KNOWLEDGE: TALES
Tale about a donkeyDonkey is one of a few domestic animals that do not blindly obey human orders. The name of it in our language is therefore synonymous to the word "moron", however, without any justification. Once upon a time there lived an old man and he had an old donkey. The animal served him with devotion for many years, but one day it fell down into water well. The poor old man started crying in desperation, he tried to think of something how to help his beloved donkey. Although he mulled over many options and hours in search of a solution, he could not come up with anything wise. So he decided to bury the well. "Anyway, the donkey is too old and the well is dried up, so it's time to do it now", he said to himself. He asked his neighbours for help. Together with him they set about with shovels and began filling up the well with soil. But the old donkey quickly understood what was the matter and began to bray terribly. Then he suddenly became quiet. The old man peeped into the well and could see that the donkey - after every shower of soil that fell down - was doing something fantastic - shaking himself off from it, trampling the soil down, the donkey got, bit by bit, only higher. The old man and his neighbours kept throwing the soil into the well and every time the donkey shook the soil off and moved higher. When he finally got out of the well, he quietly moved away and overwhelmed all people around. We, too, shake off the garbage and burdens that fall on our heads in times when we collapse or find only the bottom edge. A trick how to get out of this trouble requires our efforts to shake the old and wrong things off and have courage to make a step up. Every problem can create an opportunity that is mercifully handed over to us as a possibility to get out of our plight. If you do not surrender, there is still a promising way out of every problem. When you feel bad, do not blame others, do not call them "morons", but remember this story of the wise animal and do not give it up! |