The Donkey's Laugh

Rewrite of an old story I wrote about 25 years ago, trying to remember how it went!! Long ago the lowly donkey had a terrible rauckus voice, it was horrible to hear, and really irritated everyone, but this all changed with a Female donkey, and her young son Toby. They were owned by Farmer Didicus, and were kept in a barn with lots of hay when not in use, but they had now been in the barn several days, and Didicus had not come in, the water was getting a bit stale, and Marala the mother donkey said to her son, "something is terribly wrong, our Master has always given us fresh hay and water daily, but now for these three days, he has not come out to us, I wonder if he is sick?" Toby just shook his head, not knowing what to say, but Marala again spoke up saying, I had a wonderful dream last night, and in the dream we no longer had this awful voice, but instead we would laugh!" Toby snorted!, "That would be wonderful, it must have been a very funny dream!" and Marala nodded and continued, " In the dream we were in town, and some fellas came over and were going to take you, I was ready to fight them, but a man appeared next to me and said, "If you will let Toby go with these men, and if Toby will be very docile when he is ridden, I will change your voice into laughter! This young man seemed to be filled with kindness and love, I think he might have been an Angel! so if this comes to pass, you must be very patient and kind when you are ridden!" "Mom!" Toby said in alarm, I've never been ridden, I don't know what it's like! if it feels bad I will try and buck him off and stomp on him!" "No!!" Marala scolded, "You must accept it graciously no matter how bad it feels! if my dream is true, we shall forever laugh!!" "OK" Toby replied, "I promise you I will do my very best to accept it, and not buck or bite if it happens, but it was just a dream! but it would be nice if we could laugh!" Marala nodded agreement. Didicus was in the house, trying everything to help his very sick wife Angika, He spent many hours in prayer, and was exceedingly sad, as he thought whe was going to die and there was nothing he could do, but pray! He went to sleep in the chair beside her bed and had a dream, in the dream an Angel appeared to him and told him, "Tomorrow Angika will feel better, and I promise you she will get completely well and live a long life, if you will do us this favor. There was silence in the dream a while, and didicus waited to hear what favor he needed to do, already making up his mind that no matter how hard it is, he would do it to save Angika. The Angel continued, "Tomorrow I want you to take Marala and Toby into town, some men will come and try to take Toby, and when asked why they are doing this, they will reply, 'The Master has need of it', then let them take Toby, and by the time you get back home, Marala will be totally well". Didicua woke up, and pondered the dream a long time until he heard Angila stir, seeing she was awake, he told her the dream and that she was going to get completely well, she was so weak, she only smiled a litttle and nodded. Didicus went out to the barn carrying a bucket of fresh water for the donkey's, he had always related to them as though they were human, and he told them, " the missus is really sick, but I had a dream and an Angel told me to take you two into town tomorrow, and she would recover! I'm really sorry I've left you guys on your own these last few days, but everything is going to get all right now!!" He forked down some new hay for them, and gave each one a cup of oats, their favorite treat.before leaving he told them, "you have a good night now, and I'll see you in the morning, we will all get back to normal now goodnight!" and he left. Marla said, "Toby my dream was true! you remember not to buck or bite tomorrow! Imagine it!! after tomorrow we shall laugh!!" Toby was lost in wonderment and could himself see an awesome thing was happening. The following morning, Didicus came out and saddled up Marala, and put a halter on Toby, and they headed off to town, Didicus told them, "the missus is much better this morning, and I'm to take you guys to town, and someone is going to come and take Toby, but Marala, don't you raise no fuss now!! there is something happening here that I have no understanding of, but it will be great!. Once in town, Didicus parked them at the rail, and waited for several hours and nothing happened, he began to wonder a littlee bit, but knew it was going to happen. He asked some of the guys that were standing there talking, if they would watch his donkeys, as he wanted to go into a business and get something to drink, is someone comes to take Toby, and they say, 'The Master has need of him" let them take him! they agreed, and he went inside and got some water. When he came back out Toby was gone, and he asked the men, "Where is my donkey?" one of the guys answered, "You've heard about this Jesus guy? some of his disciples came and took the donkey..and just like you said they told us the Master had need of him!" Just then Marala let out the now famous donkey laugh hee haww hee haww, and Toby in the distance answered with his laugh, and that's how the donkey got his laugh.

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