Story of Donkey

Socrates the ancient Greek Philosopher used to give public discourses about serious subjects like Life and the afterlife while standing in a big stone in the corner of the market. People in the market and the passers-by come and listen for a few minutes and then they leave when they listen to his philosophy. They did not pay much attention to his philosophy. Socrates, when he found that the people are not giving much attention to his philosophy decided to do something different.

Socrates then announced to the general public that he is going to tell a story. A very interesting story. And started his story. People who heard his announcement came near very eagerly to listen to his story.

He started like this. “There was a merchant who has a lot of merchandise to sell decided to go to another city so that he could get some extra profit from the business. He packed his goods and took it on his shoulder and left for another city before the daybreak. He has to cross a big mountain to reach another city. There is no other way but to climb the mountain with his goods. While he was walking he found another man with a donkey also heading to the same city the merchant was going to. They were walking together and talking to each other and become friends. Then the merchant asked the man to rent his donkey to hold his merchandise till they reach the other city. The man agreed for a certain amount of money.”

At this point, Socrates found that a large audience gathered around him to listen to the story, and a lot of people forget their duty and listening to his story. People used to come and listen and leave within a few minutes also forget their business and stay back to listen to the story. 

Then he continued his story like this: “They have to climb a steep mountain to reach their destination. The merchant placed his merchandise upon the donkey and they started in the morning. It was easy to walk in the morning. As the day progressed, it become very tough for them to climb the mountain. They were sweating and become very tired. But as soon as the sun came on top of their head They decided to take a rest.”

Socrates found a large number of people gathered around him and very eagerly listening to his story. He continued:

“It was Noon and they were tired. They decided to take a break. But there were no trees or shade where they could sit and take rest, there was only the shade of donkey who carried the merchandise. Under the shade of that donkey, there was space for only one man. The owner of the donkey told the other man that the shade of the donkey is solely belongs to him as he is the owner. But the merchant wants to sit and take a rest so he disagrees with the argument of the owner of the donkey saying that right now he hired the donkey so the shade of the donkey solely belongs to him only.

The owner of the donkey told that he only let out the donkey, not the shade. But the merchant said that when he hired the donkey, the shade also belongs to him. Both the men fell into a fierce argument for the shade of the donkey. Both argued that it belongs to them legally.”

By this time there was a large number of people gathered around Socrates. So He climbed down from the stone where he was standing and walked away. People followed him requesting to complete the story. He paid no attention to them and continued his walking. People were following him and requesting him to complete the story all the more. They pressed him hard for the end of the story, so he stopped walking and turned to them and said. “I was talking to you people about great and serious things like life and the afterlife. But you were not paying any attention. But when I started to tell about an imaginative story of a Donkey and it shade you are very eager to listen and want to know the end of the story. You are paying more attention to silly things and ignoring the important things in life. You should look for important things in life, do not run after silly things like stories. Do some important things every day and pursue it.”