Cobwebs from an Empty Skull

While a man was trying with all his might to cross a fence, a bull ran to his assistance, and taking him upon his horns, tossed him over.  Seeing the man walking away without making any remark, the bull said: 

“You are quite welcome, I am sure.  I did no more than my duty.”

“I take a different view of it, very naturally,” replied the man, “and you may keep your polite acknowledgments of my gratitude until you receive it.  I did not require your services.”

“You don’t mean to say,” answered the bull, “that you did not wish to cross that fence!”

“I mean to say,” was the rejoinder, “that I wished to cross it by my method, solely to avoid crossing it by yours.”

Fabula docet that while the end is everything, the means is something.