The Ass and the Lion's Skin

Title: The Ass and the Lion's SkinAuthor: Ambrose Bierce 

A MEMBER of the State Militia stood at a street corner, scowling stormily, and the people passing that way went a long way around him, thinking of the horrors of war. But presently, in order to terrify them still more, he strode toward them, when, his sword entangling his legs, he fell upon the field of glory, and the people passed over him singing their sweetest songs.

-THE END-

Ambrose Bierce's short story/fable: The Ass and the Lion's Skin