Donkey’s Quest
“Hey, Donkey, where are you going?” asked Spider.
“Don’t bother me; I have important business,” Donkey replied importantly.
“What business?” asked Spider.
“None of your business,” was Donkey’s curt reply.
“Hey, Donkey, what’s your hurry,” asked Raven.
“I have important business and I must get there,” answered Donkey, sounding a little out of breath.
“Hey, Donkey, you look exhausted,” said Wolf.
“I have important business, but it’s weighing me down,” replied Donkey. “I’m not sure if I’ll get there.”
“Where are you going?”
“Well, I’m not sure,” said Donkey, pausing long enough to get a drink of water. “But I know it’s important.”
“How do you know?” asked Horse, who had also stopped for a drink.
“Can’t you see what I’m carrying?” asked Donkey with frustration.
Raven flew in and landed on Donkey’s back, but not really on his back because his back was covered with bundles of something. “What is all this?” he asked.
“Can’t you tell?” said Donkey with exasperation. “Can’t you see how important they are?”
“No,” said Raven.
“No,” said Horse.
“No,” said Wolf.
“No,” said Spider, who had just crawled over.
“Oh, please,” said Donkey. “It’s so obvious. It’s great works of literature, all the important classics, all the wonderful words of men.”
“Do you read?” asked Horse.
“Do you understand them?” asked Wolf.
“Do you get anything out of them?” asked Raven. And Spider just tapped his eight legs and looked puzzled.
“Well, no,” replied Donkey, answering all their questions at once. “I don’t read them or understand them. I just carry them.”
“But what’s the point?” asked Wolf. “If you’re weighted down with stuff you don’t read or understand, what’s the point?”
Donkey didn’t reply. He was tired and sore from carrying these great works, and he didn’t have an answer for their questions. But it was what he did, what he had always done, and he didn’t know any other way. So, with a sigh, he just moved on and left the other animals wondering at his stubbornness, his inability to see that just carrying things is not the same as absorbing and benefiting from their message.
As the Quran tells us: The example of those who were given the Torah then failed to uphold it is like the donkey carrying great works of literature. Miserable indeed is the example of people who rejected GOD’s revelations. GOD does not guide the wicked people. [62:5]
