The Flying Donkey

The Flying Donkey

The Two Legs were always leading him around by the nose. Sometimes the Donkey was petted by little Two Legs and fed apples and carrots. He liked those days. Sometimes he was left to stand around in the warm sun, undressed, untouched, quiet – chomping on sweet clover in the field where he was left to wander.

And sometimes the Two Legs took him someplace new. Today was one of those days.

The Two Legs came to his field just as the big orange sun was pushing above the edge of the world. They gibbered at him in their strange Two Leg language and put a ropey thing over his head, fastening a cord to it. They guided him to the entrance of the dark bouncy box that changed the world outside of it to a new place after shuddering and shaking him senseless in lonely musty smelling darkness.

The Donkey didn’t like the small dark bouncy box and dug his heels into the earth, explaining in his far simpler speech that he would rather stay right here under the brightening sky and enjoy a little time munching on the sweet grass and clover in his field. He had noticed some of the purple clover variety which was a rare treat and was planning on saving some for later. But as usual the Two Legs wouldn’t listen and after a sharp pain on his hindquarter, he jumped with a shout and ran straight into the dark bouncy box, which the Two Legs swiftly closed behind him.

He was trapped, frightened and lonely in the darkness while the box rumbled and shuddered. It stopped suddenly and sunlight shone in. Dazzled by the sudden brightness, he had no choice but to follow the Two Legs down the ramp onto warm sand, which felt rather comforting under his hooves as well as solid and still!

He recognised this place. He had been here a few times, usually for gatherings of colourful funny little Two Legs who were sometimes put on his back for a little ride. He began to get excited as these were some of his favourite days, despite the dark and lonely bouncy box he had to endure to get here. But this time there weren’t a lot of little Two Legs running about. There were no smells of sweet or salty Two Leg food or smoke from their cooking fires. There was only the scent of the big undrinkable water and the sour choking smoky breath of the bouncy box as it growled quietly behind him on the beach.

Some of the Two Legs approached him familiarly but with an altogether unfamiliar colourful blanket with stringy bits attached. He wondered what they intended to do with that! Some of them patted and brushed him for a moment and fed him a juicy red apple. He could sense another one fumbling with the blanket behind him and then felt him attaching more straps around his belly. The Donkey was enjoying the attention too much to bother with what the other one was doing.

The Two Legs manoeuvred him to face the edge of the big undrinkable water and threw the blanket behind him. Suddenly he was standing alone. He watched as the colourful blanket fluttered in the wind. It floated above him for a moment and he felt an odd tug around his belly. The wind whipped a bit fiercer and caught the blanket violently. Before he could dig his heels in, his breath was caught by immense pressure under his belly and his feet left the warm soft sand behind!

Terrified, he screamed at the Two Legs below him to help him so that he could feel the warm sand under his hooves again. But after being pulled forcefully into the sky, the pressure reduced and he realised through his panic that he was floating like the birds that sometimes landed in his field. Calming a little, he wondered was this flying? Was he flying!? Did two legs attach those flappy things to the birds too so that they could dive and circle in the air as he was now? Was it his turn to be a bird? Was this where all the other donkeys who used to share his field went? Had they become birds to fly and frolic in the crisp breeze...through the muffled clouds and bright sunshine? What an exciting prospect for a poor unassuming Donkey such as he.

The Donkey looked around and saw the clouds approaching him, felt the wind rushing past him and felt the tug of the blanket as it continued to bear him aloft. He relaxed, enjoying his new life as a bird floating on the wind. The sun was so close and so bright, warming his brown hide despite the chill of the breeze that ruffled his mane and tail. Looking down at the undrinkable water below, he laughed at the little Two Legs floating on their odd wooden contraptions. He wondered whether this would be his opportunity to escape confinement and perhaps find new fields with more purple clover. Moving his legs a bit, he tried to control his flight so that he could explore the fields of the world to his heart’s content. Unfortunately nothing he did managed to change his course.

The wind died a little and the blanket above him seemed to slacken a bit as well as the pressure around his belly. Then all of a sudden he was falling! The euphoria of flight was incinerated in panic as he kicked and screamed while the big undrinkable water rushed toward him relentlessly. He tried desperately to flap his flappy things, but no matter how he put his mind to the task, all he could do was paw at the air as the big undrinkable water came closer and closer. Splashing down with a great guhroosh, he felt the water enter his nose tasted its saltiness, swallowing great glugs as he kicked desperately to find the air again. The salt stung his eyes but he kept them open, searching for the sun and the air. Finally, he his nose breached the watery prison and he gasped.

The big blanket had fallen behind him and was catching the water, keeping him in one place despite his struggles to reach the warm sandy shore again. He watched several strange wooden contraptions floated toward him with several Two Legs inside, laughing cruelly at him as he tried to keep his nose above the edge of the water. Two of them grabbed the rope trailing behind him with the blanket attached and he was pulled behind the wooden thing until he felt some soft mud under his hooves again. The Two Legs led him ashore and patted him, laughing at his fear and pain after the horrible ordeal they had forced him to endure. He spent a few moments chastising the mean Two Legs as they disentangled him from the ropes and the blanket.

They lead him back to the bouncy box and offered him an apple. But he was disgusted with their cruelty. He took the apple, spit it out and bit the hand that had tried laughingly to feed it to him. That ought to show those Two Legs how unappreciative he was of this recent treatment. He was then pushed up the ramp into the dark bouncy box which soon plummeted into darkness and shook and shuddered until he was dazzled by sunlight and surprised to find himself in his old familiar field. Sighing in relief, he wandered a bit and enjoyed the warm sun as it finished drying the salty wetness from his hair.

Oh, look at that! Some purple ones! And he began to chomp contentedly.