Donkey in Hide
There was a washerman and he had a pet donkey. Washerman used to take too much work from the donkey which left little time for the donkey to eat properly. Thus, the donkey was quite weak because of malnourishment. The washerman also felt pity on the condition of donkey and was trying to find some way so that the donkey could get proper food. But the washerman was not in a mood to compromise with the tasks which the donkey was supposed to do.
Finding Lion's Hide
One day, the washerman found a lion's hide lying somewhere. He picked up the hide and got an idea to use this for his donkey. He planned to cover the donkey with lion’s hide. This would have enabled the donkey to enter any farm and eat as much as it could.
Thus, happy days were back for the donkey. Every night, it used to enter the farms and have food to its heart's content. Even if a farmer saw the donkey, he used to get scared; thinking the donkey as a lion. That is how donkey was enjoying tasty grains, vegetables and fruits on every night.
Music to ears
But people say that good times do not last forever. On one of the nights; when donkey was grazing in a field, it heard the braying of a female donkey from somewhere. It was a perfect moonlit night so the donkey was mesmerised by the braying of a fellow female. It wanted to control its urge to bray in reply. But natural urges are very difficult to control. Finally, the donkey too started matching its bray with that of the female donkey.
When some farmers heard that voice, they could realise that it was not a lion rather a donkey. All of them came with sticks and stones and beat the donkey black and blue.
The moral of the story is, "Only wearing a nice dress does not make you smart."