Thanks for the story. That reminds me of another that I will share here and let you all squabble as to its meaning. If anyone can guess who originally told the story, you get bonus points!
In Germany, there was a little town called Schilda, whose inhabitants could perform all sorts of clever little tricks. Within this town was a horse who could perform amazing feats of strength, but against whom the citizens had one objection - the horse ate too much and oats were expensive.
The townsfolk determined to break the horse of this habit by reducing its ration by a little bit each day until they had coaxed it into complete abstinence.
For awhile, things went great. The amount of grain being given to the horse was gradually reduced and the horse didn't seem to notice.
The horse was weaned to the point of only eating one handful of grain per day. On the next day it was given no oats at all and sent out to the fields to work, where it died. The citizens were unable to determine what the spiteful animal had died from.
