“Did you ever hear the story about the villager and his grandson who were traveling to a distant village, the moral of which is if you try to make everyone happy this is what happens?”
My dad used to tell me a similar story. Here is one version I found on the web:
Old Man, Boy and Donkey
An old man, a boy and a donkey were going to town. The boy rode on the donkey and the old man walked. As they went along they passed some people who remarked it was a shame the old man was walking and the boy was riding.
The man and boy thought maybe the critics were right, so they changed positions.
Later, they passed some people that remarked, “What a shame, he makes that little boy walk.” They then decided they both would walk!
Soon they passed some more people who thought they were stupid to walk when they had a decent donkey to ride. So, they both rode the donkey.
Now they passed some people that shamed them by saying how awful to put such a load on a poor donkey.
The boy and man said they were probably right, so they decided to carry the donkey.
As they crossed the bridge, they lost their grip on the animal and he fell into the river and drowned.
The moral of the story?
If you try to please everyone, you might as well... Kiss your [donkey] good-bye
That’s the one. I’ll type out the version I heard in a sec.