'And why did you buy me? You bought me to make a drum of my skin! . . . a drum! . . .'
'Only too true! And now where shall I find another skin? . . .'
'Don't despair, master. There are such a number of little donkeys in the world!'
'Tell me, you impertinent rascal, does your story end here?'
'No,' answered the puppet; 'I have another two words to say and then I shall have finished. After you had bought me you brought me to this place to kill me; but then, yielding to a feeling of compassion, you preferred to tie a stone round my neck and to throw me into the sea. This humane feeling does you great honour, and I shall always be grateful to you for it. But nevertheless, dear master, this time you made your calculations without considering the Fairy! . . .'
'And who is this Fairy?'
'She is my mamma, and she resembles all other good mammas who care for their children, and who never lose sight of them, but help them lovingly, even when on account of their foolishness and evil conduct they deserve to be abandoned and left to themselves. Well, then, the good Fairy, as soon as she saw that I was in danger of drowning, sent immediately an immense shoal of fish, who, believing me really to be a little dead donkey,
