Friends

Displacement There was once a donkey named Eneko, who lived in a beautiful village in a nice part of the country. Eneko enjoyed nothing more than reading and learning. He spent all his free time in the public library studying, where he lead a distinguished reader’s circle.

On his day off he would arrive at the library early in the morning and leave only when the lights were turned off. The whole year through he studied without rest the masterpieces of classical literature, fairytales and other important books.

Sometimes, instead of doing his work on Sundays, Eneko would lie down under a tree reading books.

One day the farmer had enough of this behaviour and banished Eneko from the farm.

So Eneko had no choice but to go to the next town in search of work.

On the road, he met an old sheepdog, who was looking dreamily at the sky. His name was Bill.

“Are you searching up there for your sheep?” Eneko asked the dog.

“Well, I’m alone with my sheep all the time and I got so bored that I started counting the stars. The sheep became curious and they started to count too. We had almost finished counting them when a pack of wolves came and killed all of the best sheep.

My master got very angry. He doesn’t want me anymore,” said the sheepdog.

“So why don’t you come with me to the town?” Eneko said. “We could go together to the planetarium to study the stars and planets.”

Bill agreed, and the two animals set off together for the town. Soon they arrived at a small village and they saw a sad-looking cat surrounded by mice.

“Why are you so sad?” asked Eneko.

“Some boys threw me down a well and the mice saved me.”

“But that’s no reason to be sad,” said Eneko. “You should be happy that you were rescued.”

“That’s impossible, because I’m now good friends with the mice,” answered the cat.

“But friendship is a wonderful thing,” added Bill.

“Friendship with mice is a terrible thing! As a cat, it’s in my nature to eat them. A cat that doesn’t kill mice is not suitable for anything.”

“Well, come and join us!” exclaimed Eneko.

“We’re going to try our luck in town.”

The cat, whose name was Gala, liked the idea. She said goodbye to her mice friends, and joined both animals on their journey.

After a little while, they came to a farmhouse. A rooster welcomed them by crowing. “You sing very well, you make me feel very nostalgic,” said Eneko, as the dog and cat began to wail.

“I was always my mistress’s favourite rooster, but this year the harvest has failed and now she doesn’t have anything for her children to eat. Out of pity I suggested that she should eat me as chicken soup next Sunday,” stated the rooster.

“And so what happened? Did they boil you in a pot?” asked Gala.

“I wanted to jump into the boiling water, but my mistress couldn’t stand it and forbade this. So I flew away in shame.”

After the rooster finished his sad tale, the animals asked him to join them on their journey, so they all – Eneko, Bill, Gala and Hans the rooster – set off together.

Disruption At dusk, the four animals arrived at the edge of a black forest. The rooster Hans was tired and he hobbled behind his new friends. He couldn’t walk as fast as the others, but he wouldn’t fly out of politeness. It was considered bad manners for roosters to fly when in the company of four-legged animals. Also Gala, the cat, refused to go on, for she was afraid of the dark forest.

So they decided to camp for the night and to continue the next day. The rooster perched high on a branch and prepared himself for the night.

When he looked out, he saw a light shining in the middle distance.

“Look a house! Let’s see if we can find a comfortable place to sleep!” exclaimed Hans. He loved to sleep on comfortable mattresses.

Eneko pointed out that there may be bandits living there. But Bill and Gala liked the rooster’s idea, and so off they went, paying no attention to Eneko’s warning.