The Musical Donkey

In a certain town lived a donkey called Prig. By day he carried bundles of laundry for his master, but at night he was free to wander wherever he liked. One night, out in the fields, he met a jackal and the two became friends. Together they pushed through a hedge into a cucumber patch, ate as many cucumbers as they could hold, and parted at dawn to go home. After that they came back night after night.

One night, standing among the cucumbers, the donkey felt very pleased with himself. “Look, nephew,” he said to the jackal, “what a wonderful night it is. I think I will sing a song. Which kind of song shall it be?”

“Please don’t, uncle,” said the jackal. “We are here as thieves, and thieves should keep very quiet. Besides, your voice is not sweet. It sounds like someone blowing a conch shell. The farmers will hear you from far away, and they will come and tie you up or kill you. Keep quiet and keep eating.”

“Nonsense,” said the donkey. “You live in the woods, so you know nothing about music. Is there anything lovelier than a song on a clear moonlit night?”

“That is true, uncle,” said the jackal, “but your bray is harsh. Why do something that will ruin everything?”

“Fool!” said the donkey. “Do you think I don’t understand singing?” And he rattled off a long list of musical learning: the notes and scales, the pitches and rhythms and pauses, the many kinds of song and feeling, and how even the gods are soothed by music. “There is nothing nobler on earth or in heaven than song,” he declared. “How dare you suggest I have no taste?”

“Very well, uncle,” said the jackal. “I will wait by the gap in the hedge and keep watch for the farmers. You sing as much as you want.”

The jackal went to the hedge. The donkey stretched out his neck and began to bray. The farmers woke at the noise and were furious. They grabbed sticks, rushed into the field, and beat the donkey until he fell down. Then they tied a heavy wooden mortar around his neck, so he could not get away, and went back to sleep.

After a while the donkey got up. Although he was hurt, he managed to get back onto his feet. With the mortar still hanging from his neck, he trampled his way through the hedge and ran off.

The jackal had watched it all from a safe distance. “Well sung, uncle!” he called with a grin. “Why didn’t you stop when I told you to? What a fine necklace you have earned for your music.”

About this fable

Arthur W. Ryder’s 1925 translation of the Panchatantra places “The Musical Donkey” in Book V, “Ill-Considered Action.” One of four friends travelling together tells it to warn another who will not take good advice, and it leads straight into the tale of the weaver Slow.

Ryder gives the donkey a long verse list of musical terms; this page sums it up in a sentence rather than repeating it.

Read the original: Arthur W. Ryder, The Panchatantra (1925), Internet Archive

Best for ages 6–8 — an animal fable containing a severe beating; discuss the harm as well as the irony.

A closer reading

The donkey answers a practical warning with a lecture about music. Knowing terms for notes and rhythms does not answer the jackal’s actual concern: any loud noise will expose their theft. The disagreement is about circumstances as much as singing ability.

The jackal gives sound advice but is also stealing cucumbers. His safe retreat and final joke do not make him an entirely admirable friend. The ‘necklace’ is a painful restraint, so the irony can be understood without treating the beating as harmless or deserved entertainment.

Try this with the story

Write the jackal’s warning in one sentence without mentioning whether the donkey sings well. Then identify which part of the donkey’s reply fails to answer it. Discuss a choice that would end the theft without anyone being hurt.

Talk about it

• What practical danger does the donkey’s musical lecture ignore?
• Is the jackal innocent of the cucumber theft?
• Why is calling the mortar a necklace ironic?

Related stories

• The Lion and the Foolish Donkey — another Panchatantra donkey who will not learn
• The Story of the Lion and the Donkey — a donkey, a jackal and a dangerous meal
• The Four Learned Fools — another Book V tale about learning without sense