An ass that was being driven along the road by his master suddenly left the beaten track and bolted as fast as he could to the edge of a cliff. When he was just at the point of falling over, his master ran up, grabbed him by the tail, and tried to pull him back. But the ass resisted and pulled the opposite way until the man let go and said, "Well, Jack, if you want to be your own master, I can't help it. A willful beast must go his own way."
beaten track熟路; 踏平的路，慣例fast as和…一樣快，迅速，立即just at當falling over倒伏let go放走; 釋放; 讓…逃走want to應該willful有意的；任性的；故意的一頭驢子被主人在路上趕著，它突然離開了那條破舊的小路，以最快的速度逃到懸崖邊上。就在他快要摔下去的時候，他的主人跑了上來，抓住他的尾巴，想把他拉回來。但是驢子反抗著向反方向拉，直到主人放手說：“好吧，傑克，如果你想成為你自己的主人，我也無能為力。一意孤行的傢伙總是不撞南牆不回頭。”