The Children's Story: Partners in Work

Karagöz's wife was in a bad state of mind, for there was no money in the house, neither little nor much. And when Karagöz saw his wife in this sorry state, he went off, gloomy and sad, to the stable where his donkey was.

Karagöz addressed his donkey, saying: "Come along, my dear. There is work we must get done..."

Since the weather was bitterly cold, that day was the best of all days for selling firewood. So he loaded his donkey with many bundles of wood and went out to sell them. And he went up and down the street, crying at the top of his voice: "Firewood! Firewood! Warm your hands and your heart! Firewood!"

At last an old woman came out to her door and said to Karagöz: "What are you selling?"

Karagöz bent down over her deaf ear and drew a breath before shouting. But before he could utter a single word, the donkey began braying at the top of its voice.

The old woman jerked her head back quickly and said to Karagöz angrily: "I cannot understand a single word you say. Your voice is like the voice of a braying donkey."

Karagöz mumbled and said: "My voice?"

"Yes!" she answered him. "Your voice! And I should not be in the least surprised if under that huge turban of yours there were a donkey's ears! Yes! Donkey's ears! Two of them!" Then she went in and shut the door in anger.

Karagöz turned to his donkey and said: "Now look what you have done to me. You have lost me a customer. That is what you have done."

The donkey shook its ears, then began to bray very loudly. It wanted to go and sniff noses with a pretty she-donkey that was tied to the wall. But Karagöz had something else on his mind, and kept on down the street. And every time Karagöz cried his wares, the donkey brayed its love-brays at the top of its voice, until it ended with Karagöz losing his temper altogether.

Karagöz shouted at his donkey, saying: "Look here. Which of us is charged with selling this wood? You or I?"

The donkey gave its last bray, the bray of lost hope.

"What is that you say?" asked Karagöz. "You are the one who sells the wood? Very well! Then keep on with your braying and see what you can do. As for me, I shall stay silent."

But the donkey was determined to do just as Karagöz did. And so they went on their way toward home without selling any of the wood at all.

Karagöz scolded his donkey and said: "What a very skillful salesman you are!"

And the weather kept growing colder, and accordingly poor Karagöz's nose kept growing bluer.

At last they stopped, and Karagöz pulled up a handful of the thorns at the side of the road and said: "I see no reason why we should not light a fire to get warm, even if other people do not want any warming."

Then he put the thorns in the middle of the firewood and lit the fire.

When the donkey heard the sound of the wood burning, it laid its ears back; and after a moment it felt the heat of the fire, tore itself loose, and set off running and braying madly. At last Karagöz stood watching the donkey, which was running at its utmost speed, and said to it: "You foolish creature! Listen! If you have a grain of sense, swerve first to the right, then to the left, and after that throw yourself into the lake!"