Hello,
My name is Amita and welcome back to the series of Panchatantra short stories.
So Panchatantra stories are the oldest surviving fables from ancient India.
These are spread all over the world for centuries,
Especially as bedtime stories for kids.
So I am starting this Panchatantra series of 60 stories.
Hope you like it.
The song of a donkey.
In a village,
There lived a washerman.
The washerman had a donkey.
The donkey had to work the whole day.
The donkey carried dirty clothes every day to the village pond and returned home with washed dry clothes.
The donkey was tired of this hard work.
Besides this,
The washerman also did not feed him well.
Fed up with the poor treatment,
One evening the donkey fled from the washerman's house.
The donkey reached a villager's farm.
The farm was full of fruits and vegetables.
There he met a jackal.
The jackal was still eating the cucumbers.
Soon they became friends.
Free from the washerman's slavery,
The donkey was very happy there.
Both the friends roamed in the night and enjoyed the farmer's cucumber and other fruits.
In the morning,
They returned to their respective places.
Now life was easy and enjoyable for the donkey.
One day when the donkey and the jackal were feasting upon the farm's fruits,
The donkey said,
Oh friend,
What an ecstatic full moon night is there.
Tonight I feel like singing like a beautiful song.
The jackal said,
How foolish you are.
Do you want to invite trouble for us?
But the donkey remained adamant.
He said,
I am unable to stop my urge for singing.
I would certainly sing a song.
The jackal was wise.
He said,
Okay,
If you want to sing,
You can.
However,
Let me first go out of this farm.
With this,
The jackal sneaked out of the farm.
The stupid donkey then started singing loudly.
When the owner of the farm heard the braying of the donkey,
He rushed to the farm.
Seeing the donkey enjoying in his farm,
The farmer became very angry and beat him brutally.
The farmer then called the donkey's master and charged him for the destruction caused by the donkey.
The washerman roped the donkey and took him to his place.
The angry master also gave a good thrashing to the stupid creature and employed him on the work harder than before.
No doubt that it was the donkey who paid a very heavy price for his own foolishness.
