THE MUSICAL DONKEY
Once there lived a donkey who worked for a washer man. It was a tough life that he led. The washer man gave him little food to eat and the donkey had to work carrying heavy loads. He had a jackal as a friend. At night he would spend time with the jackal and they would freely wander here and there.
One night the donkey and the jackal dared to go near the fields. They found cucumbers in large numbers in the field. They were overjoyed and ate cucumbers to their heart’s content. They were very happy that they had found a garden which now solved their problem of food.
From that day on, the two visited the garden every night and ate cucumbers. As weeks passed the donkey became healthy and fat. Not only that, he began to feel more confident about himself.
One night the jackal and the donkey had just finished eating the cucumbers.The night was clear. A light wind blew and it was a beautiful night- cool and pleasant. The donkey felt happy and free. Suddenly he was filled with a longing to sing out loud. He told the jackal that he would like to sing a song.
The jackal was worried and told the donkey that to do that would be to put themselves in danger as they were thieves. The jackal also added that the donkey’s voice was not sweet . The donkey was deeply hurt by the jackal’s warning and he felt that the jackal was jealous of him. He insisted that he would sing his song. The jackal shrugged and told him to wait a minute. The jackal quickly ran from there and hid behind a huge tree.
The donkey began to sing and his voice was loud and not at all pleasant to hear. The farmers sleeping near were woken up and they came rushing to the field and were furious to see the donkey there. They beat the donkey with their sticks and tied a heavy stone around his neck.
The donkey was very pained and he slowly came to the jackal. The jackal said, “This is what happens when you lose your mind.” The donkey nodded his head in sad agreement.