«زَيِّ حْمِيرِ الْعِنَبْ تِشِيلُهْ وَلَا تْدُوقُهْ»

The saying describes a person who is put to work on something valuable yet receives none of its benefit. Like a donkey loaded with grapes, which are not its food, such a person bears the effort while the reward passes to others.

Its emphasis falls on being conscripted and shut out of the benefit, not on self-denial or freely chosen generosity. It highlights the unfairness of labor without share, pointing to someone reduced to carrying burdens for another's enjoyment.

Use it when someone is made to toil on a task whose rewards go entirely to others. It suits sympathy, mild complaint, or wry self-description; aimed at another person, the beast-of-burden comparison may sound belittling.