"
"Indeed I did! And I paid four cents for you. Now who will return my
money to me?"
"But why did you buy me? You bought me to do me harm--to kill me--to
make a drumhead out of me!"
"Indeed I did! And now where shall I find another skin?"
"Never mind, dear Master. There are so many donkeys in this world."
"Tell me, impudent little rogue, does your story end here?"
"One more word," answered the Marionette, "and I am through. After
buying me, you brought me here to kill me. But feeling sorry for me, you
tied a stone to my neck and threw me to the bottom of the sea. That was
very good and kind of you to want me to suffer as little as possible and
I shall remember you always. And now my Fairy will take care of me, even
if you--"
"Your Fairy? Who is she?"
"She is my mother, and, like all other mothers who love their children,
she never loses sight of me, even though I do not deserve it. And today
this good Fairy of mine, as soon as she saw me in danger of drowning,
sent a thousand fishes to the spot where I lay. They thought I was
really a dead donkey and began to eat me.
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