Notable Characters
- The merchant
- His wife
- The ox
- The donkey
- The rooster
Plot Summary
The donkey, regretting having helped the ox at the cost of his own comfort and happiness, told the ox that he needed to stop pretending to be sick. The donkey claimed that he heard the ox would be killed if he continued with not contributing to the work in the fields.
The merchant laughed at the ox’s reaction and the conversation in general, and his wife demanded to know what was so funny. She assumed that he was laughing at her, but he could not tell her the real reason. He claimed that if he did tell her, he would die.
His wife did not believe him, and she continued to demand that he tell her his secret. The family prepared to say goodbye to the merchant, and he prepared his will.
During this time, he overheard another conversation between the animals. The rooster was behaving inappropriately, and the others criticized him for not respecting that their master was about to die.
The rooster said that the merchant should just beat his wife until she stopped asking questions, and that’s what the merchant did. His wife stopped demanding to know his secret, and the mourning turned into a celebration.
The World of the Arabian Nights 