Anonymous Author of The Thousand and One Nights:

The Donkey

translated from the Arabic by N.J. Dagwood

[See the copyright notice at the end of this document.]

The Thousand and One Nights is a collection of folktales drawn from traditional Arab, Persian, and Indian sources compiled by an unknown Egyptian writer in the seventeenth century.  Written in colloquial Arabic, the work incorporates a variety of styles and idioms that testifies to its diverse sources.  The Thousand and One Nights was soon translated into French, English, and other languages.  Eventually it became -- sometimes under the title Arabian Nights -- the most widely read book of Arabic literature in the West.  The unifying plan of the individual tales is the story of Scheherazade, a beautiful maiden who is married to the Shahriyar, King of Samarkand.  After executing his first queen for infidelity, Shahriyar marries a virgin each day and then kills her the next morning.  His vizier's daughter, young Scheherazade, willingly weds the king and entertains him for a thousand and one nights with her stories of Sinbad, Aladdin, Ali Baba, djins, and sorcerers.  She survives by leaving each night's tale incomplete and only finishing it the next evening, whereupon she starts a new story.  By the thousand and first night, she has already borne the king three sons and won his devotion.

 

It is related that a pair of tricksters once saw a simpleton leading a donkey by its halter along a deserted road.  "I will steal that beast," said one of them to his companion, "and make an ass of its master.  Follow me and you shall see."

     He went up behind the simpleton without a sound, and, deftly loosing the halter from the donkey, placed it round his own neck.  He then jogged along as though nothing had happened.

     When his friend had safely made off with the beast, the thief abruptly halted and would not yield to the repeated jerks of the rope.  Looking over his shoulder, the simpleton was utterly confounded to see his donkey transformed into a human being.

     "Who in heaven's name are you? he cried.

     "Sir," replied the thief, "I am your donkey; but my story is marvelously strange.  It all happened one day when I returned home very drunk, as was my custom.  My pious old mother received me with an indignant rebuke and pleaded with me against my evil ways.  But I took up my staff and beat her.  Whereupon she invoked Allah/s vengeance and I was instantly transformed into the donkey which has faithfully served you all these years.  Today the old woman must have taken pity on me and prayed to Allah to change me back into human shape."

     "There is no strength or help save in Allah!" cried the simpleton.  "I beg you to pardon the treatment you have received at my hands and all the hardships you have endured in my service."

     He set the robber free, and returned home in a pitiful state of bewilderment and rejection.  [dejection?]

     "What has happened to you, and where is your donkey?" asked his wife.

     When he had related to her the strange story, the woman began to wring her hands, crying:  "The wrath of Allah will be upon us now for having used a human being so brutally."  And she fell down penitently on her knees, reciting verses from the Koran.

     For several days afterwards the simpleton stayed idle at home.  At length his wife counseled him to go and buy another donkey in order that he might resume his work.  So he went off to the market-place, and, as he was inspecting the animals put up for sale, he was astounded to see his own donkey amongst them.  Having identified the beast beyond all doubt, the simpleton whispered in its ear:

     "The Devil take you for an incorrigible wretch!  Have you been drinking and beating your old mother again?  By Allah, I will not buy you a second time!"

  There is a Study Guide to this story.

  Suggestions are welcome.  Please send your comments to lyman@ksu.edu .

   The material on this page -- the introductory note, as well as the text (translation) of the story -- is taken from Dana Gioia and R. S. Gwynn, eds., The Longman Anthology of Short Fiction:  Stories and Authors in Context,  (N.Y.:  Longman, 2001), pp. 17-18).  It is copyright © 2001by Dana Gioia and R. S. Gwynn, and is reproduced here under fair use doctrine for use in English 320 only.

   This page last updated 13 March 2003 .