It so happened one pleasant day that a donkey asked a horse what colour the sky had. The horse replied, “Sky blue.” However, the donkey started laughing as if he got crazy. The horse enquired about the reason for laughing. The donkey answered, “The sky is black.”
The horse became angry but kept his cool and told the donkey, “Look up, and you will find your answer.” Even though the donkey looked up and saw the sky-blue sky, he kept on saying that it was black. The horse got irritated with donkey’s chanting of “Black” “Black” “Black”…
Finally, horse suggested that they will ask around and let other animals decide who was right. Donkey agreed. They asked a fox, then an elephant, then a bear, then a cat, then a wolf and kept asking until there was hardly any left to ask. Everyone replied that the colour of the sky was sky blue. However, donkey kept shouting that it was black.
After a while, the horse had an idea, and he asked the donkey, “Let us go and ask the King of Jungle.” Again, the donkey agreed. All these animals they had asked the question also came along. When they reached there and told the whole story to the Lion, he closed his eyes and remained silent.
After a brief pause, the King of Jungle ordered his guards, “Imprison the horse.” Everyone was stunned by the decision, but no one dared to question the King’s verdict. However, the wolf came forward and asked the king, “My lord, but the horse is right, why did you imprison him?”
The King of Jungle replied, “Because he argued with a donkey.”
Moral: Never argue with those who argue for the sake of argument only.
The story was narrated by Abdul Ghani Bhat, who works in the Mechanical Department at Anantnag.
