The Foolish Donkey – A Book Review

The Foolish Donkey is a great moral story for kids that will teach them that you should never try to avoid your work. This will only pile up the tasks and make it even harder for you to complete them later on.

One day the merchant and the donkey were traveling to the village to sell their salt. On the way they had to cross a river.

Story Of The Foolish Donkey

A long time ago, there lived a salt merchant in a village. He used to travel to other places to sell his salt and earn a living. He had a donkey to help him in his work. The donkey used to carry the bags of salt on its back for him. One day while traveling, the donkey fell into a river. The bags of salt also slipped into the water and got wet. As soon as they came in contact with water, all the salt dissolved and became light.

He wanted to teach it a lesson, so he decided to load the bag with cotton instead of salt. When the cotton soaked water, it became heavy and was difficult for the donkey to carry. The donkey did not know this and tried the same trick again. It fell into the river and the sack of salt dissolved again, which made it lighter for the donkey to carry. The donkey continued doing this every day to avoid carrying a heavy load.

On the fourth day, the merchant loaded a bag of cotton on the donkey’s back. The donkey again fell into the river hoping that the sack would become light. But this time, the merchant spotted its trick. He was wise enough to understand that the donkey was doing this on purpose.

The foolish donkey tried to avoid doing its job by using tricks, but in the end it suffered a lot. It’s important to complete the tasks. Avoiding the work can create a lot of problems in our life and make us feel sad and frustrated. So we should always try to do our work on time and not be lazy. Otherwise, we will have a big loss in our lives. The story of the Foolish Donkey is an excellent moral story for kids.

Moral

Every day a salt seller loaded his foolish donkey with bags of salt and went to the market. On their way they had to cross a river. One day the donkey slipped and fell into the water. The merchant helped it get out of the water and soon noticed that the salt bag became light. He thought that he had discovered a new way of lightening the load. He started doing this everyday.

The merchant was smart and understood that the donkey was playing tricks. So, he decided to teach it a lesson. The next day he stood with sacks but filled them with sand instead of salt. The donkey came happily towards him, thinking that it would again be able to play the same trick. But as they started walking towards the river, the donkey realised that this time it was not going to be easy for it to fall into the water. This is because the sacks of sand got soaked in water and became heavy.

It became very hard for the donkey to walk and it soon suffered from bruises and cuts. The donkey learnt that it was not able to avoid work and had to do its job even when it wasn’t pleasant. Similarly, we should never try to avoid our duties as that will not solve any of our problems and will only make them worse. Moreover, we should always remember that nothing comes for free in this life and that we need to earn it by doing our work diligently. Read our wide collection of Moral Stories for kids to get inspired to do your duty and follow a positive path in life. Thanks for reading!

Characters

There was a washer man who had a dog and a donkey. One night, when the whole world was asleep, a thief broke into their house. The dog did not bark and the donkey started braying. The washer man got worried and decided to teach his donkey a lesson. He said to the donkey that if he didn’t stop his braying, he would have to do all the work himself. The donkey agreed. He started working hard and got very busy with his duties.

He used to carry a bag of salt on his donkey’s back and go to the market every day to sell it. On their way to the market they had to cross a river. Once, while crossing the river, the donkey tumbled down and the bag of salt fell into the water. Since the salt dissolved in water, the bag became very light to carry. The donkey was happy and started doing it everyday. The salt seller came to know about the cunning donkey’s trick and decided to teach it a lesson.

The clever jackal was the lion’s servant and he was very old. He was very hungry and was waiting for the lion to return so that he can have his share of meat. But the lion had gone to freshen up before his meal, so the jackal quickly ate the heart and ears of the donkey. He asked the jackal to keep watch and then quickly finished off the donkey.

Symbols

The fable of the Foolish Donkey is a powerful one that encapsulates many of the symbolic meanings loaded onto donkeys throughout history. The donkey is portrayed as the ultimate victim and a symbol of suffering. It is also a symbol of how people treat their slaves and other animals. Throughout the centuries, we have seen donkeys used as the scapegoat for human vices including pride, greed and lust.

The story of the donkey’s journey over the Alps is an allegory for life. Those who are lazy and avoid work will end up like the donkey. However, those who work hard and have a positive attitude will succeed in the long run. The donkey also teaches us to not play tricks on others. We must be true to our friends and family.

It was not uncommon for people in the past to use donkeys as symbols of political parties. For example, a political cartoon by Thomas Nast published on November 21, 1874 showed an elephant labeled as Republican and a jackass labeled as Democrat. This was a reference to the way in which the Republican party had been deceived by the phony scare of Caesarism and frightened away from its normal allegiance.

Donkeys are used as political symbols in a number of cultures worldwide. In Hinduism, for instance, the white donkey is sacred as a representation of Lord Vishnu.