Life and Death are Wearing Me Out

amid the tamarisk, spinning around and kicking out with her hooves, braying loudly, as she tried to sound intimidating. In front and in back, to one side or the other, she was the intended victim of a pair of gray wolves; unhurriedly, biding their time, sometimes moving as a team, sometimes as individuals, they probed, they moved in and out, they feigned an attack. A treacherous, lethal pair of predators, they were patiently wearing her down; when, her strength and will gone, she lay down on the ground, they would go straight for the throat. Then, after they’d drunk their fill of her blood, they would tear open her abdomen and eat her now useless vital organs. Only death awaited any donkey meeting up with a pair of wolves working in tandem at night on a sandy ridge. My little donkey, if I hadn’t shown up, your unhappy fate would have been sealed. Love has saved you. Is there anything else that could erase the innate fears of a donkey and send him to rescue you from certain death? No. That is the only one. With a call to arms, I, Ximen Donkey, charged down the ridge and headed straight for the wolf that was tailing my beloved. My hooves kicked up sand and dust as I raced down from my commanding position; no wolf, not even a tiger, could have avoided the spearhead aimed at it. It saw me too late to move out of the way, and I thudded into it, sending it head over heels. Then I turned and said to my donkey, Do not fear, my dear, I am here! She moved close to me; I sensed the violence with which her chest was rising and falling and could feel the sweat covering her body. I nibbled her neck to comfort and encourage her. Don’t be afraid, I’m here. There’s nothing to fear from these wolves. Stay here while I smash their heads with my hooves of steel!
    The wolves’ eyes were green as, shoulder to shoulder, they held their ground, boiling with anger at my sudden appearance, as if I’d fallen out of the sky. If not for me, they’d already be feasting on donkey meat. I knew they would not take defeat lying down, that having come down from the mountains, they would not and could not pass up this opportunity. Their strategy had been to drive the poor donkey onto the sandy ridge, with its tamarisk bushes, expecting her to get bogged down in the loose sand. For us to win the fight, we had to get away from the sandy soil, and fast. After starting her down the ridge, I turned and followed, walking backward. The wolves matched our progress, at first following behind me, but then splitting up and running ahead to launch a frontal attack. My dear, I said, see that river at the foot of this ridge? The ground is rocky there, good and hard, and the shallow water is clear enough to see the bottom. All we have to do is make a mad dash for the river. Once we’re in the water, the wolves will have lost their advantage, and victory will be ours. Call up all the courage you have, my dear, to run down this slope. We have size and inertia going for us. We’ll also be kicking sand in their eyes. So let’s make that mad dash, and we’re safe. Ready to do as I said, she moved up next to me, and we took off, leaping across tamarisk bushes, the pliant branches scraping our bellies on the way. It was like riding a wave, and we were soon like two tidal waves racing toward the shore. Through my peripheral vision, I saw the wolves stumbling and tumbling and looking pathetic in the chase. They did not reach the river-bank, coats covered with sand, until we were safely in the water and catching our breath. I told her to drink. Drink it slowly, my dear, don’t choke and don’t drink too much or you’ll be cold. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she nipped me on the rump. I love you, my good little brother, she said. If you hadn’t shown up to rescue me, I’d be in the wolves’ stomachs by now. By saving you, my darling, I saved myself. I’ve been in a deep depression ever since I was reborn as a donkey. But since meeting you, I’ve come to realize that even something as lowly as a donkey can know supreme happiness when love exists. I was a man in my former life, a man with a wife and two concubines, but for me there was only sex, no love. I mistakenly thought I was a happy man, but now I see how pitiable I was. A donkey seared by the flames of love is happier than any man. And a male that has the good fortune to rescue his beloved from the mouths of wolves, who can demonstrate his courage and wisdom in front of his beloved, is given a