The Tale of$BAGS

Being the true history of one small donkey, and of the three sacks he would not put down.

Printed in the trenches

Portrait of a grey donkey with half-closed eyes

Donki

Who carried more than he could hold, and did not put it down.

I

Once upon a time, in a kingdom of green candles, there lived a small grey donkey. He was told by voices he trusted that he was early, and that he would surely make it.

He believed them. It is important, in this kingdom, to believe someone.

1

The donkey walking with three sacks stacked on his back — He was told he was early.

II

And so he bought. He bought at the very summit of the mountain, where the air is thin and every chart is beautiful.

The kind stranger who sold to him bowed once, and was never seen again. Neither was the mountain. The donkey was left holding $TOP, and then $RUG, and at last $HOPE, which was always the heaviest of the three.

3

The donkey lying face down, his sacks scattered in the dust — Down came the tower.

III

Down came the tower, and the donkey with it, flat upon his face in the dust of the road.

He lay there a while. Then he stood up, because standing up is the only thing a donkey is truly good at, and he gathered his bags, and he shouldered them again.

5

The donkey beside one tall green candle, smiling very slightly — And the candles turned green.

IV

And one bright morning every candle in the kingdom turned green at once. His bags grew light as feathers, the stranger returned all that he had taken, and the little donkey lived happily ever after.

Here the story was interrupted.