Part 25 (2/2)
And then he cried out to the men, ”Ho, my friends, will you please come and shovel a range of mountains upon my back?”
”What?”
”Will you please come and shovel a range of mountains upon my back?”
The men were silent for a time. Then they went apart and debated. They gesticulated a great deal.
Some apparently said one thing and some another. At last they paused and one of their number came forward.
”Why do you wish a range of mountains shovelled upon your back?”
”It is a wager,” cried the donkey.
The men consulted again. And as the discussion became older, their heads went closer and closer together, until they merely whispered, and did not gesticulate at all. Ultimately they cried, ”Yes, certainly we will shovel a range of mountains upon your back for you.”
”Ah, thanks,” said the donkey.
”Here is surely some deviltry,” said the horse behind his hoof to the ox.
The entire party proceeded then to the mountains. The donkey drew a long breath and braced his legs.
”Are you ready?” asked the men.
”All ready,” cried the donkey.
The men began to shovel.
The dirt and stones flew over the donkey's back in showers. It was not long before his legs were hidden. Presently only his neck and head remained in view. Then at last this wise donkey vanished. There had been made no great effect upon the range of mountains. They still towered toward the sky.
The watching crowd saw a heap of dirt and stones make a little movement and then was heard a m.u.f.fled cry. ”Enough! Enough! It was not two ranges of mountains! It is not fair! It is not fair!”
But the men only laughed as they shovelled on.
”Enough! Enough! Oh, woe is me--thirty snow-capped peaks upon my little back. Ah, these false, false men! Oh, virtuous, wise, and holy men, desist.”
The men again laughed. They were as busy as fiends with their shovels.
”Ah, brutal, cowardly, accursed men; ah, good, gentle, and holy men, please remove some of those d.a.m.nable peaks. I will adore your beautiful shovels forever. I will be slave to the beckoning of your little fingers. I will no longer be my own donkey--I will be your donkey.”
The men burst into a triumphant shout and ceased shovelling.
”Swear it, mountain-carrier.”
”I swear! I swear! I swear!”
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