Page 81 - the-idiot

with it, and from that moment my head seemed to clear.’
‘A donkey? How strange! Yet it is not strange. Anyone of
us might fall in love with a donkey! It happened in mytho-
logical times,’ said Madame Epanchin, looking wrathfully
at her daughters, who had begun to laugh. ‘Go on, prince.’
‘Since that evening I have been specially fond of donkeys.
I began to ask questions about them, for I had never seen
one before; and I at once came to the conclusion that this
must be one of the most useful of animals—strong, willing,
patient, cheap; and, thanks to this donkey, I began to like
the whole country I was travelling through; and my melan-
choly passed away.’
‘All this is very strange and interesting,’ said Mrs. Ep-
anchin. ‘Now let’s leave the donkey and go on to other
matters. What are you laughing at, Aglaya? and you too,
Adelaida? The prince told us his experiences very cleverly;
he saw the donkey himself, and what have you ever seen?
YOU have never been abroad.’
‘I have seen a donkey though, mamma!’ said Aglaya.
‘And I’ve heard one!’ said Adelaida. All three of the girls
laughed out loud, and the prince laughed with them.
‘Well, it’s too bad of you,’ said mamma. ‘You must forgive
them, prince; they are good girls. I am very fond of them,
though I often have to be scolding them; they are all as silly
and mad as march hares.’
‘Oh, why shouldn’t they laugh?’ said the prince. ‘ I
shouldn’t have let the chance go by in their place, I know.
But I stick up for the donkey, all the same; he’s a patient,
good-natured fellow.’

0 The Idiot