Where Does The Phrase “shoulder To The Wheel” Come From?

A wagoner (in Aesop's fable) was trying to move his wagon, which had got stuck in the mud. He found it difficult, and called aloud on the strong god Hercules to help him. Hercules appeared, but instead of helping him he said, "Put your shoulder to the wheel, my friend, and use your own strength instead of relying on mine." When he vanished, the carter did as he had advised and found that he could in fact move the wagon by himself.

The usual moral of this fable is "the gods help those who help themselves." There are several stories with this idea including an old religious joke. Here, a man repeatedly calls on God to save him from danger. He finds a boat, a rope and, in later versions, a plane, but ignores them all because he is expecting God to appear and save him personally. The message is that God actually sent the boat etc in order to save him, but the man wouldn't help himself.

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