At The Creation

God created the donkey and told him: you will work tireless
from sun up to sun down, carring heavy bags on your back,
you'll eat grass, you will not have intelligence and you
will live 50 years. You will be an DONKEY!

The donkey answered: I'll be a donkey, but living 50 years
is too much, give me only 20 years. And God gave him 20 years.

God created the dog and told him: You will look after the
men house, you will be his best friend, you will eat
whatever they give you and you will live 25 years.
You will be a DOG!

The dog answered: God, living 25 years is too much,
give only 10. God gave him 10 years.

God created the monkey and told him: You will jump
from brach to branch, you will do silly things, you
will be amusing and you will live 20 years.

The monkey answered: God, living 20 years is too much,
give me only 10 years. And God agreed.

Finally, God created man, and told him: You will be Man,
the only rational being on this earth, you will use your
intelligence to control other animals, you will dominate
the world and you will live for 20 years.

The man answered: God, I'll be man, but living 20 years
is not enough, why don't you give me the 30 years that
the donkey refused, the 20 years that the dog did not want
and the 10 years that the monkey refused.

That was what God did, and since then, Man live 20 years like
a man, the he enters adulthood and spends 30 years like a donkey,
working and carrying the load on his back, then when his
children leave home, spends 15 years like a dog, looking after
the house and eating whatever is given to him,
then he gets into retirement, and spends 10 years like
a monkey, jumping from house to house or from children to
children, doing silly things to amuse the grandchildren.