Beast and man in India : a popular sketch of Indian animals in their relations with the people / by John Lockwood Kipling.

  • John Lockwood Kipling
Date:
1891
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Beast and man in India : a popular sketch of Indian animals in their relations with the people / by John Lockwood Kipling. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    103/480 (page 87)
    reproach. Some Muhammadans have an idea that the donkey sees the devil when he brays, possibly because of the belief that it was he who introduced the Father of Evil into the Ark. When Hazrat Nuh (the worshipful Noah) was marshalling the animals into the Ark, the donkey, as is his modest wont, held back. “Nay then, go along!” said Noah; but the ass did not move. Then the Patriarch lost his temper, for the time was short and tlfe clouds were gathering, and he cried “ Go on and may the Devil go with thee 1 ” When the door w&.s shut Noah met the Evil One inside and asked how he came there. “Surely then,” replied that Wicked One, “ I came by your honour’s invitation.” If there is a moral in this absurdity, it is that when holy men lose their tempers they open the door to sin ; but in some topsy-turvy way, possible only to Oriental thought, the obloquy of the anecdote falls on the innocent ass. If injurious reflections and vile phrases were all he had to bear, there would not be much cause for complaint, but it is hard to write with patience of the constant and cruel beating the poor creature receives. The race, through centuries of ill-usage, is stunted and weak ; and the brutal rule seems to be that to the smallest ass shall go the biggest stick. It is just possible by taking the cudgel from the ass- driver’s hand and applying it lustily to his back to convey to his mind some glimmering of an idea that the blows he finds hard to bear may perhaps