'O son of the Sultan! I am by kind an ass-- Asinus Caballus-- and the cause of my coming to this place is that I am fleeing from the son of Adam.' Asked the lion whelp, 'Dost thou fear then that he will kill thee?' Answered the ass, 'Not so, O son of the Sultan, but I dread lest he put a cheat on me and mount upon me; for he hath a thing called Pack saddle, which he setteth on my back; also a thing called Girths which he bindeth about my belly; and a thing called Crupper which he putteth under my tail, and a thing called Bit which he placeth in my mouth: and he fashioneth me a goad [1] and goadeth me with it and maketh me run more than my strength. If I stumble he curseth me, and if I bray, he revileth me; [2] and at last when I grow old and can no longer run, he putteth on me a panel [3] of wood and delivereth me to the water carriers, who load my back with water from the river in skins and other vessels, such as jars, and I cease not to wone in misery and abasement and fatigue till I die, when they cast me on the rubbish-heaps to the dogs. So what grief can surpass this grief and what calamities can be greater than these calamities?' Now when I heard, O peahen, the ass's words, my skin shuddered, and became as gooseflesh at the son of Adam; and I said to the lion whelp, 'O my lord, the ass of a verity hath excuse and his words add terror to my terror.' Then quoth the young lion to the ass, 'Whither goest thou?' Quoth he, 'Before sunrise I espied the son of Adam afar off, and fled from him; and now I am minded to flee forth and run without ceasing for the greatness of my fear of him, so haply I may find me a place of shelter from the perfidious son of Adam.' Whilst the ass was thus discoursing with the lion whelp, seeking the while to take
- ↑ The goad still used by the rascally Egyptian donkey-boy is a sharp nail at the end of a stick; and claims the special attention of societies for the protection of animals.
- ↑ "The most ungrateful of all voices surely is the voice of asses" (Koran xxxi. 18); and hence the "braying of hell" (Koran Ixvii.7). The vulgar still believe that the donkey brays when seeing the Devil. "The last animal which entered the Ark with Noah was the Ass to whose tail Iblis was clinging. At the threshold the ass seemed troubled and could enter no further when Noah said to him:--Fie upon thee! come in. But as the ass was still troubled and did not advance Noah cried:--Come in, though the Devil be with thee!, so the ass entered and with him Iblis. Thereupon Noah asked:--O enemy of Allah who brought thee into the Ark ?, and Iblis answered:--Thou art the man, for thou saidest to the ass, come in though the Devil be with thee! (Kitáb al-Unwán fi Makáid al-Niswán quoted by Lane ii. 54).
- ↑ Arab. "Rihl," a wooden saddle stuffed with straw and matting. In Europe the ass might complain that his latter end is the sausage. In England they say no man sees a dead donkey: I have seen dozens and, unfortunately, my own.
