The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Vol. II/Liber Tertius/Fable 18
¶ The xviij fable is of the marchaunt and of the asse
any one ben trauaylled after theyr
dethe / wherfore men ought not
to desyre the dethe / As reherceth
Esope by this fable / Of a marchaunt
whiche ladde an asse laden
vnto the market / And for to be the sooner at
the market / he bete his asse / and sore prycked
hym / wherfore the poure asse wysshed & desyred
his owne deth / wenyng to hym that after his
dethe he shold be in reste / And after that he
had be wel bete and chaced he deyde / And
his mayster made hym to be flayne / and of his
skynne he dyd doo make tumbours whiche ben
euer bete / And thus for what payne that men
may haue durynge his lyf / he ought not to
desyre and whysshe his dethe / For many one
ben / whiche haue grete payne in this world
that shall haue a gretter in the other world /
For the man hath no reste for the dethe but for
his merytes