o
me!--a disgrace, dear master, that even your worst enemy would not
inflict upon you! Taken to the market to be sold I was bought by the
director of an equestrian company, who took it into his head to make a
famous dancer of me, and a famous leaper through hoops. But one night
during a performance I had a bad fall in the circus and lamed both my
legs. Then the director, not knowing what to do with a lame donkey, sent
me to be sold, and you were the purchaser!"

"Only too true. And I paid two dollars for you. And now, who will give
me back my good money?"

"And why did you buy me? You bought me to make a drum of my skin!"

"Only too true! And now, where shall I find another skin?"

"Don't despair, master. There are such a number of little donkeys in the
world!"

"Tell me, you impertinent rascal, does your story end here?"

"No," answered the puppet; "I have another two words to say and then I
shall have finished. After you had bought me you brought me to this
place to kill me; but then, yielding to a feeling of compassion, you
preferred to tie a stone round my neck and to throw me into the sea.
This humane feeling does you great honor and I shall always be grateful
to you for it. But, nevertheless, dear master, this time you made your
calculations without considering the Fairy!"

"And who is the Fairy?"

"She is my mamma and she resembles all other good mammas who care for
their children, and who never lose sight of them, but help them
lovingly, even when, on account of their foolishness and evil conduct,
they deserve to be abandoned and left to themselves. Well, then, the
good Fairy, as soon as she saw that I was in danger of drowning, sent
immediately an immense shoal of fish, who, believing me really to be a
little dead donkey, began to eat me. And what mouthfuls they took; I
should never have thought that fish were greedier than boys! Some ate my
ears, some my muzzle, others my neck and mane, some the skin of my legs,
some my coat. Amongst them there was a little fish so polite that he
even condescended to eat my tail."

"From this time forth," said his purchaser, horrified, "I swear that I
will never touch fish. It would be too dreadful to open a mullet, or a
fried whiting, and to find inside a donkey's tail!"

"I agree with you," said the puppet, laughing. "However, I must tell you
that when the fish had finished eating the donkey's hide that covered me
from head to foot, they naturally reached the bon