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The donkey and the lion: Fable
Irvin Ivan Estrada Hernandez
Manola Dorantes
Lesson: You never understand what another person is thinking or going through, until you put yourself in their shoes.
The donkey and the lion
The donkey and the lion looked at each other for several minutes, unable to utter a word. There was only vast land around them, with the exception of some low round bushes and mountains. They knew this was the beginning of something big, unsure of what that might be; the lion asked the donkey if he would like to go explore the mountains. The donkey didn’t trust the lion at all so he said he would just lie by the bushes by himself. The lion didn’t understand why he was acting this way but assured him that he meant no wrong and that he was just trying to figure out what happened with all of the other creatures, but the response of the donkey was just to walk away and just lie besides a short bush in the middle of the field.
As hours passed, the lion started getting annoyed with the donkey´s attitude and the fact he didn’t want answers about what had happened, but nevertheless the lion just waited for the donkey to come to him and accept his invitation to explore.
With the setting of the sun, came some strong winds and rain that made the lion want to seek for shelter, so he went over to the donkey and said:
¨ Let´s go find a cave to use as a shelter, it’s not safe. ¨
The donkey said:
¨No, I am fine here. Let me be.¨
The lion, really angry said:
¨ I don’t understand you! I am trying to help but okay, have it your way. ¨ And ran towards the mountain.
The lion found the cave where the sound was coming from, never in his life had he heard something like that, a sound so strong and horrible that his first thought was to run away. Darkness surrounded him when he suddenly felt a vibration in his feet. The lion ran out of the cave and saw the donkey lying in the same place; but then he looked behind the mountain and saw something horrible: thousands of animals running towards the donkey´s direction. The lion immediately went across the land to warn him. He shouted:
“¡Move donkey, move!”
“….”
“¡Thousands of animals are coming this way!”
“…. Who cares…”
“Don`t you want to live? ¡Think of your family and friends!
“ … I don´t trust your kind. Leave me alone.”
But the lion stayed at his side. Two elephants ran in their direction, and the lion started to roar to save the donkey. The elephants moved away.
“Why are you doing this?”
“…”
“I don´t want to be saved”
With a low voice the lion responded:
“That doesn´t mean that I would leave you alone. I can`t lose anyone else”
Suddenly the donkey looked the lion differently. He trusted him.
“Ok, Let´s move”
They ran to the cave and passed the night.
The days passed and the donkey told the lion the reason why he initially didn’t trust him. Finally, the lion understood why: the people he trusted had killed his family.
Finally, the donkey agreed to go into the cave and see what was causing those loud noises. When they entered they saw something incredible. They were suddenly overcome with peace and joy.
The end.
