Little Crying Donkey

[AbuHossam]

Once upon a time, in a village, there was an old man who lived alone in a small house on the edge of the forest. He had only a donkey for companionship, which helped him carry pears every day to the mill in exchange for flour.

Both the pears and the bag of flour were light, the most useful thing that the donkey helped the old man was the joy of having a companion on the journey.

One day, the donkey's leg hurt. He cried an ocean with the old man,* his painful leg swelling up, it hurt so much that he didn't care about the green grass.

The old man was very sad, so he decided to go to the town to find a vet to treat the donkey. There was no valuable thing in the house, so the old man picked the three largest pears in his garden, put them in his pocket, and went to the town.

Along the way, when the old man was resting, a goblin approached, he smelled pear fragrance in the old man's bag, so he reached out his hand to ask the old man for one.

The old man said to the goblin:

- oh god! I also want to give you a pear, it's no big deal. But I only have these pears to ask a vet to examine my poor donkey? Oh, if only I had something else to give you.

The goblin told the old man that although he did not know how to cure the illness, he had magic to take away other people's pain, if the old man needed it in the future, a pear in exchange for seven no-pain days.

The old man said goodbye to the goblin and continued his trip. But sadly, no one in the town knew how to cure the donkey's illness, and if they did, they would not accept a long trip into the forest for only three pears.

So the old man had to come back. And of course, because he loved his poor donkey, the old man went to the goblin's place to ask for help.

The goblin was very fair, he took a pear from the old man and take away the donkey's pain for seven days, and then he promised to continue the exchange between the pear and the pain for the next seven days, constantly like that.

It was just like the goblin said, he couldn't cure the injury, the pain was taken away but the donkey's swelling was still there, and it seemed to be getting bigger every day. The donkey only lay in one place, unable to move.

The old man had to accept that, what else could he do? At least, now the donkey didn't cry anymore and he was happy again when he grazed on the lush grass.

But the old man had only one pear tree. Because he wanted to exchange pears with the goblin, so the old man had to cut down the number of pears used in exchange for flour. He ate less and less flour each day, if he saves and calculates carefully, he could still hold out.

Then time passed, and winter came. When the first snowflake of winter fell, there was only one last pear left on the branch.

The appointed day came, when the goblin arrived, the old man gave him the last pear. The goblin said to the old man:

- It's useless, my poor old man. The donkey's wound was already very severe, even if I take away the pain, I am afraid that he couldn't make it in this cold. Or even today.

The old man raised the pear and said to the goblin:

- Just take it, I know this donkey's character, he is very afraid of being hurt, and I am afraid to hear him cry. Please take it and give both him and me the peace.

The goblin nodded, took the pear, and began the agreed exchange. He knew this was the last exchange, not only for the donkey but also for the old man, who was already very weak.

Tonight, the first cold day of winter, when the Winter Queen began to unleash her powers to frighten the world, the old man had a strange dream.

He dreamed that Death was coming to find him. When Death stood at the door, he was stopped by a donkey. the donkey plays all kinds of tricks, in general, crying and begging and rolling and yelling, especially, of course, is extremely stubborn.

Then Death sighed... and he turned his back to leave, and the donkey happily followed behind him.

The dream still had a few more things, but the man was old, his mind was not very clear, so he could not remember all those things.

The next morning, when the old man awoke, the snow was thick, and the donkey was passed away, everything was as it should be. But when the old man went out of the house, he saw a strange thing, a miracle.

In front of the old man, was a large garden full of heavy pears on the branches.

The first thing the old man did was to fill his bag with delicious pears and carried them into the village. He wanted to use the bag of pears in exchange for some flour and another donkey.

They led the old man into the donkey stable, and let him choose one at will. He chose a donkey that had lost its mother. The donkey was very young and small, he still could not carry goods.

But that's okay, the winter has less grass, raising a donkey will be easier for the old man.

It just seems like the old man didn't have a knack for finding a good donkey. This little donkey just followed the old man for a few steps, then he tripped and fell, the scratch was a little bit that has to look closely to see it, but the donkey was still lying there writhing and crying loudly.

He wait until the old man picked him up to stop crying, and when he stopped, he immediately laughed hihihaah.

Kingsun Lang