The Donkey (PDF)

The short story, The Donkey, is an absurd comedy. It’s about a young guy who wakes up in a shed early in the morning after his bachelor party. He is getting married later that same day but finds himself in big trouble because his friends have chained him to a Donkey with handcuffs. He doesn’t know if he will make it in time to his own wedding. He is far out in the countryside and The Donkey is stubborn, but eventually he finds a bus stop. When the bus arrives, he tries to get The Donkey onto the bus; but now everyone starts to interfere and discuss whether The Donkey should go on the bus or not. The conversation is at times completely absurd and runs off track again and again. Eventually the desperate Bridegroom has a fit of rage, but nobody seems to take him seriously. The Donkey is a parody about how society often debates on the most bizarre situations – a satire about democracy in its most extreme and off the wall form. 

www.forlagetmunay.dk

Anne-Lene Bleken (b. 1966) comes from Lillehammer in Norway with strong roots in the Western part of the country where her mother’s family come from. She has lived in Aarhus in Denmark since 1989 where she has an MA in English and Media. Bleken published her first novel, Olava, in 2012 and the sequel Anna Veronica in 2020. She is the author of Tulle, Trulle, Mulle and the Humans, The Mollimi People from Deep Space, The Donkey, Two Short Stories, Wild and Wondrous Stories from the Waterfront, Stories for Sillyheads and Other People, Miss Susie with the Magical Sunglasses, Winnie the White Wolf Who Wandered the World and My Walk with Jesus Christ.

www.annelenebleken.dk