Old farmers’ wisdom documented by Hans Kopp

Donauschwaben wisdom is often humorous, dry and yet it tells us a great deal about the character of our ancestors social mores.  The story about the farmer and his old donkey which had poor eye site is one of them.  As all stories start, once upon a time there was a farmer who owned an old donkey who had outlived his usefulness and a Schwenkelbrunnen (a well) that had dried up and was of no use to the farmer and should have been filled in long ago.

The donkey served the farmer many years and was tolerated walking about the farm.  One day the donkey overlooked the Schwenkelbrunnen and fell in.  The farmer made various attempts to help the donkey out of his dilemma and pull him out of the well, but everything failed.

So the farmer decided to call his neighbors and friends to help him fill in the Schwenkelbrunnen where the donkey had fell in.  As they began to fill in the shaft of the Schwenkelbrunnen, the donkey began to worry and made loud noises but soon realized what was going on and calmed down, maybe he figured the farmer had the same thought he had.  Every time a shovel with dirt fell on the donkey, he just shook it off again and again.  Soon the donkey rose higher and higher and finally, to the farmers and helpers surprise, was able to walk out off his compromising situation.

The moral of this story is, regardless of what kind of problems you might be facing, always think about the farmers’ donkey, and no matter how terrible the situation might be, shake off your problems and at the end you may be able to walk away from them like the farmers donkey did.