Donkey lives a comfortable life as a guard donkey of a small flock of sheep in the beautiful hay mountains. Donkey is a donkey, is called Donkey and always looks as if he would like to hang himself. Or shoot himself. Because he has lots of questions that nobody can answer, especially not the sheep. Unfortunately they are the only ones he has to talk to. Donkey has a wide range of tasks around the herd: he looks after them so that they don’t get lost or injured, and of course, he has to protect them from the wolf and the bear. He is particularly good at this, as he doesn’t care about him living or dying anyway. This intimidates the predators considerably and so they rarely pass by. He is also a storyteller, psychologist and moral counsellor for his herd. Today, the youngest sheep approaches Donkey with a problem.
‘Hey Donkey!’
‘Yes, my dear Nestling?’
‘Ewe has problems.’
‘What is it, my dearest Nestling?’
‘You know, the other sheep are mean to Ewe.’
And then Ewe Donkey described a situation that did not leave him untouched.
Ewe lives in Donkey’s flock, but grew up in another flock. The other flock, whose guardian is a dog, is currently feuding with Parrot’s flock. The feud is very complicated. The cause goes back several generations, families are distributed randomly over both flock but the family ties are very close and therefore the sides blur into one another. Nestling has a friend whose uncle died in an assassination attempt, and the friend now also wants to take an active part in the feud. However, Nestling isn’t sure about which side its friend pexis actually on.
In any case, and this has not escaped Donkey’s attention, the opinion has spread in his flock that Parrot’s flock was overrun by Dog’s flock virtually overnight and they have been fiercely defending their meadow ever since.
Now, Nestling is saying that the other sheep in Donkey’s flock are mean to Ewe because Ewe originally came from Dog’s flock. But Ewe has nothing at all to do with the feud.
However, when Ewe attends the sewing circle with the other sheep, where they crochet thimbles from their wool, the mood changes noticeably, although Ewe used to be a very welcome member of society and an even more industrious crocheter. This puts a noticeable strain on Ewe and she feels lonely. She can no longer talk to her best friends, who have come from Parrot’s flock to become Donkey’s protégés.
The general mood is a burden. When Ewe walks around the pasture, it feels uncomfortable and watched. As if the whole herd whispers as it passes.
‘What can we do?’ Nestling asks seemingly in despair.
Donkey pulls his felt hat off his face and lights a pipe.
‘You see, Nestling, our flock has forgotten that Ewe is just as much a sheep as they are themselves. Regardless of its origin or its crochet skills. This makes me sad too, because we’ve been through all this before. Repeatedly. Before the outbreak of the second hay feud, curly, dark haired sheep were labelled parasites. After Parrot’s flock, at that time it was still Uruparroti who ruled, had helped us to victory in the second hay feud, there was a clinch between Parrot and the other victors. And even then, even then, sheep that came from his flock or whose “baa” sounded a little too much like “woof” were expelled from the society.
Now, dear Nestling, you ask me what we can do. Only we can try to remind the others that nobody deserves to be treated like this just because they origin in a different herd. Regardless of how the head of the flock behaves or what the members do. Because there the sheep trust Dog, here you trust the Mediasheep. But how do you know that the Mediaschaf tells more truth than the dog?’
Donkey gazes into the distance, his eyes softening.
‘Sometimes I imagine living in a world without marginalisation, without feuds, without division.’
Once again, Donkey’s imagination has run away with him.
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