Reading Notes: Asian and African, Reading A
1. Tibetan Folk Tales: The Donkey and the Rock by Albert Shelton.
A long time ago in Tibet, there was a very just king who ruled in a small part of the country. In this small corner, there lived two poor, but good, men who did their best to support their mothers everyday.
One day, one of the men headed towards a village in the mountains carrying a jar of oil to sell along the way. During his journey upwards, he grew tired and set the jar of oil down on a rock so that he could rest. While he sat there resting, the other good man was coming down the mountain with his donkey. The donkey was carrying two large loads of wood stacked on each side of him, so he wasn't aware of the jar when passing by. He accidentally knocked it off the rock and broke it, spilling all the oil.
The man who owned the oil was angry and began to quarrel with the man who owned the donkey, who said it wasn't his fault but his donkey's fault. The man who owned the oil said he could not afford the loss of his oil, because he needed the profits from selling it to buy food for himself and his mother.
The two men went to the fair king who questioned them both on the matter. He decided that neither man was to blame for the breaking of the oil; they were both good men who took care of their mothers and were honest in their work. He concluded it was no one's fault but the donkey and the rock's, and to have them brought to him so that he could judge them.
So the little donkey was brought in chains and led to the prison, and the king sent his men to seek out the rock. When the people of the city had heard of this ridiculous trial, they felt sure their king had gone mad. When the trial came, the people crowded into the courtyard to see it play out, however once the king arrived he ordered the gates closed and locked. The king told the people that they should know there is no law by which a donkey and a rock could be held on trial, and so their curiosity on something so absurd would cost them all a half-cent to leave the courtyard. He then used the money made from the people to give to the man who owned the oil, so that the debt was paid and he was happy, and the case was closed.
Bibliography:
Tibetan Folk Tales by Albert Shelton
A long time ago in Tibet, there was a very just king who ruled in a small part of the country. In this small corner, there lived two poor, but good, men who did their best to support their mothers everyday.
One day, one of the men headed towards a village in the mountains carrying a jar of oil to sell along the way. During his journey upwards, he grew tired and set the jar of oil down on a rock so that he could rest. While he sat there resting, the other good man was coming down the mountain with his donkey. The donkey was carrying two large loads of wood stacked on each side of him, so he wasn't aware of the jar when passing by. He accidentally knocked it off the rock and broke it, spilling all the oil.
The man who owned the oil was angry and began to quarrel with the man who owned the donkey, who said it wasn't his fault but his donkey's fault. The man who owned the oil said he could not afford the loss of his oil, because he needed the profits from selling it to buy food for himself and his mother.
The two men went to the fair king who questioned them both on the matter. He decided that neither man was to blame for the breaking of the oil; they were both good men who took care of their mothers and were honest in their work. He concluded it was no one's fault but the donkey and the rock's, and to have them brought to him so that he could judge them.
So the little donkey was brought in chains and led to the prison, and the king sent his men to seek out the rock. When the people of the city had heard of this ridiculous trial, they felt sure their king had gone mad. When the trial came, the people crowded into the courtyard to see it play out, however once the king arrived he ordered the gates closed and locked. The king told the people that they should know there is no law by which a donkey and a rock could be held on trial, and so their curiosity on something so absurd would cost them all a half-cent to leave the courtyard. He then used the money made from the people to give to the man who owned the oil, so that the debt was paid and he was happy, and the case was closed.
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| Donkey and Rock. Source: Blogspot. |
Bibliography:
Tibetan Folk Tales by Albert Shelton
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