It was a little girl who first saw the mysterious shape in the distance.
ある日のことです。小さい女の子が遠くのほうに不思議な形をしたものをみつけました。
As the shape moved closer, she saw that it was a heavily pregnant woman.
その形が近づいてきたとき、女の子は大きなお腹をした妊婦さんだと気が付きました。
Shy but brave, the little girl moved nearer to the woman.
“We must keep her with us,” the little girl’s people decided. “We’ll keep her and her child safe.”
But when they saw the baby, everyone jumped back in shock.
“A donkey?!”
しかし、赤ちゃんが出てきたとき、彼らは驚きで飛び跳ねました。「ロバ？！」
Everyone began to argue.
“We said we would keep mother and child safe, and that’s what we’ll do,” said some.
“But they will bring us bad luck!” said others.
Now, if the child had stayed that same, small size, everything might have been different. But the donkey child grew and grew until he could no longer fit on his mother’s back.
And no matter how hard he tried, he could not behave like a human being. His mother was often tired and frustrated. Sometimes she made him do work meant for animals.
Confusion and anger built up inside Donkey. He couldn’t do this and he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t be like this and he couldn’t be like that.
He became so angry that, one day, he kicked his mother to the ground.
By the time he stopped running, it was night, and Donkey was lost.
“Hee haw?” he whispered to the darkness.
“Hee Haw?” it echoed back. He was alone.
Curling himself into a tight ball, he fell into a deep and troubled sleep.
Donkey went to stay with the old man, who taught him many different ways to survive.
Donkey listened and learned, and so did the old man. They helped each other, and they laughed together.
The donkey child and his mother have grown together and found many ways of living side by side.
Slowly, all around them, other families have started to settle.
