Sunday 11 September 2016

Donkey-speak

“Hi, folks! I’m Dinky,” Dinky the donkey called to everyone who came past his big green field, but no one was interested and that made Dinky very sad.
Dinky missed his old friend, Stanley the Shetland pony. Stanley had shared the big green field for a long time. But a little girl had come and ridden on Stanley and told her father that Stanley was exactly the pony she had dreamt of. So the little girl’s father had bought Stanley, and they had taken him away in a big horse-box.
Dinky had called out “There’s room for me, too,” but the little girl’s father had called back “Sorry, we can’t make room for you in our field, so you’ll have to stay here.”
The farmer promised Dinky that he would bring a new pony to keep Dinky company, but he didn’t. Dinky was left all alone in the big green field.
One day, the farmer came to see if Dinky was OK, but when he left, he forgot to close the gate properly.
Dinky saw that the gate was not closed properly. After looking around and seeing nobody, he pushed his nose under the catch and the gate opened wide.
“Now what shall I do?” Dinky asked himself.
“I’ll run away,” he answered, and trotted out of the big green field onto the road.
“I’d better be quick, before someone sees me,” Dinky told himself and galloped as fast as he could down the road.
Sometimes he was hungry, but that was not a problem. He simply stopped and nibbled the grass on the side of the road. When he was thirsty, he drank water from one of the puddles in the road that the rain had left behind.
But most of the time, Dinky was moving fast and he was lucky that no one was around, so no one saw the little donkey as he ran away from the big green field.
Then Dinky saw a road-sign. It read “ZOO” and had a picture of a zebra on it.
“Wow,” thought Dinky. “A striped pony! I’d like a striped pony to talk to. I’ll go to the zoo and get one.”
Dinky puzzled over how he could persuade a zebra to go home with him to the big green field.
“What if he doesn’t speak my language?” he thought. “What if nobody understands donkey-speak?”
But there was no turning back, so Dinky followed the signs to the zoo and presently he was standing in front of the wrought-iron gates that he unfortunately could not open.
The zoo was closed for the night.
“What shall I do now?” thought Dinky and walked slowly away. The zoo was surrounded by a wrought-iron fence, so Dinky followed it and to his amazement there was a gap in it. Someone had sawn pieces out and stolen them.
Dinky squeezed through the gap in the fence. He was still alone. No sign of any zebras.
“Where is my zebra?” he asked himself. Then he set out to look for it.
He went past all kinds of animals and they were all locked up for the night. The owls looked at Dinky in astonishment. The tiger in his cage licked his lips and Dinky was afraid. He trotted past all the big cat cages very fast and all the big cats roared as if to say “I’d like you for my breakfast.”
He went past the elephants and they trumpeted at him.
“Who are you?” they seemed to be calling, and Dinky tried to tell them.
The elephants were fortunately polyglot. Some had already lived in more than one zoo. They could more or less speak donkey-speak.
“No, thank you,” they said, when Dinky invited them to share his big green field. “We don’t live in fields. Where we live it is sandy and dry and we have a big bathtub to go for a swim. Do you have a big bathtub, little donkey?”
“No, but rains a lot and keeps the green grass wet and tasty,” Dinky replied.
Dinky moved on to the penguins, but they didn’t understand him at all, and the sea-lions just flapped their flippers at Dinky and told him that he was keeping everyone awake.
Next door to the sea-lions was a big pool. On one side there were rocks and they had snowy tops.
“I wonder who lives here,” Dinky wondered. “It’s summer and there is snow on the hills.”
Then he saw something big, white and furry.
“What’s that?” Dinky asked himself.
The big, white, furry something stood up.
It was a polar bear.
Dinky had never been to the North Pole and he had never seen such a large, white, furry animal before.
On reflection, Dinky realized that it looked a bit like the sheep in the neighbouring big green field at home, but the sheep made little noises, and this big furry creature roared.
“Good evening!” called Dinky, hoping he would be understood.
“Good evening!” replied the polar bear much to Dinky’s surprise. “Who are you?”
“I’m Dinky. Who are you?”
“I’m Peter.”
“Can you get out?” asked Dinky.
“No, and I don’t want to,” replied Peter.
“Are you on your own in here?” asked Dinky.
“Yes and being alone is very boring,” answered Peter.
“I have a big green field all to myself. I think you’d like it there, and you’d have me to talk to,” said Dinky, hoping that Peter the polar bear knew enough donkey-speak to carry on a conversation. “Where did you learn my language,” Dinky asked.
“I speak all languages,” said Peter. “You have to in here. This is a refugee camp, you know.”
“What is that?”
“That’s a place you are brought to when you have lost your home,” Peter explained.
“So no one is at home here,” said Dinky.
Then a new thought came to him.
“Do you think I can stay here, Peter?”
“I expect you can,” said Peter, “but it’s not for me to decide.”
“Oh,” said Dinky. “What do you suggest?”
“Why don’t you lie down on the grass I can see from where I am? I’d invite you in, but it’s too wet for you where I live. In the morning you can ask someone if you can stay here.”
Dinky slept well. He was very tired from his long journey from the big green field. One of the animal keepers came early and found Dinky asleep.
“What have we here?” he asked in a voice not unlike that of the farmer.
Dinky woke, stood up, and shook himself.
“I’m Dinky,” he said in donkey-speak. “I’ve come to stay or find a zebra to take home.”
“Calm down,” said the keeper. “You can stay with the other donkeys until we find your owner.”
The keeper led Dinky to the other donkeys. To Dinky’s joy and amazement, the green field was even bigger than his big green field at home, and there were about six other donkeys having their breakfast. But best of all, striped ponies also lived in that big green field.
When the donkeys and zebras saw Dinky, they stopped having breakfast and came running.
“Who are you?” they asked.
“I’m Dinky and I’m looking for a friend to take home,” said Dinky.
“We are all your friends, Dinky, but we are not going anywhere,” they answered.
“Oh,” said Dinky.
“But you can stay here, Dinky,” they continued.
“So, little donkey,” said the keeper. “You can stay here until we find your owner.”
And do you know what? Dinky is still living in the zoo. The farmer did not even try to find Dinky. He put sheep in the big green field, surrounded it with an electrified fence in case the gate was left open again, and was glad that Dinky had left home.

Dinky was glad he had run away. He now had a dozen or more friends and he soon joined the group that gave rides to little children, so now and again he could talk to Peter, the polar bear and thank him for his help. 

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