A man wanted to buy an ass. He went to the market, and saw a likely one. But he wanted to test him first.

So he took the ass home, and put him into the stable with the other asses. The new ass looked around, and immediately went to choose a place next to the laziest ass in the stable.

When the man saw this he put a halter on the ass at once, and gave him back to his owner.

The owner felt quite surprised. He asked the man, "Why are you back so soon? Have you tested him already?" "I don't want to test him any more," replied the man, "From the companion he chose for himself, I could see what sort of animal he is."

一个买主到市场上去买驴，他看中一头外表不错的驴，但是他想要牵走试一试。

他把驴牵回家，放在自己其他的驴之间，这驴四处看看，立即走向一头好吃懒做的驴旁边。

于是，买驴的人立刻给那头驴套上辔头，牵去还给驴的卖主。

卖主感到很奇怪，他问买主：“你怎么这么快就回来了？”买主说：“不必再试了，从他所选择什么样的朋友来看，我已经知道他是什么样了。”

寓意：物以类聚，人以群分。人们往往喜欢跟与自己相同的人交往，所以，我们可以根据一个人的朋友来推断他的为人。