I do not know what happened the next day to
my master the gardener, but the soldier determined to sell me, and parted with me for five dollars. The purchaser was a servant to a very rich
man of Thessalonika, the largest town in Macedonia. His trade was to cook meats for his master, and he had a brother, a fellow-slave, who
understood bread - baking and the flavoring of
honey - cakes. These brothers were messmates
always, lodged in the same house, held the tools
of their trade as common property, and finally installed me, too, in their lodging. After the master's dinner these two used to bring home a quantity of fragments, the one of meats and fish, the
other of bread and cakes. They would shut me
in with these, leaving me the delightful task of
guarding them while they went to bathe. And I,
bidding farewell with all my heart to my portion
of barley, would devote myself to the skill and
earnings of my masters, and so for a long time
I revelled in human food. At first, when they
returned, they used to take no notice of my carnivorous tendency, because there was such a multitude of dishes, and because I still stole my dinner



 



with fear and discretion. But when at last
I perceived their unconsciousness, I used to eat
up the choicest morsels and a great deal beside.
Then they began to notice their loss, and each at
first looked suspiciously at the other, and called
him thief, robber of common goods, lost to all
sense of honor, and after that they both grew
careful, and counted the morsels.
 
The effect on me was that by living this pleasant and luxurious life I grew handsome again in
body from having my natural food, and my hide
shone with a fresh growth of hair. But my most
worthy masters, when they saw me growing fat
and sleek, although my barley was not consumed,
but remained of the same amount, began to suspect my audacity. So they went out as if going
to the bath, closed the doors, and applied their
eyes to a crack and watched what went on within. Innocent of the fraud, I forthwith advanced
and took my dinner. They first burst out laughing at sight of the incredible meal. Then they
called the other slaves to see me, and there was
a general laugh, so that the master himself heard
it, because it made such an uproar outside, and
asked what the joke was out there.
When he
heard he rose up from his wine, peeped in, and
saw me swallowing a bit of wild-boar. With a
shout of laughter he entered the room.
I was
greatly disturbed at being discovered by the master





 

as a thief and glutton in one, but he laughed
at me for a long time, and began by ordering me
to be led in to his supper-party. There he bade
them set a table for me, and put on it all sorts
of things, such as no other ass could eat-meats,
oysters, soup, fish—some dressed with caviare and
olive-oil, and some sprinkled with mustard. I,
when I saw fortune smiling sweetly on me, and
perceived that this foolery only could save me,
stood at the table and dined, though I had already made a hearty meal. The company shouted with laughter, and somebody said, "This ass
drinks wine, too, if any one will pour some out
for him." So the master ordered it, and I drank
what was offered me.
 
He perceived, as you may suppose, that I was
a remarkable creature, and ordered one of his
stewards to pay my price to the man who had
bought me, and as much again, and he handed
me over to a young freedman of his establishment, bidding him instruct me in whatever would
make me most diverting
him. The young
man found the task easy, for I obeyed instantly
every instruction. First he made me recline on
a couch, leaning on my elbow like a man. Then
he taught me to wrestle with him, and actually to
dance, standing upright on my hind-feet, and to
nod my head or shake it in answer to questions,
and a number of other things-all of which I


 



could have done even without teaching. And
the report spread far and wide that my master
had an ass who drank wine, wrestled, danced—
most surprising of all, nodded and shook his
head appropriately when spoken to, and, when he
was thirsty, summoned the butler by a movement
of his eyes. The spectators wondered at the
thing as a marvel, not knowing that a man was
shut up in the ass, and I made a fat living out
of their ignorance. I learned to amble and carry
my master on my back, galloping with a pace so
gentle that the rider hardly perceived the motion.
My harness was superb. I wore a purple saddlecloth, my bit was inlaid with gold and silver, and
I was hung with bells which made the sweetest
music.