Vox Populi
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Richard Hoffman: Uncle and the Donkey Cart
One day Uncle came upon a donkey and cart, driverless, stopped in the road. Attached to the donkey’s harness was a stick protruding a bit ahead of him, with a length of string hanging from it. Uncle asked the donkey where his driver was, but the donkey had trouble answering because he had a big orange carrot in his mouth. Moving the carrot around with his tongue, the donkey claimed he had no idea what Uncle was talking about, since he never took orders from anybody, no sir: he was his own boss he would have you know. All he knew was that the carrot had fallen from the stick, he’d picked it up, and was waiting for someone to come along who could tie it back on. So, if you would be so kind as to reattach it, he said, I’d be much obliged.
Copyright 2024 Richard Hoffman
Richard Hoffman’s many books include Remembering the Alchemists & Other Essays. He lives in Salem, Massachusetts.
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Yes, the story of Uncle and the Donkey cart sounds like a fable, and it is a fable. I see it as an analogy of the awareness which people in a nation have, and each to different degrees, about the extent to which they are harnessed, or controlled and driven by the political and economic elites in their countries (such as America) in order for these elites to gain possession of their needs and their wants; and some may even say, for these elites to seize hold of their extravagant treasures.
As the donkey, some people are not aware that they are wearing a harness, which automatically necessitates a driver, but the donkey is not aware of that fact. The human individual as the donkey has been trained and conditioned to experience that the harness, or the controls imposed on him/her, and the presence of a driver, which can be a greater government or economic authority which drives him/her, is a natural occurrence in their lives. So that the human, in the same way as the donkey in the fable, experiences not being aware that there is driver over him/her controlling and directing his moves and directing his journey and his destination. As the donkey in the fable, the human is not conscious that he is strapped to an invisible harness, which eliminates his free will, and his choice of a destination. But as uncle clearly sees, it is not true that the donkey, or the person which the donkey symbolizes, “never took orders from anybody, no sir: he was his own boss he would have you know. ” In fact, uncle sees that the truth is all to the contrary.
The carrot to me, represents how the astute driver knows that he must meet his donkey’s, or the human’s basic needs, such as hunger, in order to be able to control the donkey or the human, to his benefit. I guess one can say that as people living in what is referred to as a highly organized civilization, we have all been harnessed, possibly since birth, so that perhaps many people hardly notice the harness, or the power which drives them/us. So, to what extent are we aware of the straps of the harness which confine us, or of the driver which is determined to have us get him to his destination.
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Wonderful interpretation of this fable, Luz. Thank you!
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Yes, Michael, it’s indeed a little fable — it made me smile and sigh…
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Grinnng
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It’s a sly little fable, isn’t it?
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