The Donkey-Man

Every night on my way home I pass a dark corner and ‘encounter’ a donkey lying there, a donkey that has worked very hard over the years to carry his master’s load. His front legs both looked broken. At first, I tried to avoid him because he reminds me of our common destiny, to die, or to suffer. He tries so hard to get up. He tries to go on laboring for his master, but he has barely any strength. One night I felt compelled to stop and watch as he struggled to stand. He managed to reach an upright position, but then his body began to wobble and he collapsed.

The donkey reminds me of Hussani, someone who came from a very low-born family, but for whom I couldn’t help but to feel pity. I also learned a lot through making his acquaintance. We may learn to recognize our common humanity by studying literature, but it was through mathematics that I learned how to determine Hussani Poweley’s status in our village. It was when Father was testing me to see how well I had learned to count.

“Son, how many animals are in our countyard?”

I was sure I had counted nine, but according to my father I was wrong.

“No, there are eight, my son.”

I thought Father was wrong and to prove it I started counting on my fingers. There were two cows, three goats, one mare, one donkey, one dog, and one Hussani, who I thought was also an animal.

Father laughed. “But Hussani is not an animal. He is a human being like us.”

I disagreed. How could Hussani be a human being when he spent all his time with animals?

We brought our dispute to the count of my grandfather. The whole family was present and a decision was announced: Hussani was human. But even though I had lost my case I was awarded one rupee for making a strong argument.

It was hard for me to sleep that night because my tiny brain was not ready to accept the fact that Hussani was human. Questions kept flooding my mind: If he is a man, why does he not live like us? Why is he always with the animals? He even sleeps on the ground with them. In my dreams I saw Hussani eating grass, walking like a donkey and barking like a dog.