The Lazy Donkey

Once there lived a poor laborer, Bhola, in a village. He used to earn on a daily wage by working for salt merchants. He had a donkey. Bhola always treated his donkey with love and affection. Though Bhola was poor, he never made his donkey to work too hard to earn more money. On the contrary, the donkey was lazy and cunning. Even after having a kind and generous master, he always used to think of some tricks to avoid the work. The poor Bhola had to take some load on his back himself. The donkey used to feel very happy by looking at the condition of his foolish master.

One day, Bhola was going to a nearby village with some sacks of salt on his back and some on the back of the donkey. On the way, there came a river. Bhola warned his donkey to be careful, else he might fall into water. Still, the donkey slipped and fell into the water. With some efforts, he stood up. To his great surprise, he found the sacks became lighter (as some of the salt dissolved in water!!). The donkey thought, 'I fell down in the water and the sacks are lighter. Its a nice trick.' *Grins* 'Bhola, my master, now load me with as much salt you wish. Now I know what to do!!!'

From that day onward, the donkey used to fall into water whenever they had to cross any lake or river. The donkey was proud of his cleverness. He thought, 'My master is definitely a fool. I am using the same trick from several days and still he had no idea. Whatever it may be, its very good for me.' Bhola was very worried of his financial losses because of the donkey's behavior. He thought, 'I always treated this donkey kindly. But he just never wants to work. He always falls in water. What should I do!!' Bhola decided that he would not allow the donkey to fall in water anymore. So instead of crossing the stream of river, Bhola started walking along the road near the stream. It was a longer path. The donkey started feeling angry and irritated. He pulled the rope out of the control of Bhola and jumped into the water. Bhola disliked this behavior and became very angry. He decided to teach the donkey a lesson.

Next day, instead of the salt; he loaded the sacks of donkey with cotton. They started to travel as usual. The donkey thought, 'Wow!! The sacks are lighter today. The master seems to be more kind. It would be alright if I don't fall in water today. But what if I fall.... The weight will be negligible then.!!' Bhola smiled and thought, 'My donkey has to learn a lesson today.' Bhola took the donkey through the stream of river. It was an opportunity for the donkey. He fell down into the water. The cotton soaked the water and it increased the weight of sacks. The donkey did not understand how the weight of sacks increased. He was not even able to stand. Moreover, Bhola started to beat him with a cane. Neither the donkey was able to bear it nor could he stand and run away. It was as if he dug a grave for himself. From that day, the donkey learned his lesson that he should honestly do his work with full sincerity. The laziness will always cause troubles at some point of time.