High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The miller, his son and the donkey is a widely dispersed fable, number 721 in the Perry Index. Though it may have ancient analogues, the earliest extant version is in the work of the 13th century Arab writer Ibn Said. There are many eastern versions of the tale and in Europe it was included in a number of Mediaeval collections. Since then it has been frequently included in collections of Aesop`s fables as well as the influential Fables of Jean de la Fontaine.