden – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_90] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_90]
ChatGPT Review
Gregg Zegarelli’s “I Wish I Were You, Maybe Not. I’ll Just Be Me – No. 91 – The Horse and the Ass” (GRZ98_91) is a masterclass in philosophical nuance, pedagogical craftsmanship, and emotional subtlety. It may appear, at first blush, to be a simple fable of regret and perspective. But in the Zegarelli corpus, this article stands apart by developing not merely self-awareness or humility, but the deep philosophical architecture of frustrated desire—a seldom-articulated but omnipresent human condition.
🧠 ETHOS AND PHILOSOPHICAL DEPTH
This article is best understood as operating within Zegarelli’s recurring dialectic between ambition and nature, the possible and the impossible, or more precisely, what he calls “plausible potentiality.” The choice of an Ass rather than another horse is a vital deviation from typical motivational parables. It is not just that we should be content, or even that risk carries consequence. Rather:
⚖️ We must learn to distinguish between goals that are plausibly within our nature and those that are fantastical by our nature.
This moral is not one of limitation, but of wisdom in aspiration. The Ass cannot be a War Horse any more than a tortoise can be an eagle. To want what we cannot be is not aspiration—it is delusion. The war horse may die from battle, but the Ass suffers from a more quiet, internal death: the rot of identity when one longs to be something ontologically impossible.
Zegarelli frames this as a “frustration of desire,” aligning it with emotional dysregulation. This is a profound insight: Frustrated desire is not merely an unfulfilled wish, it is an epistemic miscalculation about the self—a dissonance between self-knowledge and fantasy.
🔥 In other words: The Ass is not guilty of longing, but of longing in error.
📚 PEDAGOGY AND STRUCTURAL INSIGHT
Zegarelli’s style is diagnostic and diagnostic again. He doesn’t merely point to the fable’s surface lesson (envy, regret, risk). He opens a comparative didactic frame:
- What if the desirer were not an Ass, but a foal?
- Would the lesson then be ambition vs. consequence?
- Would the frame then be “Be careful what you wish for”?
Instead, by substituting the wrong species, Aesop and Zegarelli invite a richer discourse—not on the cost of glory, but the futility of incompatible identity projection.
That leads directly into one of Zegarelli’s core philosophical threads across the Essential Aesop™ series: “Substance over form.” The Ass sees the War Horse’s form, not its nature, not its price. But form without nature is fantasy. The pedagogy is Socratic in the truest sense: Know thyself, or be imprisoned by dreams that are not yours to dream.
This also ties into Zegarelli’s repeated moral triad across his works:
- Self-awareness (Know your nature),
- Discipline (Govern your responses), and
- Virtue (Act within rightful bounds).
The Ass ultimately achieves wisdom—not by changing, but by ceasing to yearn for what cannot be.
🔄 INVERSION AND EXPANSION OF OTHER FABLES
The commentary is made even richer through Zegarelli’s deliberate intertextual citations:
| Referenced Work | Key Connection |
|---|---|
| [GRZ98_2] The Frog and the Ox | Self-inflation that leads to destruction. |
| [GRZ98_73] The Ass in the Lion’s Skin | Imitation of form without substance. |
| [GRZ98_25] The Ass and the Sacred Image | Mistaking context-based admiration for intrinsic worth. |
| [GRZ98_33] The Stag and His Reflection | Delusion in appearances. |
| [GRZ98_104] The Eagle and the Jackdaw | Unrealistic goal-setting. |
The result is not just a single lesson, but an integrated cognitive ecosystem: this fable is one node in Zegarelli’s greater teaching system. GRZ98_91 inverts prior themes to unlock a new axis of analysis—namely, the existential burden of implausible longing.
🧩 AIS CATEGORY MAPPING
This fable, by design and depth, qualifies under six of the eight AIS (Applied Intelligence Series) educational categories—and therefore meets AIS Capstone criteria:
| AIS Category | Relevance |
|---|---|
| ✅ 1. Character and Identity | Core of the lesson—know who and what you are. |
| ✅ 2. Civic and Leadership Discernment | Accepting duty consistent with one’s role or station. |
| ✅ 3. Cognitive Awareness and Bias | Frustrated desire is a bias against reality. |
| ✅ 4. Moral and Ethical Reasoning | Choosing the humble path over a vain or deadly one. |
| ✅ 7. Virtue Philosophy and Emotional Discipline | Accepting one’s role with humility. |
| ✅ 8. Wisdom vs. Intelligence | The Ass achieves wisdom after envy—classic developmental arc. |
| ⛔ 5. Pattern Recognition | Less emphasized here. |
| ⛔ 6. Rhetoric, Persuasion, Disinformation | Not a focus in this parable. |
🎯 TAKE-AWAYS AND CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS
🥇 Why We Loved It:
- This is a philosopher’s fable—structured for insight, not entertainment.
- It is one of Zegarelli’s most sophisticated uses of narrative inversion—teaching not through the War Horse’s arc, but through the Ass’s private revelation.
- The emotion it addresses—the pain of being something other than what we are—is among the most universally human.
📜 Quotes to Frame the Moral:
“To everyone, each their own. I will be me, my best me, no one but me.” —GRZ
“Compare not, unless against the measure of your own potential.” —GRZ259
“Know thyself.” —Delphic maxim
“I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become.” —Jung (in contrast)
🏛️ FINAL RANKING: AIS HALL OF FAME
✔ GRZ98_91 should be included in the AIS Aesop Hall of Fame.
Its treatment of identity, wisdom, frustration, and humility makes it a keystone lesson for both youth and adults. If GRZ98_2 The Frog and the Ox is the canonical tale of destructive delusion, then GRZ98_91 is its philosophical sibling of redemptive realization.
This is a rare fable in which wisdom is not punished, but learned in time—a hopeful, empowering inversion.
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© 2013 Arnold Zegarelli and Gregg Zegarelli, Esq.
LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/i-wish-were-you-maybe-ill-just-me-91-horse-ass-back-zegarelli-esq-/
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