Hello friends, today I’ll tell you a story about a washerman.

In a village, there lived a washerman who had a pet donkey. The washerman couldn’t give him delicious food every day; his financial situation wasn’t good. The donkey, working hard every day, began to grow weak. The washerman wondered what he could do to make his donkey healthy again.

One day, as the donkey and the washerman were returning home, they saw a dead lion on the road. An idea came to the washerman’s mind: he would skin the lion and make his donkey wear the hide. Then he could let the donkey loose in the fields, where he could eat whatever he wanted. Just like a child getting ready for a fancy-dress competition, the washerman dressed the donkey in the lion’s hide and let him into the fields.

The donkey was very happy. He found plenty of fresh grass and vegetables to eat everywhere. When the farmers saw that a lion had entered their fields, they ran away and hid. The donkey happily grazed and ate his fill. Day after day passed this way, and the donkey grew healthy and strong from the delicious food.

Many days went by. One day, a female donkey brayed loudly in the distance. When the sound reached the donkey’s ears, he was overjoyed. Hearing the female donkey’s call, he started to bray loudly as well. He was wearing the lion’s hide, but deep down, he was still a donkey. Instead of roaring, he began to make his familiar “hee-haw, hee-haw” sound.

When the farmers heard this sound, they realized it wasn’t a lion but a donkey. They came running with sticks and gave the donkey a severe beating. The donkey was in a very bad condition. When he returned home, the washerman felt very sad to see him. The donkey’s condition was now even worse than before.

What do we learn from this story? The moral is that we should be true to ourselves. We can’t become someone else just by wearing a mask. If we pretend to be something we’re not, it can only bring us harm.

I hope you liked this story. We’ll meet again with another story. Namaste.