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OLD BOY 
a fairy tale by Harris Tobias 
 
 
O 
n the edge of a great forest lived an old wood cutter and his wife.They had no children so they worked very hard cutting and gathering wood intohuge bundles. Every week they would then take the bundles of wood into town tosell at the market. They would pile these bundles of sticks on the back of their olddonkey who they called Old Boy and walk the six miles into town.Once in town, they would sell their sticks to the people who needed woodto cook with and heat their homes. Any bundles they did not sell they piled on OldBoy’s back and took over to the orphanage and gave it to the priest. In return, thepriest would let the old couple sit and play with the orphans. They would tell the or-phan children stories of fairies and far off places. They would also take the childrenfor a ride on Old Boy’s back. This, for the old donkey and the old couple, was thehappiest time.One day after playing with the children, as the old couple were walking home,the old woman said, “I wish we could take home one or two of those sweet littlechildren and raise them as our own?”“We’re too old and too poor to raise a child,” the old man replied. This wastrue. But what the old couple didn’t know was that Old Boy was a magic donkey andwas listening to their conversation. Old Boy made a promise to himself to help theold couple get their wish.
 
Now on the long road out of town, Old Boy and the couple passed by a hut thatbelonged to a queer old woman who lived by herself. People were afraid of thiswoman because she had the reputation of being a witch, which she was. As the triowere passing, the old witch came out of her hut and called them over.“I heard your wish,” she said, “and I can help you but it will cost youmoney.”“We have no money to spare,” said the old man.“You have a very fine donkey,” said the witch putting her hand on Old Boy.“I could never part with Old Boy,” said the wood cutter, “he is our friend.”But Old Boy heard this and got an idea of his own. Old Boy stopped in histracks and nothing that the old couple could do would get Old Boy moving again.They tried pushing the donkey from behind. They tried pulling on his lead. Theytried both pushing and pulling together but Old Boy would not budge.
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