726 INTELLIGENCE OF THE ASS. 



donkey-driver who could not produce a medal. The natural consequences followed. 

 The public soon took up the idea, the medal-holders carried off all the trade, and the 

 cruel and neglectful drivers were either forced to conform to the regulations of the 

 society, or to betake themselves and their beasts elsewhere. 



It is a very great mistake to employ the name of Ass or donkey as a metaphor for 

 stupidity, for the Ass is truly one of the cleverest of our domesticated animals, and will 

 lose no opportunity of displaying his capability whenever his intelligence is allowed to 

 expand by being freed from the crushing toil and constant pain that are too often the 

 concomitants of a donkey's life. Every one who has petted a favorite donkey will 

 remember many traits of its mental capacities ; for as in the case of the dom- 

 estic fool of the olden days, there is far more knavery than folly about the 

 creature. 



One of these animals was lately detected in a most ingenious theft. A number of 

 rabbits were kept in a little outhouse, and inhabited a set of hutches fastened to the 

 wall. One day it was found that nearly all the store of oats had suddenly vanished 

 from the outhouse without any visible reason. Next morning, however, the donkey 

 who lived in an adjoining meadow was seen to open the gate which led into his field, 

 and cautiously shut it after him. This conduct afforded a clue to the disappearance of 

 the oats, and upon a careful search being made, his footmarks were traced along the 

 path to the rabbit-house, and even on the ground among the hutches. It was very 

 clear that the ingenious animal must have unlatched his own gate, unfastened the loop 

 of the rabbit-house, finished all the oats, and have returned as he went, re-fastening 

 all the doors behind him. In leaving the rabbit-house he must have backed out, as 

 the place was not wide enough to permit him to turn. 



He was very familiar with the children, and would permit three of them to ride on 

 his back together. After a while the boys went to school, and some ponies were pro- 

 cured for the other members of the family, so that Sancho had a long holiday. When 

 the boys returned from school, they mounted Sancho as usual for the purpose of 

 having their ride. The cunning animal allowed them to seat themselves, and then 

 coolly shook them off again. This process he repeated until they gave up the hope- 

 less attempt, and Sancho gained his purpose. 



That a donkey has more than once succeeded in beating off the attacks of a leopard 

 by vigorous and rapid kicks of his hind-feet is well known, and an incident occurred 

 some years ago which shows that the animal is as valiant in opposing dogs as in fighting 

 leopards. A surly, ill-intentioned man, who possessed an equally surly bull-dog, set 

 his animal at an unoffending donkey. The bull-dog, nothing loth, made at his 

 intended victim and sprang at him. The Ass, however, cleverly avoided the dog's 

 onset, seized him in its teeth, carried him to the river Derwent, near which the scene 

 occurred, plunged him under water, and there, lying down upon him, prevented him 

 from regaining the surface, and fairly drowned his opponent. 



Another Ass displayed a singular discrimination of palate, being celebrated for his 

 love of good ale. At one road-side inn the landlady had been very kind in supplying 

 the donkey with a glass of his loved beverage, and the natural consequence was, 

 that the animal could never be induced to pass within a moderate .distance of 

 the spot without going for his beer. Neither entreaties nor force sufficed to turn 

 his head in another direction, and his master was in such cases obliged to make 

 the best of the matter, and permit the animal to partake of his desired refreshment. 

 He had a curious knack of taking a tumbler of beer between his lips, and drinking 

 the contents without spilling a drop of the liquid or breaking the glass. So curious 

 a sight as a donkey drinking beer was certain to attract many observers, who 

 testified their admiration by treating the animal to more beer. His head, however, 

 was fortunately a strong one, for only once in his life was he ever seen intoxicated, 

 and on that solitary occasion his demeanor was wonderfully decorous. 



A petted donkey belonging to one of my friends was permitted to walk at large in 

 the garden, on condition that he restrained himself from leaving the regular paths. Once 

 or twice he had been seduced by the charms of some plant to walk upon the flower-beds, 

 and had been accordingly drubbed by the gardener, who detected the robber by the marks 



