Telling Stories

The Donkey
by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Translated by Margaret Hunt

The story was about a King and Queen who had no children and were not able to have children. The Queen was not going to give up on her wish to have a child so she prayed day and night and asked God to please send her a child. The story is set in a 16th century castle in Europe probably in Germany. The story was published in 1812 with many other stories in Grimm Brother Book in German was called Kinder-und Hausmarchen or in English Childrens and Household Tales. The Queen and King were blessed with a child after many nights of praying to God when the Queen gave birth to a son. They were a little disappointed because there son came out as a baby donkey. The Queen was not pleased and wanted to throw the child into the water so that the fishes might eat it. The king did not feel that way and sayed since God gave them this child he would raise it as his heir to his throne. The Donkey grew up proper and became a prince and was a very happy donkey. The Prince loved music and learned to play the lute and was quite good at playing this instrument. 

The Donkey after seeing his reflection in a pond was upset and wanted to travel the world for awhile to reflect on his life. He took his faithful companion the lute with him for companionship until he came upon a kingdom. The kingdom was ruled by an old King and his beautiful daughter. The donkey knocked on the gate of the castle but nobody answered so he sat down and played his lute over and over until the gate was opened. The Kings servant invited the donkey in and they were taken to the king and all the servants laughed at him. The king wanted the donkey to eat with the servants and the donkey refused. The donkey said to the King that he was no common stable ass and that he is of noble one. The donkey wanted to sit with the king and the king agreed and let him sit by his side.

The King asked the donkey how do you like my daughter and the donkey said she pleases me above measure. The donkey said he had not seen anyone as beautiful as she. The king smiled and told the donkey to please sit next to her. They all had a good time in each others company and when it was over the donkey became sad because he knew he would have to return back to his own kingdom. The king saw this unhappiness in the donkey and offered him all sorts of riches to make him happy but that did nothing to please the donkey. The king then offered his daughter to be the donkey's bride and the donkey was very happy. The king thru them a lavishly beautiful wedding and sent them to their wedding suite after the wedding was over. The king was curious how the donkey would behave with his daughter and sent one of his servants to hide in the room and spy on them and report to the king the next day. The donkey and his bride got in the room and the donkey looked around and then locked the door. He threw off his skin and became a handsome young man and showed his bride who he really was. The princess was very pleased and loved him the rest of the night. The king came and asked his daughter how she felt about the donkey and was sure she would be sad about the nights events but she told her father she was quite pleased. The king was surprised by her response and then asked the servant to reveal what had happened. The servant revealed everything that went on that night about the donkey pealing away his skin and turning to a handsome man. The servant suggested that the king go and see for himself and then take the donkey skin away and burn it so that the young man would have to reveal his true self. The king came late at night and saw the young man in the bed with and saw the donkey skin on the ground. He took the skin and made a large fire where he burned the skin until it was ashes. 

The morning came and the young man was shocked and full of anxiety that his skin was not there and decided to leave the kingdom. The young man went outside and the king was waiting there for him and said why are you leaving, The king offered the young man half of his kingdom if would stay and after my death all of the kingdom would be yours. The young man excepted and the old king died a year later and he had the kingdom also later on his real father died and he inherited that kingdom as well and lived well off the rest of his life.

The social themes in this story are many but there are three main social themes that make this story interesting. The first one is about his parents who wished and prayed for a child and got a donkey instead. The quote which say's " Be careful what you wish for because you might just get it" It shows that wishing for things can be good but you may not like the results even when you get what you want. The second main theme when the donkey reveals himself to his bride by pealing off his skin and showing a handsome young man underneath. The princess had already excepted him for who he was which shows the beauty is only skin deep but he was not satisfied with himself enough as the donkey and revealed his true self underneath the donkey skin which could be interpreted as his inner beauty. The third theme I got from this story is that he received both kingdoms in the end which shows " Patience is a virtue" and if you seek happiness you shall find it.