Once upon a time, there lived a simple washerman in a village. The washerman was childless and longed to have a child of his own.
One day he went to the town for some work where he noticed a kazi reprimanding his pupils, “Not long ago you were just a group of donkeys; I made men out of you!” The naive washer man was overjoyed to hear the kazi’s words. It occurred to him that the kazi possessed magical powers to change the donkeys into human beings. He rushed back home to tell this incident to his wife.
When the washer man reached home, he said to his wife, “Dear wife, now you shall no longer be unhappy. The kazi in the city is a magician. He can change the animals into human beings in a jiffy! Let us take our donkey to the kazi and beg him to transform him into a little boy.” The following day, washer man and his wife, with their donkey, started for the city to meet the kazi.
They met the kazi and told him what they wanted from him. The kazi was amused to hear the washerman’s wish. He was a cunning man and thought of making the best out of the situation. He promised to change the donkey into a boy in one year’s time and took his fees from the washer man.
After one year, the washerman and his wife went to meet the kazi. They were eager to know what their son looked like. The kazi showed them a strong and handsome pupil of his from a distance and said, “Dear fellows, that good looking man is your son. But, he has totally forgotten that he was a donkey once. You will have to endeavour to convince him to go home with you.”
The washerman and his wife were overjoyed to see the young man. They happily went near him and asked him to accompany them to the village. The young man was at a loss to understand what the matter was and refused to go with an unknown couple. The washerman tried his best to convince the young man to come along with them but he did not budge an inch. The young man’s audacity infuriated the washerman and he told his wife, “Go you and fetch his peg, rope, and grain-bag; perhaps these things will remind him what he was once.” He then held the rope in his hand and said, “You thankless fellow! How can you forget that just one year back you were just an ordinary donkey that kept braying outside my house? It is because of me, that you have become a human being. Instead of being indebted to me and coming along with me, you are throwing tantrums. You must be thoroughly punished!” Saying so, he picked up his stick to hit the young man. On hearing this, the young man blew his top and gave the washerman the soundest thrashing he had ever received in his life.
The poor washerman and his wife soon realized that they had been duped by the cunning kazi and left for their home with a heavy heart. In the want of more, they lost what they already had. Neither did they get their son, nor did they get their donkey back.
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