Part 1
A man is traveling by foot when he sees a party of merchants walking in the opposite direction. With that party is a donkey who is heavily burdened with all the merchandise. The man noticing the donkey ready to collapse, states, "That donkey is carrying too much! Take off some of those things so that he does not die from exhaustion!"
The merchants take a look at the donkey and see that the man is correct. They start to discuss among themselves what they should do.
Part 2
After some discussion, the merchants tell the man, "You are right that the load is too much for the donkey to carry. But the things are too heavy for us to carry and we cannot agree which things to take off of the donkey. Every piece of merchandise is too important to leave behind. So we must continue just as we were."
"The donkey shall surely die before you make it to your destination, and you will have none of the merchandise make it." the man replied.
Part 3 - Final
Despite this final warning, the merchants continued on their way. Just as the man said, the donkey collapsed, unable to move any more. And the merchants were unable to sell any of the merchandise they had on the donkey, and instead completed their journey empty handed.
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Does this story remind you of anything?