In a village far away from the town lived a baker. He was a good man and used to make delicious bread and cakes every day. To sell these delicious bread and cakes, the Baker had to go to the town Market. The town Market was quite far. Now for taking his bakery products to the town market, Baker used his donkey cart.
The Baker had a grey donkey, and he stayed in a stable right next to the bakery wall. The Baker would get up early in the morning, served the donkey hay, and then bake all that he could for the day; the Baker would then pull out the cart and load it with his baked good before harnessing the cart donkey to it. He would then sit on the cart, and to move rye cart, he would call out to the donkey,”hurrrrr, click, click with his mouth and tongue. This was like a chant till the Baker at frequent intervals called out ”hurrrrr, click, click, ” the donkey would keep moving.
As soon as Baker reached the market, he would set up his temporary shop or stall. Unharness the donkey, tie him in the shade under the tree, rest, and graze on the nearby grass. Usually, the Baker would have sold all his stuff by noon, and the Baker would then harness the donkey to the cart, sit on the cart, and start the chant ”hurrrrr, click, click.” The doney would now get to a trot as the cart was lighter.
The donkey and the Baker had a great understanding and just the change in the tome if the ”hurrrrr click, Click, the donkey would understand what is desired of him.
One day, as usual, the Baker got up early in the morning, got his baked goods ready, and loaded his donkey cart and set out saying ”hurrrrr, click, click,” with his mouth. However, Baker was not feeling very well; probably, he had a headache and some fever. The Baker en route to the town fell silent, and the donkey stopped wondering what was wrong. The donkey waited for several minutes but did not get a response from Baker.
The donkey turned his neck to look at the Baker, and he saw that the Baker was asleep on the cart with his feet dangling ng from the cart. While he was a donkey, the donkey understood something was wrong but did not know what to do. So after some serious pondering which is a rare case in donkeys, he turned around and headed home.
On reaching home, the Bakery, the donkey just stood in front of it, not knowing what to do. The donkey again looked back and saw that Baker was in the same state as he had seen him when he turned back home. The donkey, not knowing what to do, start to bray, ”her-haw”’ ”hee-haw”,” hee-haw”,”her-haw,” ”her-haw”.
Listing to the donkey's loud brays, everyone near the Bakery came out to see why the donkey made so much noise.
As the neighbours come out, they saw that Baker was lying unconscious on the cart. The neighbours immediately carried the Baker into his house, above the Bakery, and called the village Doctor. The Doctor checked the Baker and gave him medicine.
Everyone in the town praised the donkey, saying if not for dinner, the Baker would have suffered much more, and who knows, even died due to exposure.
When Baker got well, he hugged his donkey and cried for the donkey had saved his life.
The donkey and the Baker remained together for life.
Habits need to give way to intelligence.
© Jawahar Dhawan
