Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1876-05-17
Yacob and His Donkey.

Jacob and His Donkey.
BY ALBERT RHODES.
Yacob was the name Of an Arab boy
in the Oriental city of Cairo. He was
poor, and, like most of the poor boys of
that city, his chief ambition was to own
a donkey and hire him out to the trav-
elers to go to the pyramids and other
places of interest in the neighborhood.
AS it was, he was only the driver of
another mans donkey; that is, when
the animal was mounted by the travel
err, he ran behind, poking the quadru-
ped with a sharp stick to keep him in a
brisk trot.
One day, while Yacob was standing in
front of Shepherds Hotel in Cairo, and
wishing he had donkey of his own, an
English traveller on the veranda beck
oned to him and asked him why he
looked so wistful, and Yacob answered
that he was unhappy because he had
no donkey.
And when the Englishman heard his
story, he called his servant and ordered
him to bring up Mafsh, which was an
old sleepy donkey. Then he said to
| Yacob:
would you be happy if you owned
that donkey, my lad ?"
ooh, master, / would be happy with
any donkey!" said Yacob.
"Then," said the Englishman, "he
is yours-I make him present to
you"
When he said this the other travellers
gathered round, with smiles upon their
faces, for it appeared that the English
man was man much given to making
fun. He told Yacob to get on the don
key and ride up and down in front of
the hotel d few times, to show his gait.
Yacob got astride of him, aud found he
was stiff in the legs and moved slowly,
Notwithstanding the sharp poles he gave
him with his stick.
shall give the donkey name that
will draw custom to you, said the En-
glishman, as the lad rode up to the We
randa.
Yacob was much pleased that his
benefactor should give the donkey a
name, for he had seen some of his
companions who hired their donkeys
more easily than others, on account Of
| fortunate names given to them by trav-
elers.
"I shall be much glad to call him
what my master pleases," said Yacob
"Then his name shall be Lightning"
said the EngEshman, and the other
travellers laughed.
Yacob did not know what Lightning
meant, and he continued to call his
donkey by that name after the English
man went away. He did not have
much difficulty in hiring his donkey;
but when the travellers started on their
| journey, they told Yacob that he was a
humbug, and that he had imposed on
them with the animal. So that they
only kept Lightning for few minutes,
and the same people never hired him
twice.
One day, as he led his old donkey
toward the hotel veranda, after being
called a little humbug by an angry
traveller, who refused to pay him for
hire Of half an hour, he was spoken to
by fat man in a long black coat, who
told him he ought to call his donkey
Slow-coach.
After that, Yacob called him Slow
coach, not knowing any more about
that name than he did about Lightning.
But this change of name, instead of
mending matters, made them worse.
In short, no one would hire his donkey
any more on any condition, and Yacob
and Slow-cOach were a rueful pair, as
they stood idly before the hotel.
One day as ne stood thus, the Prince
of Wales came out from the veranda
the Prince was then on his way to the
East Indies, mounted Slowcoach, and
rode him two Or three yards, and then
got off and tried another donkey.
Thereupon Yacob bemoaned his bad
luck in hearing Of an American sitting
on tilted chair on the veranda.
" Yacob," said the American, "your
donkey shall be hired as much as any
other, but hereafter his name must be
the Prince Of Wales"
The American had certificate
drawn up and sworn to before the
American Consul in Cairo, to show
that the Prince of Wales had, without
any doubt, mounted Jacobs donkey;
and when the lad wanted to hire the
animal to any man, woman or child
from England, all he had to do d. was
to show this certificate, and they
straightway engaged him, notuithstand-
ing his moping gait and stiff legs.
They engaged him for whole days,
fondled him, and begged Yacob not to
poke him up to sharp from behind.
They fed him with whatever he would
eat, and the only drawback to the
donkey's pleasant life was that his tail
was plucked a good deal for mementos.
Yacob said, and says still, that the
luckiest day Of his life was when he
was spoken to by the American gentle
man on tilted chair.-St Nicholas for
May