The Brothers Grimm’s “The Donkey”

A King and Queen badly wanted a child; she felt like a barren field, but when they are finally blessed with progeny, it’s a donkey, and she would rather not have had any than this.  The king, however, is grateful and will have his son sit on the throne.  The donkey boy is cheerful and bright, and overcomes a lute master’s resistance and learns to play it as well as he does.  One day he sees his reflection and, horrified, sets out on travels with his trusty sidekick.  They stop at the castle of the most beautiful princess and play the lute until they’re let in.  He demands to be sat at the royal table, where he shows his manners and cleanliness.  After a while at court, he is ready to leave, but the king implores him to stay, offering him gold, finery, half his kingdom, and finally his daughter in marriage.  The little ass perks up, and during his wedding night he is spied by a servant the king sent, who sees the groom disrobe the donkey suit.  The next night the king steals it away and burns it completely, and in the morning the prince tries to leave when he discovers the theft.  The king offers him half the kingdom now, and the rest at his death, and within a year or so the prince has two kingdoms.

 

(Sorry about the bad sound on my end.  It’s been corrected in future episodes.)

 

Please like and comment!

 

For more in this podcast, please go to:

Podbean:

https://benomtad.podbean.com

Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863

YouTube:

https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ

X:

https://x.com/Benomtad

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/benomtad

I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.