The Nail

A merchant had done good business at the fair. He had sold all his goods and filled his money bags with gold and silver. Now he wanted to travel home and be in his own house before nightfall. So he packed his trunk with the money onto his horse and rode away.

At noon he stopped to rest in a town. When he wanted to continue, the stable boy brought out his horse and said, "Sir, a nail is missing from the shoe on your horse's left hind foot."

"Let it be missing," answered the merchant. "The shoe will certainly stay on for the six miles I still have to go. I am in a hurry."

In the afternoon, when he stopped again to feed his horse, the stable boy came into the room and said, "Sir, a shoe is missing from your horse's left hind foot. Shall I take him to the blacksmith?"

"Let it still be missing," answered the man. "The horse can easily manage the few miles that remain. I am in a hurry."

He rode on, but before long the horse began to limp. It had not limped long before it began to stumble, and it had not stumbled long before it fell down and broke its leg. The merchant was forced to leave the horse there, unbuckle the trunk, take it on his back, and go home on foot. He did not arrive until very late at night.

"And that unlucky nail," he said to himself, "has caused all this trouble."

Hasten slowly.