THE
STORY OF A DONKEY
ABRIDGED FROM THE FRENCH OF
MADAME LA COMTESSE DE SÉGUR
By CHARLES WELSH
EDITED BY
CHARLES F. DOLE
ILLUSTRATED BY E. H. SAUNDERS
BOSTON, U.S.A.
D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS
1904
Copyright, 1901,
By D. C. Heath & Co.
Dedication.
TO MY PRESENT LITTLE MASTER, HARRY.
My Dear Little Master,
You have been kind to me, but you have spoken contemptuously ofdonkeys in general. I want you to know better what sort of animalsdonkeys really are, and so I have written for you this story of my life. Youwill see, my dear little Master, that we donkeys have been, and still are,often badly treated by human beings. We are often very nice indeed;but I must also confess that in my youth I sometimes behaved very badly,and you will see how I was punished for it, and how unhappy I was, andhow at last I repented, and how at last my repentance changed me andgained for me the forgiveness of my friends and masters. So, when youhave read my history, you won’t say any more “as stupid as a donkey,”or “as obstinate as a donkey,” but “as sensible as a donkey,” “as cleveras a donkey,” or “as gentle as a donkey.”
Hee-haw! my dear little Master, hee-haw! I hope you will never beas I was when I was young.
I remain,
Your obedient servant,
NEDDY.
PREFACE.
I do not recollect my childhood; I was probably asunhappy as the rest of the little donkeys are; and nodoubt as pretty and as graceful. Certainly I was fullof wit and intelligence, for, old as I am now, I havemore of both than most donkeys possess.
I have often outwitted some of my poor masters, who,being only men, could not be expected to have theintelligence of a donkey,—and I will begin my Memoirswith the story of a trick I once played in the days ofmy youth.
INTRODUCTION.
The author of this book was the daughter of thatCount Rostopchine who was governor of Moscow whenit was burned in 1812, and Napoleon was obliged inconsequence to make his disastrous retreat from thatcity. Born in 1799, Sophie de Rostopchine married,in 1821, the Count de Ségur, a son of one of the oldestand proudest families of France. She was a veryaccomplished and lovable person, and, as her writingsattest, she was thoroughly in sympathy with the waysand feelings of children.
She did not begin to publish her stories until she wasfifty-seven years of age, but between that date and thetime of her death in 1874, she wrote and brought out agreat many books for children.
The “Memoirs of a Donkey,” published in 1860, is oneof the most popular, wholesome, and entertaining ofher books. It is longer in the original than the versionhere given, as it contains a great number of