1 The lonely donkey

Once upon a time in a far far away land was the animal kingdom. It had all sorts of animals living there. There was the cow, the goat, the sheep and one lonely donkey.

Why was the donkey lonely, because he had no friends. The cows had each other as did the goats and the sheep.

But the lonely donkey, he was all by himself. He didn't have anyone to play with or anyone to talk to. He spent his days alone and his nights lonely. Watching as his fellow animals lived their happy lives together. Looking at each other and knowing that they had someone who looked just like them. He was happy for them for he did not wish loneliness on anyone. But he was also sad because none of the other animals seemed to want to be friends with him.

One day, as he was walking around lonely as he had ever been, he came across a big tree in a forest. And on getting closer, he heard that there was a whimpering coming from the tree.

He wanted to just wander away in his loneliness but something tugged at his heart and he looked up at the tree trying to find the source of the crying. He expected to find an animal as lonely as he was crying like the lonely donkey had done every night.

But what he saw surprised him. It was the tree that was crying. He was very surprised at that. Because the weeping tree was sorrounded by other trees who looked just like him.

The donkey looked up at the tree and said, "Hello there tree. Why are you crying? Is everything okay?"

Surprised that someone was talking to him, the tree paused crying and looked down and saw the donkey.

He said, "Who are you and why are you talking to me?"

"I'm the lonely donkey," said the lonely donkey, "I heard you crying and I got concerned. What is the matter?"

"My friends won't talk to me. And it makes me lonely." The tree answered.

"That must be very sad. I don't have any friends so I don't know what you're feeling. But I know loneliness so I can understand how you must be feeling." Said the lonely donkey.

" Why don't you have friends?" The tree asked.

" Because I don't have any other donkeys here. I'm the only one and everyone seems to be making friends with only their kind." The lonely donkey answered.

" Well, I have alot of trees who look like me around and still I'm lonely." The tree said.

" Well that's even sadder." The lonely donkey said. " I suppose that means that having people who look like you around doesn't automatically mean that you will be happy and not lonely."

" Yes I suppose. Do you want to be my friend?" The tree asked.

After giving it a bit of thought the donkey answered, " I suppose that would be okay. I don't need to wait for people who look like me in order to stop being lonely. You and I are alike on the inside and that matters more than the outside. I would love to be your friend."

" Yay!! We are going to have so much fun."

The tree said in glee.

And from that day on, the lonely donkey was no longer lonely. He had found a friend without even looking. They didn't look alike on the outside but that didn't matter. Because it's what's on the inside that really makes a person. And they spent their days together and nights together as well. Providing each other with companionship and laughs and they lived happily ever after.

The end.

Moral lesson: you can find friendship in the most unlikely people. Because it's what's on the inside that matters.