A Merchant And His Donkey

Sometimes we make decisions that will go on to hurt us later when we don’t properly think them through. This is a short story about life, it teaches us how to be careful in our decision making. Find out what happened between the merchant and his donkey.

Once upon a time, in a particular land lived a merchant and his donkey. On a lovely spring morning, the merchant loaded bags of salt on his donkey and journeyed to the market to sell the bags of salt. The merchant and his donkey took the usual route to the market. There was a river on the route very close to the market.

Just when the merchant and his donkey arrived at the river, the donkey slipped and fell into the river. The donkey tried to make it to the river bank but realized that the bags of salt loaded on its back by the merchant had become lighter. The merchant was sad, he took the donkey back home since the salt could not be recovered.

Back home, the merchant loaded the donkey with more bags of salt and they left for the market again. When they got to the river, this time the donkey deliberately fell into the river and the whole bags of salt was lost. The merchant couldn’t believe what was happening. He had discovered the donkey’s plot.

“I will teach this donkey a lesson,” he said.

He took the donkey home again for the second time, he loaded the donkey with bags of sponges and they left for the market.

On their way, the merchant kept thinking about what would have warranted this attitude from the donkey. When they got to the river, the donkey not knowing what the merchant had done, fell into the river as before. But, he soon realized that the load became heavier instead of being lighter. He couldn’t get out of the river as before.

“You foolish donkey, I was able to discover your tricks, do you think you are smart? You cannot fool a man more than once, this will teach you a lesson about life.” The merchant said.

Be careful how you go about certain decisions, you might think you are smart, but it can be very hurtful if you don’t think it through and understand its consequences. The donkey thought he was smart and caused a lot of harm to the merchant, but what did it get him? More harm will come to you if you decide to hurt people deliberately for no just cause. Feel free to leave a comment below and visit us for more beautiful kid stories.