The Musical Donkey
Also known as Gadhe Ka Gaana
- 3 minute read
- Ages 5-9
- Panchatantra Stories
A washerman's donkey named Uddhata was underfed and thin, and at night he used to slip out of the yard and go looking for food with a jackal he had befriended.
The jackal knew where everything was. He led the donkey to a cucumber field outside the town with a broken fence, and the two of them ate there every night for weeks and grew fat and comfortable.
The good idea
One night the donkey stopped eating, stood in the middle of the field and looked up at the sky.
"The moon is out," he said. "The air is beautiful. I feel like singing."
The jackal stopped chewing.
"Do not sing."
"Why not? I have a very good voice. I have always thought so."
"Your voice is not the point," said the jackal. "We are in somebody's cucumber field at night, three hundred paces from his house. Whatever you sound like, they will come."
"You do not understand music," said the donkey. "That is not your fault. You are a jackal."
The jackal looked at him for a moment.
"Give me a minute," he said, "and then sing as much as you like."
And he went to the gap in the fence and out of the field and stood at a comfortable distance in the dark.
The performance
The donkey filled his lungs and let go.
The sound went out across the fields and into the town and woke a considerable number of people, most of whom had never heard anything like it and did not want to again.
The farmer came out of his house with a stick.
He got to the field before the donkey had finished the first verse, and dealt with him thoroughly, and then, to make the point permanent, tied a wooden mortar round his neck before letting him limp away.
Afterwards
The jackal was waiting on the road.
He looked at the donkey, and at the mortar hanging round his neck, and did not say anything for a while.
"Well?" said the donkey.
"Congratulations," said the jackal. "That is a very fine reward. I have never seen a musician given a prize like that."
Moral of the story
Knowing a thing and knowing when to do it are two different skills. The donkey could sing. He simply could not tell that he was standing in a field he had no business being in.
Questions and answers
- Why did the donkey go out at night?
He was underfed, and a jackal he had befriended showed him a cucumber field where they could eat.
- What did the donkey want to do in the field?
Sing, because the moon was out and he thought he had a good voice.
- What was the jackal's warning?
That the quality of the voice was not the point. Any sound in a farmer's field at night would bring the farmer.
- What did the jackal do before the donkey sang?
He left the field and stood at a safe distance in the dark.
- What happened to the donkey?
The farmer beat him and tied a heavy wooden mortar round his neck before letting him go.
Word meanings
- washerman
- A person whose job is washing clothes.
- mortar
- A heavy stone or wooden bowl used for grinding grain.
- verse
- A section of a song or poem.
- permanent
- Lasting a long time or for ever.
Questions about The Musical Donkey
What is the moral of The Musical Donkey?
That timing matters as much as talent. The story is not about whether the donkey could sing; it is about whether that was the moment for it.
Why is the jackal not punished?
He listened to his own advice and left. The contrast is the whole joke, and the Panchatantra makes the point without stating it.
Is this story funny or cruel?
It is written as comedy, and the beating is dealt with in one line. Most Indian schoolbooks include it for ages five and above.
What is the donkey's name in the original?
Uddhata, which means arrogant or conceited in Sanskrit.